Hillcrest is its people

Being admitted into a nursing home can be a scary thing for some people. In life, we spend many years working and playing and accumulating “stuff.”

Imagine that you are at home one day and the next thing you know something happens and you are being told you need a skilled nursing center. Some of the other thoughts and facts that go with that is that you are being told that you will need this as a permanent place to live. I am not sure about you but that would be a very disturbing event for me. My thoughts might be; what about my stuff, my home, my spouse, and the list continues.

Nursing home staffs are such a unique people. Our staffs are people that truly have a calling for the nursing home environment. The Long Term Care or Nursing Home industry is so different from the hospital, home health, or any other health business. The nursing home industry as a whole is over-regulated and underpaid for what we ask our staff to do on a daily bases. Love, care, and understanding to name a few are key factors that are needed daily to perform our “people taking care of people routine.” In my years of service to long-term care I have met so many interesting people to include; government officials at all levels, black and white film producers, professional football players, professional athletes of all sports, CEO’s and captains of industries, professional drivers, war hero’s and VETS of all kinds, TV stars, healthcare workers to include doctors, moms, dads, children, homeless, rich, poor, my favorite “the inventor of the tea bag, and the list goes on. The point is we are all getting older and things happen at all levels and economic statuses of life; you never know.

The rewards can be huge as both new-to-us or longtime residents in the facility quickly become part of a new family. Hillcrest “A Caring Center” staff truly love our residents and are involved with every aspect of their lives. We get to know their families, grandkids, animals and who they were in the past. Sometimes as we merge their past and current lives into their situations tears of joy and sadness are shed daily and hugs are given freely. At Hillcrest it is a daily mission to bring each and every resident up to the highest ability they are able to achieve. Hillcrest staff truly loves our family and we too merge them into our private lives. I am sure that there is not one staff member that is not concerned or does not think about our residents when they go home. We are people taking care of people, and those people are our family now also.

We strive for perfection however; sometimes we fall short of that perfect mark. One of the hardest experiences is to hear about how we missed the mark of that perfection. In most nursing homes we do not and cannot staff a one on one pattern. There are many systems that have been put into place that deal with the activities of daily living not only for the residents but the staff as well. There are times that are more stressful on the staff such as right after a meal. Most of us know what we need to do shortly after a meal. For any nursing home staff they cannot be in ten places at once, some waiting happens. Another unique regulation is that we cannot force anything on a resident. If the resident says no, all we can do is try to encourage the resident through educating them that the decision should be reconsidered. We hear from families all the time that “you need to make them” do something. The residents have the same rights that we do in our own homes, no less.

Think about your laundry at home with a family of three or four. Okay so let’s sort just socks right now. So on an average, we wash, dry, and sort over 1,100 socks a week. Laundry does the same for about 1,200 pants a week and doubles that for shirts, sheets, pillowcases, etc. and the list goes on. Some of the comments we hear that make us smile inside are “I did their laundry at home and never lost an item.” I have always owned the dryer that ate a sock or something else; makes me smile because I cannot blame it on the dog. Just in the Hillcrest laundry department, we process thousands of articles of clothing weekly; it’s an amazing process.

Hillcrest does have a Resident Council that meets once a month to have an open discussion of good and concerning things they are concerned about. These meetings are for the residents and for anyone else to attend they must be invited or approved by the council. From those concerns Grievance Forms are created and distributed to the department that it relates to for a solution. The grievance solution must be completed within 5 to 7 working days and then revisited to make sure the solution is working. Some of the Hillcrest management staff has a standing invitation to the meeting. The standing invitation for managers is Director of Nursing, dietary, maintenance which includes housekeeping and laundry, social services, and the administrator. Some of the concerns generated by the residents can be solved immediately with those managers. Along with several resident committees, Hillcrest has multiple meetings every day that relate to residents care and well-being. There are so many necessary meetings related to resident care it seems that’s all we do is go to meetings, however; most of them are a requirement.

Nursing homes are as unique as this is their home now. It is a living, breathing environment filled with life at all levels and situations. I remind the staff every time I get the chance that Hillcrest is not a building - it is you. You are the earth angels providing love, caring, and understanding that keep our residents happy.

Hillcrest is our loved ones from our communities. They are supported by the community, our foundation, our awesome board and commissioners; they are simply us in a different time.