Page 86 - Vibrant Living Scrapbook

Household Councils
Many homes are transforming their Resident Council into smaller groups like neighborhood or household councils. These can replace the traditional, one large resident council for the whole home. We see many advantages to this practice. More residents attend and speak
up in a small group that is more pertinent to their living area. Appropriate staff members are more involved. For example, it did not make sense for the Maplewood Household nurse to go to the facility-wide resident council meetings, but it is a good use of her time to attend the Maplewood Household Council meetings with residents for whom she provides care.
Community Council
Some communities have decided to hold
what they refer to as a Community Council.
It includes staff and resident representatives from each household which functions like a quality assurance committee, reviewing issues of safety, standards, policies and procedures, and matters arising between or among households.
Look again at the requirement of federal Tags F243/F244: The facility must listen to views/ act upon grievances and recommendations concerning proposed policy and operational decisions affecting resident care and life in the facility.
Do we really give residents a voice in operational and policy decisions? About care and life in the nursing home? If you really do this, you are far ahead. If you don’t, what a wonderful goal for your community.
Community Learning Circle Questions
What kind of council should we have for talking about issues in our household and/or the nursing home?
Who has a voice in what happens around here? Does anyone have any ideas for ways other than councils for people to have their
voices heard?
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