Page 4 - WCG Spring Newsletter 2023
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4 WILLIAM CAPE NEWS, SPRING 2023
Health and Wellbeing
Improving Resident Wellbeing with Holistic Nurses
There’s plenty of discussion about the need for to improve wellbeing, with pain medication offered
nursing staff in aged care right now, and it’s if holistic measure are ineffective.
entirely valid. But whilst there’s no doubting the Holistic Nurses also focus on hydration or residents’
additional demand for qualified nurses to deliver eating habits, particularly in cases where an
medical care to residents around the clock, there’s individual may refuse to eat, sharing their
another nursing function which is incredibly techniques with care staff to deliver better long-
important…but often overlooked. term outcomes – for staff and residents.
Holistic nursing. By taking the time to delve into a resident’s personal
Cranbrook Care added the new role of Holistic Nurse background, Holistic Nurses may discover insights
to our care team at William Cape Gardens earlier which can encourage improve emotional wellbeing
this year, and the impact has significant, and by engaging a resident’s interests and inspiring them
inspiring. to participate more in the activities on offer. For
instance, a Holistic Nurse may encourage a
Pain isn’t always physical nor acute in nature. Pain
can stem from emotional distress leading to wheelchair-bound resident who once enjoyed
agitation and distress. It can stem from chronic dancing to clap her hands or tap her feet to her
conditions. It can result from diminishing physical favourite music; or may accompany a resident who
strength and fitness. And that’s where Holistic enjoyed gardening on a tour of the garden to smell
and admire flowers and discover the different plants
Nursing comes in.
in the landscape, or the pair may sit together and
Holistic Nurses play an incredibly valuable role look at photographs of plants and flowers to
helping residents manage pain and supporting their
stimulate memory and re-ignite a passion.
overall wellbeing, whist freeing up time for
Registered Nursing and care staff. Currently, we have Yes, these may sound like small things, but the
a Holistic Nurse available at every residence impact can be huge.
particularly at identified times of heightened need Looking ahead, we plan to further upskill our Holistic
and potential distress, such as the late afternoon. Nurses in areas including massage, palliative care,
Whether offering therapeutic massage, heat and behavioural and emotional support. By investing
therapies, managing pain medications, facilitating in improving residents’ wellbeing without
strengthening exercise programs, or spending one- automatically reaching for additional medication, we
on-one time with residents, our Holistic Nurses have are genuinely supporting their overall health and
proved to be a wonderful asset to our residents and quality of life. And there’s nothing more important.
our broader care teams. Of course, as a new program, there will no doubt be
Holistic Nurses initially take a non-pharmacological changes as we progress, but in the meantime, we
are proud to support the overall wellbeing of our
approach, tailoring treatment to each resident’s
condition, and using techniques such as therapeutic residents by expanding our teams to set a new
massage, heat therapy, exercise, and companionship industry benchmark for clinical excellence and care.
