21/03/2021
When guardians visit a rest home or private hospital it can be difficult to know if the older person is happy and doing OK, especially if their memory is fading.
Every aged care home will have experienced a resident saying, “I never go anywhere” or “no one ever talks to me” but this may not be quite right.
Using AgedConnect to develop regular, quality communication with families reassures them that their family member is content, keeping active and socialising, and it improves the relationship between families and staff.
Using notebooks in residents’ rooms, phone calls, emails, regular newsletters, a news update on a website and social media updates all have pitfalls.
The challenge with a notebook is that the family member can only access this when they visit, which is not always feasible if the next-of-kin is busy, or lives out of town or overseas.
At times of restricted visitation, such as during Covid-19 lockdowns or during the flu season, families cannot see that notebook full of gems.
Phone calls and emails are essential to foster communication between staff and families, but activity teams and diversional therapists are less likely to do this as frequently as clinical staff.
It is also difficult to maintain communication logs to maintain contact details with families for compliance requirements and it is not always appropriate for all staff to have family contact details.
Newsletters, website updates and social media posts work for general communication but they are too impersonal for families to know exactly how their loved one is faring.
AgedConnect is a better communication tool for families and residential aged care homes because it facilitates small, frequent and private updates about a an older persons general well-being.
Happy days!
