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Good afternoon. As you have probably heard or read, our industry was blasted, once again, by the media in this recent Washington Post article.
The article states
"Since 2018, more than 2,000 people have wandered away from assisted-living and memory-care facilities unnoticed or been left unattended for hours outside. Nearly 100 have died, and state inspectors frequently found evidence of neglect."
How do we, as an industry and as leaders, respond?
Elevate your Leadership
I started NHA Stand-Up two years ago because of articles like this.
I was, and am, tired of opening my email each day and seeing negative press about our industry.
I wanted to instead focus on what we can control. I wanted to create a community of leaders who would stick together, support each other, and share best practices.
And so, it's time for our community to get to work. It's time for us to stick together.
Instead of throwing our hands up in the air, we need to take a hard look in the mirror and ask the tough questions.
Is my community secure?
Would my team know what to do if a resident went missing at midnight tonight?
Have I done everything I can to create a culture of safety, awareness, and urgency to protect our residents?
What policies, procedures, processes, and technology do I have in place to prevent and respond to elopements? Are we utilizing each as designed and according to our policies?
What can we do better?
Each Sunday, starting today, I will email you an exercise, drill, or thought that, if followed, will leave your community safer than before.
Let's work together and be our best for our teams and residents.
Week 1
Let's start this week by laying the groundwork for the culture that we will build.
Bring together your leadership team and, ahead of time, ask them to bring with them any policies, processes, or systems that have to do with door security, elopements, assessing residents for exploring, wander guard systems, how to respond to a missing resident, emergency communication, preventative maintenance for safety or door systems, etc.
Create a QAPI sign-in sheet to document the meeting and assign a team member to take notes.
Have each department leader walk through each process and, as a team, contribute by identifying any areas of opportunity or steps/processes that may be out of compliance.
Are you supposed to check door alarms daily but haven't been?
Make a note of it.
Are you supposed to be checking the wander guard system every week, but it's only been happening monthly?
Write it down.
Haven't had an elopement drill in six months?
Add it to the list.
This week, we review what we have in place and gauge where we are with it.
More to come next week.
Whenever you're ready, there are a couple of ways I can help you.
- Leverage our partnership with CEUSrEZ and purchase NAB-approved, online, self-paced, continuing education courses at a 20% discount here.
- Coming soon in January 2024. Stay tuned!
- Coming soon in February 2024. Stay tuned!
