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Author: FyvieC

  • Performance Management: Setting Yourself up for Success

    Lauren MacFarlane is a clinical educator at Bethany and takes pride in her performance management experience. When the performance management program was introduced to staff last spring she was excited to develop her goals and take ownership in achieving them. Lauren focused on clinical education, working with her team to set individual and collaborative goals.

    Now halfway through the performance management year, Lauren says she carries around a printed copy of her goals in her work book to make sure she is on track.

    Two of Lauren’s goals are:

    • Collaboratively creating a medication assistance program for supportive living at Bethany Airdrie and Cochrane.
    • Reviewing current tools for pain management in collaboration with the palliative/end of life care educator, which will result in an education component for mandatory training in 2018.

    Focusing on her goals in her day-to-day work helps keep Lauren focused, while also recognizing that things may change along the way and it’s important to be flexible. Lauren says the performance management program creates the opportunity for staff to have new experiences to learn and grow. Lauren is excited to showcase her work at the end of the year, and hopes her colleagues will be inspired and be open to learning something along the way!

  • Bethany Standards for Service Excellence: Teamwork & Continuous Improvement

    Comfort carts are an important component of Bethany’s end of life care. Since being introduced in 2012, comfort carts provide families of palliative care residents with the comforts of home, including fresh fruits and baked goods, refreshments, an iPad with music and various apps, a speaker system, a spiritual care box and reading materials. Brenda Slobozian, Clinical Educator at Bethany Calgary oversees the program and works with her team to continually improve the resources available to families.

    Communications, Information Systems, Pastoral Care, Aramark and staff who work directly with residents all contribute their ideas to the carts. There are now a total of nine comfort carts across Bethany that provide family members with hospitality and kindness. It is one more way Bethany is demonstrating service excellence and the response is very positive. Brenda says, “Service excellence gives us a clear focus and direction to work towards, and I am proud to work in an organization that is focused on service excellence for our residents. If care staff members have a good idea to improve service at Bethany, please discuss it with your manager and onsite quality representative.”

    Thank you to Brenda and team for improving the resident and family care experience at Bethany with the comfort carts.

  • Thanksgiving Service Dates

  • Bethany Airdrie Celebrates 30 Years

    Bethany Airdrie celebrated its 30th anniversary on September 8, 2017. This event welcomed residents, family members, volunteers, staff and former staff members. Entertainment was provided by special guests including the Airdrie Pro Rodeo Queen and attendees had a lovely time listening to music, sharing memories and having cake.

    One of Bethany Airdrie’s long-time residents, Eleanor, shared her experiences with the crowd, noting different activities she has enjoyed over the years at Bethany. Another resident, Hazel, is the second generation in her family to live at Bethany Airdrie. Hazel’s mother was one of the first residents to move into Bethany Airdrie, and now she calls Bethany home nearly 30 years later. Shelley Rolfe, Administrator at Bethany Airdrie and Nancy Hughes VP and Chief Operating Officer, both gave celebratory speeches giving thanks to the Airdrie community for all they’ve contributed to the site over the years.

    Thank you to our staff who planned such a great celebratory event and the residents who shared their stories at Bethany. We look forward to building many more memories in the years to come!

  • A Message from the VP, People and Culture

    It’s official – Fall has arrived! Our long hot days of summer have been replaced with cool frosty mornings and the leaves quickly falling from the trees. I always love the Fall. Having lived in Australia for half of my life, I missed the changing seasons. For me, September and the change of season is a fresh start and refresh. Kids go back to school and we all settle back into our normal routines after the lazy days of summer. This provides us all with an opportunity to focus on safety in our personal and professional lives.

    Every successful school year begins with safety. Did you know that by getting rid of school zones and setting straight forward and consistent playground zone hours across Calgary there has been a substantial reduction in vehicle related injuries to both pedestrians and motorists? Such an easy change, yet so effective in enhancing safety for everyone.

    Bethany is committed to ensuring a safe environment for all. What simple changes can we do at work to enhance the safety for employees and residents? Improving safety performance and preventing workplace accidents is made easier when employees lend a hand. Consider these 5 simple steps that you can use every day at Bethany:

    1. Identify hazards – think about the tasks you perform and what could go wrong and cause an accident.
    2. Plan ahead – before starting a task, think about the PPE, equipment and materials you will be working with and what you would need to do in the event of an emergency.
    3. Stay alert – pay attention while you work and give each task your full attention and avoid distractions.
    4. Ask questions – ensure you understand a safety rule or procedure and ask your supervisor if you are dealing with a new procedure or piece of equipment.
    5. Take near misses seriously – all near misses should be reported and taken as a warning that something’s wrong and needs to be corrected. According to the National Safety Council, 70% of all accidents are preceded by one or more near misses.

    Please look out for each other and be safe!

    – Lisa

  • A Message from the CFO

    Over the past two weeks I have been visiting some of my immediate family in Scotland, including spending time with friends and relatives around this small country. As I haven’t been to Scotland for more than three years, in my eyes, some of these people have aged a lot, and far more than I think or hope I have aged in the same period. Some of the aging process has been in how they look or move about, but mostly it has been in their changes in attitudes to certain things around them. This may be a well known fact to many of you at Bethany who work more directly with our residents and their families than I generally do. It has however been a bit of a revelation to me and I hope that those recent first hand personal experiences will help to give me a better understanding of those working and living at Bethany.

    There are also many things that we, as individuals from many different professional backgrounds, bring to our work in caring for our residents and tenants. These are the professional and technical skills that we all have learned and continue to practice as team members at Bethany and which are of utmost importance in creating the caring communities that we all want Bethany to be recognized for. As part of the performance management process, all of us will be having discussions with our supervisors about our own work and how our own individual performance of that work, through our own eyes and in the eyes of others, contributes to the lives of our residents and tenants. This is an important step in the process of self reflection and understanding that enables us to live our lives, both personally and at work, with greater satisfaction. My hope is that we all embrace our new performance management process with open minds and make it successful.

    As always, I value your comments and suggestions.

     

    Take care,

    – Alasdair

  • A Message from the CMO

    This past week I have had several encounters with how we are providing end-of-life care to our residents and families. During a time of heightened emotion and some unknowing because everyone’s journey is unique, I am reminded how each of us at Bethany play such an important role in the experience of dying well.

    I’ve seen chaplains and social workers helping residents and families plan what a good end-of-life experience looks like to record in a resident’s care plan, the thoughtful introduction of the Comfort Cart to a family spending extended time with their loved one, the lovely food prepared by Aramark as part of the hospitality offering, skilled nursing care that manages pain and symptoms to keep the resident comfortable, and creative efforts by our Communications designer to update our Bethany sympathy cards that we send to grieving families. These and many more personalized interactions with residents, families and friends leave lasting expressions of care and peace.

    Thank you for your part in this end-of-life care. If you have ideas and suggestions of ways we can more fully live into service excellence in this area, please share them. I’m always happy to hear from you.

     

    Blessings,

    – Daranne

    daranne.harris@bethanyseniors.com

  • Tips for Building Resiliency

    LifeWorks is Bethany’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP), which provides confidential resources and benefits to eligible employees and their families, at no cost to use.

    You may know LifeWorks provides support in times of crisis and change, but they also have many resources relating to health and general well-being. Visit the LifeWorks website for a range of articles, including this article below on building resiliency. To access LifeWorks call 1-877-207-8833 or visit login.lifeworks.com and enter username BCS and password EAP.

    Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from challenges and set-backs. At one time or another, we all face challenges and difficulties in life such as personal or family issues, work stress or other challenges. It is your resiliency that allows you to adapt and respond in a positive way to adversity. Resiliency is something that you can learn. Here are four ways to take care of yourself to help build your resiliency:

    1. Make meaningful connections

    • Strong ties to family, friends, co-workers and community groups help you find the social and emotional support you need to bounce back from setbacks or disappointments.
    • Make time for your closest relationships. Spend time with people you like and doing things you like to do. Connect with coworkers for coffee, lunch or a walk.

    2. Pay attention to your physical self-care

    • Make exercise a priority. This is especially important during challenging times. Try to get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise that makes you breathe harder, several times a week. Examples may be walking, swimming, biking or even doing chores at home.
    • Follow a healthy diet. Avoid junk food and fast food. Limit how much alcohol you drink; over time, it depletes your energy and resilience.
    • Follow good sleep practices. Establish a bedtime routine and try to stick to it. It can be as simple as turning out the lights at the same time every night. Try to unload what’s on your mind before you go to bed and to avoid any stimulating activities such as watching tv or staring at a screen.

    3. Reframe how you view problems and challenges

    • Reframing means changing the way you “talk” to yourself about a stressful event. Instead of saying “I will never get through this,” you might try a more positive and realistic thought such as, “I will get through this by using the techniques that have helped in the past.”
    • Remember that stressful events usually provide opportunities to learn and grow. Try to identify these, so they can help you in the future.

    4. Build your emotional resilience

    • Learn from others who are role models of resiliency. Think about other people you know and admire who are resilient. What are the strategies you’ve noticed them using to deal with adversity? Think about how you could adapt and use some of those strategies in your own life.
    • “This too shall pass.” Try to see your situation as temporary, no matter how difficult. Life tends to ebb and flow in ways that are impossible to predict. This view can help you gain perspective and maintain momentum to work through the current circumstance.

    Source: Estelle Morrison, LifeWorks Canada

  • Bethany Standards for Service Excellence: Teamwork

    J.P. Hermano works as a Volunteer Services Coordinator at Bethany Calgary and recently demonstrated care and teamwork for a family onboarding initiative. Over the past year, Bethany Calgary started getting many tour requests and J.P. became more involved to gain a more holistic view of the site and more effectively do his job. Many family members end up becoming volunteers at the site, so getting to know them during tours gives J.P. an opportunity to build relationships with them from the start of the onboarding process, as well as get a resident and family perspective.

    J.P. worked together with other site leaders to develop a streamlined tour process and framework for the tour team. Before the new process, tours were given based on what each person knew about the site, rather than a standardized script. The process took some time to see what worked and what didn’t work, but now the tours are more adaptive and effective.

    J.P. says getting involved in service excellence requires thinking outside the box, team work and building a story at the site. He adds that the best part of service excellence is that it gives employees from various departments the opportunity to work towards the common vision, carrying out standards and taking pride in providing exemplary service for residents.

    The Family Onboarding Group is working towards one common goal of making a lasting impression for residents and families. The team of people who provide tours at Bethany Calgary has expanded as well, from care services managers to pastoral care to volunteer services. Thank you J.P. and the Family Onboarding Group for embracing teamwork to refine the tour process at Bethany Calgary, as well as exemplifying team work and service excellence across Bethany.

  • A Message from the President and CEO

    Through the Eyes of Others

    Over the last few days my family has been hosting a friend that we met many years ago when we traveled to a small Caribbean island. Our friend has never been to Canada before so I have enjoyed watching him experience our country; His excitement as he got his first glimpse of the Canadian Rockies, his desire to photograph chipmunks and his description of what it was like to attend his first live professional sporting event, the Labour Day Classic football game. To view these experiences through his eyes allows me to appreciate things that have become commonplace in my day to day.

    As we continue our journey of service excellence at Bethany, we should all take some time to pause and try to see the world through the eyes of our residents and their families. Try to imagine how they are feeling and how our attitudes and actions make them feel. Did I take the time to make eye contact and smile? Did I pause to listen as they asked me a question? Did I leave them confident that I will address their concerns?

    Today and every day I encourage you to see the world through the eyes of those we serve. If you take a moment you will have a better understanding of their world at Bethany!

    As always I welcome your comments.

    – Jennifer