Seniors’ Week in Alberta was held June 5 – 11 and was a chance to acknowledge the contributions that seniors make to our communities. Did you know that seniors outnumbered the amount of children in Canada in 2016? This is the greatest increase in the proportion of older people since Confederation, according to census data. Below is a list of summer activities that you can take part in with the important seniors in your life.
Source: CBC News
“Being Green- Environmentally Friendly Best Practices”
I recently had the privilege of attending the National Health Leadership Conference in Vancouver, B.C. It was a great opportunity to connect with health leaders and hear about exciting initiatives underway in health care across the country. I attended a particularly interesting session on “green” health care that was very informative and thought provoking. The speaker was from the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care and talked about the work the Coalition does in helping health care facilities (and organizations) with the implementation of green health care best practices and to become better equipped to deal with the growing demands placed on health facilities to be environmentally responsible. The Coalition has been in place since 2000 and has had a significant impact on the greening of the Canadian health care landscape.
There are a number of areas that organizations need to focus on in terms of “green practices”:
These are just a few of the areas that require focus – there are others such as waste management and healthy and sustainable foods; these too, are areas where we need to think about “green” practices.
Perhaps the most important message of the presentation was that both leaders and staff within an organization need to be committed to this concept. This commitment is essential if we are to achieve environmental improvement and sustainability within the health sector. At Bethany we are already doing a number of things to support the environment but we need to support each other to do more. I would encourage you to bring forward any ideas or thoughts you have about this; it is so important on our journey to implement and integrate environmentally responsible practices into the delivery of care.
Regards,
– Nancy
On June 6, Jennifer McCue, President and CEO of Bethany fulfilled a personal goal while also raising awareness for the important role caregivers provide to those living with various forms of dementia. Jennifer took part in a “Vertical Ascent” climbing a seven-story crane on the construction site of Bethany Riverview, a specialized dementia care centre.
Jennifer had a goal of climbing a construction crane and also wanted to raise awareness and funds for Bethany Riverview. Jennifer climbed the crane with spectators including staff, donors and construction workers watching from around the building. Jennifer climbed up the crane quickly, and once at the top, she was allowed to operate the crane! Following the climb down, there was a barbecue sponsored by Aramark for spectators to enjoy.
Thanks to all of the pledges from staff members, donors and sponsors, Bethany was able to raise over $10,000 for Bethany Care Foundation’s Capital Campaign in support of our newest care centre. The event was a great success. Thanks to our sponsors from Stuart Olson Construction, Aramark, Foothills Creamery and the Bethany Care Foundation for planning and coordinating the event.
On June 7, Bethany Calgary hosted a bake sale and “pie in the face” fundraiser to help raise money for the Vertical Ascent, contributing to Bethany Riverview. Staff got involved in the event and had a great time donating money to the cause. Thank you to Bethany Calgary for getting involved in the Vertical Ascent and the Bethany Riverview Capital Campaign in an innovative and fun way.
Bethany’s annual Board Engagement Dinner took place on May 25 at Bethany Calgary and was a great success for both the Board, staff members and Aramark. The event was an opportunity for Board members and staff members from each site to engage with each other and celebrate service excellence at Bethany. The theme of the evening was celebrating innovation and excellence in food service with our partner, Aramark. Our path to excellence in food service has taken creativity, hard work and listening to the resident’s needs.
At the Board Engagement Dinner, guests had the opportunity to visit four “innovation stations” to see first-hand how Bethany and Aramark help create caring communities. The first station had a customer and resident focus, showcasing flexible breakfast times and finger food. The second station was a health and wellness stop, where guests could experience different textures and pureed foods. The third station was a plating station that showcased how we present foods in a pleasant, appetizing way. The final station was focused on technology and showcased Bethany’s new “rational oven”, a German-made appliance that can bake, roast, broil, steam, grill, fry, dehydrate, poach and reheat food. The appliance provides the ability to prepare foods in a variety of different ways to appeal to residents.
The event was also a chance to thank and show appreciation for our food service partner, Aramark. We are thankful for Aramark’s help and commitment to Bethany with helping us implement improvements to our food services program. Thank you to everyone at Bethany who has contributed to implementing new food service programs, together we have been able to contribute to service excellence for our residents in a very significant way.
For the last 6 months the Project Shift team have been designing and building a new electronic and paperless scheduling and timekeeping system known as Kronos Workforce Central. This summer the project team will begin testing the system.
The new system will begin to be rolled out this fall. A pilot will begin at the Corporate Services building in October, followed by Bethany CollegeSide and Sylvan Lake soon after. Our plan is to have all the Care Centre’s transitioned to the new system by the spring of 2018.
What does this mean for you?
Why we are changing?
Our current scheduling and timekeeping system (ESP) was first introduced to Bethany over 20 years ago. With a new tool it will help us:
Next steps
Thank you for helping us make this important organizational transformation!
– Nancy Hughes, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer,
Lisa Watson, Vice President, People & Culture
I had the privilege of attending Calgary Orientation this week in which we welcomed new employees to the Bethany family. Meeting our employees and hearing their stories and reasons for joining Bethany is always energizing and rewarding. Bethany has a very strong reputation in our industry for providing excellent care and services to our residents, tenants and families. Our mission of Creating Caring Communities, being recognized as a Top Employer 10 years in a row this year, and creating a culture of service excellence provides us with a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent to the organization. We have an amazing workforce, rich in diversity of culture and experiences, all coming to Bethany for the common purpose of serving others. It is not an accident that so many of our employees have been at Bethany for 15+ years!
Our new employees at Orientation were given a “sneak peek” of our Bethany videos in which Bethany employees tell their stories about working at Bethany. The passion for serving others is very evident from each of our “Bethany stars”, and their positive attitude and pride is contagious! The videos can be found on YouTube by searching “Working at Bethany”, or you can visit Bethany’s YouTube Channel here. Daranne Harris, our VP & Chief Mission Officer, talks about understanding how we can improve the experience for residents, families and each other. We all own the Bethany experience, and it’s up to each of us to shape and create it. I encourage each of you to watch the videos and to consider how you will shape and create your Bethany story.
– Lisa Watson, Vice President, People and Culture
Reaching New Heights!
Over the course of my career I have been privileged to learn, grow and experience many things. This week I was able to raise awareness about dementia and the wonderful care that the People of Bethany provide everyday and check something off my bucket list. I don’t remember when I decided that I wanted to climb a construction crane but I have been talking about it for several years. To finally be able to do this at Bethany Riverview was thrilling.
I was humbled by the support I received and so appreciative for everyone who showed up to cheer me on. It was especially exciting for me that my son could come and watch his mom do something that is somewhat out of her norm! I love what I do and when I reached the top of the crane and looked down at our new building, I was excited to see our vision coming to life.
I have reflected on the experience and I am so happy that I pushed past my fears and allowed myself to experience the excitement of the climb, the beautiful view from the top and a once in a life time opportunity to operate the crane for a few moments (supervised, of course)!
Thank you to each of you for supporting me by making a donation, cheering me on and for the words of encouragement. Every day I am inspired by the work that you do. I’m honored to serve the People of Bethany.
– Jennifer
Congratulations to Chaplain Jennifer Hauck (Bethany Calgary) who was honoured with an Excellence in Institutional Ministry award from the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC). The accolade recognizes a person who has made a significant contribution to and demonstrated excellence in professional practice as exemplified by the CASC Standards of Practice. Jennifer has a depth of knowledge and dedicated presence with residents and family members that makes her a welcome companion on the aging journey. She is also instrumental in cultivating the next generation of chaplains by mentoring students as a preceptor in the Clinical Pastoral Education program.
In the corporate world, companies are monitored and analyzed based on how well they do financially from one period to the next. This is done for each fiscal year and, on an interim basis, for each fiscal quarter. You may have noticed in the media last week that the major Canadian banks, for example, issued their second quarter results, which came with a variety of comments about how well they were performing against their financial plans and in relation to the other banks.
Although Bethany operates in the ‘not-for-profit’ world – both Bethany Care Society and The Bethany Care Foundation are registered Canadian charities – we also have our financial results reviewed by an independent auditor. Both organizations have a fiscal year that starts on April 1 and ends on March 31. As a result, for the past couple of months, the focus of work for the Finance department has been on closing out the financial records for last year, preparing for the audit team’s arrival at the beginning of May, and responding to their questions about our financial results, the values of our assets and liabilities, and how the information and numbers were determined. I am very pleased to say that this work is now complete and that, once again, the staff met the high standards that the auditors expected.
For some people, the thought of having their work monitored, reviewed and perhaps even challenged, is not very pleasant. Thankfully, the team is accustomed to this level of scrutiny, and we use this process as one of the ways we monitor the quality of work the Finance department, and the many others who support the department, do for Bethany.
No matter where people work at Bethany – whether working as a frontline care giver, or as a maintenance or support worker at any of our care centres or housing apartments, or in a Corporate Office position (such as in Finance), or as one of our managers or other leaders in the organization – it is important we celebrate the importance of teamwork. We all have the opportunity to contribute our special skills and experiences in the best ways we can.
I want to congratulate the employees who were involved in Bethany’s 2016-2017 financial audits, and to thank them all for the pride they take in their work. This is just one of the important ways these People of Bethany contribute to our residents and families in Creating Caring Communities.
As always, I welcome ideas, suggestions and any questions that you may have. Please feel free to send them to me at Alasdair.Smith@bethanyseniors.com.
Take care,
Alasdair