Category: Executive Team

“Go outside and play!”

Does anyone else remember hearing that from a parent or other adult in your life as you were growing up?

For me, who grew up with four other siblings very close in age, it usually meant we had leaned on our mom’s last nerve and she’d had just about enough of us. For those of you who are parents, perhaps you’ve used this line yourself from time to time!

These days, children and grownups are often tethered to the indoors through technology that constantly vies for our attention – email, Facebook, Netflix.

Going outside to play is good for you. It expands your senses. It helps you move your body. It keeps your ‘body clock’ in check. It can ease your mind. And it brings you closer to nature, even if that means just seeing a few flowers for a moment or smelling freshly cut grass.

It’s the middle of August already. Summer is winding down, so I encourage you to go outside and play as much as you can during your time off. If you’re working day shift this week, perhaps take a walk outside at lunch or go sit on a bench during your break and let sunshine (hopefully!) and fresh air refresh you for the rest of your shift.

Let’s all go outside and play a bit more. After all, it’s not called “the great outdoors” for nothing!

Thanks for everything you do for Bethany every day,

— Gail

Bethany is committed to living into our mission of creating caring communities to ensure those we serve receive high quality services. In order for us to do this we must have strong relationships with external partners. Positioning Bethany as a leader within our sector will ensure that we are able to influence important decisions that impact our residents, tenants and employees.

Over the last couple of months I have been very focused on raising Bethany’s profile with our newly elected government. You may wonder why this is important for you and your role at Bethany?

Bethany employees have an important role in building these important relationships. Each of us can be advocates for system improvements. We can do this by engaging with our local elected officials and sharing Bethany’s key messages in a consistent manner, helping them to understand what we need to do to ensure the system is responsive to the needs of those we serve.

As a trusted partner Bethany is called upon to be an advisor on policy decisions that can have significant impacts on residents and employees. We want to ensure we are able to inform decisions that impact care and housing, drawing from our 74 years of experience as a service provider.

In addition to building strong relationships with government it is critical that we engage with other care providers and organizations that influence care and services. This includes Alberta Continuing Care Association, Health Quality Council of Alberta, academic institutions and others. These conversations will shape the future of seniors care in Alberta and Bethany needs to ensure we have a voice heard at these tables.

Every employee is an ambassador for Bethany. During Stampede, we hosted a number of government officials who engaged in conversations with employees, residents, family and volunteers. These moments create amazing opportunities to share Bethany’s story and your experiences working with residents and tenants.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our mission of creating caring communities and for being Bethany Ambassadors!As always, I welcome your feedback at: jennifer.mccue@bethanyseniors.com

— Jennifer

Summer is upon us and whether we plan on travelling or staying close to home, it signals a time to schedule a break from our work. I have just recently returned from a vacation to Vancouver Island to visit my family with my husband and children. We spent most of our time in Nanaimo but enjoyed day trips to Victoria and other parts of the island. Upon our arrival in Nanaimo, it was very apparent that the pace of life seemed to slow right down and we were able to take our time in experiencing the beauty of our surroundings.

During our trip, we went to my brother’s cabin and as I stood on the deck overlooking the lake, I could feel myself starting to relax and embrace this time away. Here at the cabin, there’s very limited connectivity which provided a much needed break from all our electronic devices and allowed us to reconnect as a family. I felt that this holiday also helped me feel more balanced in my life and recharged my energy levels.

It is important for each of us to schedule time off for it allows our minds and bodies to rest and we can be more effective throughout the rest of the year. If you haven’t planned a vacation and have unused vacation days, I encourage you to use them. Take a break, reset, and return to work rejuvenated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message and feel free to reach me with your comments or questions at Doreen.Lee@bethanyseniors.com.

Hope you enjoy this long weekend and celebrate Heritage Day!

Regards,
— Doreen

Summer is Survey Season

Surveys are an important tool to help healthcare providers understand the lived experience of those they serve. Every two years, Bethany conducts internal surveys as part of the organization’s continuous quality improvement strategy. This summer resident, tenant and family surveys will be completed over a four week period in July and August. In addition, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) is conducting Resident and Family Experience surveys in our Designated Supportive Living (DSL) programs at Bethany Sylvan Lake and Bethany Didsbury.

Bethany values its partnership with the HQCA. The HQCA regularly invites Bethany to provide input on their survey methodology, tool and reporting style. After their last survey in 2017, the HQCA requested a follow-up meeting with Bethany leadership to learn more about how the care and services provided resulted in such positive family experiences. To learn more about the HQCA and its surveys, you can click on the following link: https://hqca.ca/surveys/

There are two key reasons we conduct surveys: (1) to engage residents, tenants and families in a conversation about their stay and, (2) to collect meaningful and useful survey data. To support the collection of this information, Bethany’s resident surveys are completed via in-person interviews by a group of specially trained volunteers using a standardized process and survey tool approved by Accreditation Canada. Families will receive a paper copy of their survey in the mail.

Bethany uses both our internal and HQCA survey results to set business priorities and inform decision-making regarding delivery of care and services. In other words, it helps us understand what we are doing well and what changes are required to ensure optimal quality of life for those we serve. Most importantly, listening to our residents, tenants and families ensures they have a voice and allows us to work together to ensure they have the best possible experience during their time with us.

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much” – Helen Keller

If you have any feedback, questions or ideas you would like to share, I welcome you to send them to me at: dana.penner@bethanyseniors.com

Regards,
— Dana

When Vulnerability Creates Opportunity

he new Alberta Continuing Care Facility Directory will be launched on June 11th. The intent of the directory is to assist Albertans in making informed decisions about publicly funded continuing care living options for themselves or others.

The directory will provide important information about the care and services available at long-term care (LTC) and designated supportive living (DSL) facilities in our province. This information includes site photographs, type(s) of programming and status of our Resident and Family Councils as well as a list of unique services and amenities such as music therapy, a tropical atrium and/or bistro.

It will also include information on the performance of the facility. The Accommodation and Continuing Care Health Services (CCHS) Standards audit results will be posted; as well as the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) survey ranking results for food services and overall satisfaction. In addition, there will be a link to each site’s Public 9 Quality Indicators as provided by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

Having all of this information publicly available and easily accessible has the potential to make us feel a bit vulnerable. We may wonder how the public will interpret the “numbers”. Will they understand the context or story behind them? How will they influence their decision to choose a Bethany facility as their new home? How will we compare to other organizations’ facilities?

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” – Brene Brown

In spite of feeling somewhat vulnerable, I believe this directory presents us with great opportunity. It allows us to showcase our beautiful care centers and the excellent work being done by our staff, volunteers and community partners to provide high-quality care and services through ongoing continuous improvement. When prospective residents or families visit the website and ask us questions, we can engage them in a conversation about our many quality improvement initiatives and invite them to provide feedback and share their ideas for innovative service improvements.

On June 11th, I invite you to visit the Alberta Health Services website and view the new directory under the Continuing Care page: www.albertahealthservices.ca. Becoming familiar with the information provided about your site will help prepare you to tell our Bethany story behind the numbers!

If you have any feedback, questions or ideas you would like to share, I welcome you to send them to me at dana.penner@bethanyseniors.com

Regards,
—Dana

Remember Rodney Dangerfield and his famous catchphrase “I don’t get no respect”? It can be very frustrating when you feel disrespected, and hard to change because respect is something you cannot demand or expect from others. Respect is a core value at Bethany, but what exactly is respect?

Respect is series of actions that you show to someone else to build and maintain a relationship. So what does that really mean? It’s those positive feelings or actions you demonstrate to others. It is treating someone so that they feel important or that you hold them in high esteem or regard. Respect can convey a sense of admiration for another, and is demonstrated by exhibiting care, concern, and consideration for their feelings.

There are several things you can do to show respect for others:

Listen – this is always on the top of the list. People want to be heard and using your active listening skills to really listen to someone will show you respect their ideas and opinions.

Behave in a way that is appropriate to them – show compassion for their feelings and make sure you do not speak or act in a way that makes them uncomfortable (this can be very different from person to person).

Show integrity – do the right thing, always. And that means doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

What does respect look like at Bethany? Respect could be as simple as:

• Good manners – such as good meeting etiquette, team behaviour norms such as avoiding inappropriate language or behaviour, sharing and helping others.
• Valuing others’ ideas– really listening to them instead of imposing your own ideas. Active listening is one of the best ways to show respect both in the workplace and in your personal life.
• Give effective feedback– help people understand how they are doing. Feedback helps us improve and move forward. Make the effort to help people stay on track or get back on track with feedback.
• Do what you say you’re going to do– this might seem easy but often we don’t follow through with our commitments, which sends a message that the commitment isn’t important or the person expecting you to follow through is not important.
• Not wasting someone’s time – be on time for meetings, show up prepared, be ready to go, and don’t waste their time when you’re there – value it.
• Incorporate respect into your norms– work with your team to create team norms so everyone is on the same page. Talk about it and give examples so everyone knows exactly what is expected of them.

Building respect can take time, but losing it takes seconds. Once lost, respect can be difficult to regain. With this in mind, it only makes sense to make showing respect a priority.

If you have any questions, or would simply like to share your ideas, please contact me directly at lisa.watson@bethanyseniors.com.

Kind regards,

– Lisa

First Day Questions

Do you remember your first day of work at Bethany? Most of us, on our first day at a new job, feel a lot of excitement mixed with a little bit of anxiety. (Did I set my alarm early enough? What will the people on my team be like? How am I going to remember all these acronyms!?)

We have a new employee, Greg Hovdebo, joining the Foundation this week as our Senior Development Officer.  Having a new person join our team is fantastic for all kinds of reasons.

First and foremost, we have lots of work to do to engage donors in Bethany’s mission, so having more one more pair of hands on deck will make a big difference in our ability to attract donations to the important work that each of you do. I also know that bringing someone onto our team with skills that are different than the ones we already have will make our team even stronger.

One of the best things I think a new employee does is ask a lot of questions. Each new Bethany employee brings a fresh way of looking at what we do and the ways we do it. Sometimes (hopefully!) they’ll even ask ‘why’ we do something the way we do. That gives us a chance to take a fresh look as well. It’s easy to get stuck in ‘well, that’s just the way we’ve always done it’ mode. A new employee’s questions can help us break out of that way of thinking.

Questions can lead to new solutions for old problems. Sometimes we forget to take the time to be curious in the same way our new employees are when they show up for their first days and weeks on the job.

Whether you’re a relatively new employee at Bethany, or someone who’s been here for years, I hope you stay curious and always feel comfortable asking questions. Often, they lead to better answers!

Have a great week. Thanks for everything you do,
 
 
— Gail

As I sit down at my computer to write this update, it is a gorgeous spring day outside – finally! Trees are budding, the grass is turning green, the sun is shining, and winter jackets have been removed and replaced by short sleeves. With the arrival of spring, I am excited to get outside and start playing in my garden. It looks so sad after a long and cold winter, but I get great joy seeing the resilient plants start to poke their heads out of the soil.

Gardening can be a great way to enjoy the outdoors, get physically active, beautify the community and grow nutritious fruits and vegetables. If you are a beginner like me or an expert gardener, health and safety should always be a priority. I thought I would share a few tips to help keep you safe and healthy so that you can enjoy the beauty and bounty that gardening can bring.

• Dress to protect—gear up to protect yourself from lawn and garden pests, harmful chemicals, sharp or motorized equipment, insects, and harmful rays of too much sun.

• Wear safety goggles, sturdy shoes and long pants to prevent injury when using power tools and equipment.

• Protect your hearing when using machinery. If you have to raise your voice to talk to someone who is an arm’s length away, the noise can be potentially harmful to your hearing.

• Wear gloves to lower the risk for skin irritations, cuts and certain contaminants.

• Use insect repellent and protect yourself from diseases caused by mosquitoes and ticks. Wear long-sleeved shirts, and pants tucked in your socks.

• Lower your risk for sunburn and skin cancer. Wear long sleeves, wide-brimmed hats, sun shades, and sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher

• Put Safety First—powered and unpowered tools and equipment can cause serious injury. Limit distractions, use chemicals and equipment properly and be aware of hazards to lower your risk for injury.

• Follow instructions and warning labels on chemicals and lawn and garden equipment.

• Make sure the equipment is working properly.

• Sharpen tools carefully.

• Keep harmful chemicals, tools, and equipment out of children’s reach.

I am so excited to see what Mother Nature has in store for my garden this year, and what bulbs can survive the onslaught of our community bunnies. I look forward to my daily garden inspections and admiring the new growth on my plants and the blossoming of colours and fragrances as summer approaches. To all Bethany gardeners, I wish you a fabulous and safe gardening season.

If you have any questions, or would simply like to share your ideas, please contact me directly at lisa.watson@bethanyseniors.com.

Kind regards,

– Lisa

It’s All A Matter of Perspective

In the words of Henry Ford: “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own”.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have encountered challenges in moving some organizational initiatives forward. I have been met with resistance and even disagreement and I have to say, it has not been entirely clear to me why this has occurred. The conclusion that I have come to is that “it’s all a matter of perspective”.

The above quote encourages us to see things from a different perspective. By doing so, we can raise our own awareness and potentially find better solutions and ways of doing things. As individuals, we filter everything by our personal history, our beliefs, motivations and concepts that we hold true. That said, it is important that we understand that they are not necessarily true for other people. Our individual perspectives influence our behaviour, actions and attitudes. It has been said that the true value of another perspective lies within seeing more of a situation and therefore being able to make a better judgement for ourselves.

I have come to learn that takes courage to see the perspective of others, to acknowledge it and potentially move forward in a different direction. I would also argue it requires discipline to approach situations this way. However, if we do so we may often find a better way to move forward.

I would encourage you to think about this as you encounter challenges in your own lives. Try and understand where the other person is coming from. I would like to close with one of my favourite quotes from Wayne Dyer: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.

As always, I welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have. Please send them to me at nancy.hughes@bethanyseniors.com.

Regards,
— Nancy

The Music You Make

I went to a chamber music concert on Friday night. I just learned about this kind of classical music a couple of years ago (what can I say…I’m more of a 70’s/80’s music fan!)

Chamber music is a beautiful and precise musical style, usually played by a quartet playing two violins, a viola and a cello. It began hundreds of years ago – played in grand palaces and ornate homes to entertain the rich aristocrats who lived in them. Now it’s played in concert halls and is affordably priced so that anyone can enjoy it – students, working professionals, retirees and seniors.

In a purpose-built space, the perfection of each instrument’s part in the musical piece can be heard as clearly as if the players were in your own living room. Each musical note layers flawlessly on the last one played. I’m always amazed at how the musicians remember all the notes without sheet music, and I love how they watch each other carefully as they play, to make sure their collective music creates the best possible sound.

On Friday night as I listened (when I wasn’t nudging my husband who kept nodding off, that is), I found myself thinking about the power of music at Bethany and the meaning it brings to our residents. Whether that music comes from a caregiver singing to a resident, a children’s choir visiting one of our care centres or a therapist led sing-along, music has the power to bring people together in a special shared experience.

Our work brings all of us together in a shared experience, too. If you think about it, Bethany is a bit like an orchestra. We all have our instruments and parts to play. And I’m always so grateful that others know their notes so well! Like a chamber music concert, our work is better and more meaningful when we play it together, each knowing our part and making sure our instruments and notes are in tune with the music others are playing.

On that note, thanks for all you do – and have a great week!

— Gail