Category: Executive Team

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

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

Being Recognized

Earlier this summer Bethany’s Service Excellence Program (WAVE) was introduced to the organization. Since that time many conversations have occurred about service standards and how we embed excellence in everything we do throughout Bethany. One of the four pillars of WAVE is that of recognition.

Recognition is not just a nice thing to do it is an important communication tool that reinforces the actions and behaviors you most want to see people exhibit. Positive recognition is both meaningful and supportive. The saying “what gets talked about gets done,” is especially relevant when recognition is given to team members as it helps shape mindsets on what is important.

Recognition comes in many forms and from many sources. I am particularly proud of the recognition that  Bethany  recently received from the  team planning the Alberta Continuing Care Association’s Inspiring Quality (IQ) Conference. This conference has been held every year since 2011 and highlights work being done in the continuing care sector to improve care delivery and the quality of life for those in care. The IQ planning team has accepted five abstracts submitted by Bethany for presentation at this year’s conference being held in September. These abstracts were prepared by leaders and staff across Bethany and highlight the innovative work that is going on within the organization. Presentations will be given on a broad range of topics including Family Onboarding, Sleep Quality Improvement in Continuing Care, Freedoms Offered in a Dementia Secured Environment, Community Engagement and Enhancing the Dining Experience through Service Excellence. These presentations will serve to showcase work that goes on at Bethany each and every day and the accomplishments that can be achieved through focused teamwork. The conference will allow Bethany presenters the opportunity to share this work with a broad audience including family members, clinical staff, community partners, researchers and healthcare leaders. To be recognized like this for the work that Bethany does is indeed a great accomplishment and one that we all should be proud of.

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

Regards,

– Nancy

My family and I recently spent a week in Orlando and enjoyed the Florida sunshine and lots of heat! We braved the summer crowds with days at Disneyland and Universal Studios, and down time at our rented house and pool. For anyone that has experienced these theme parks, I’m sure you would all agree that customer service is extraordinary! We spent one day at Magic Kingdom, and from the moment we entered the park, you could feel the “Disney magic”. The park was spotless, every Disney person was courteous, smiling and striving to meet all guest’s expectations and deliver service with excellence. They certainly found ways to help everyone and spread lots of joy and happiness! It was contagious and they certainly live into being “The Happiest Place On Earth”.

Sadly, not all of our service was delivered with excellence. We rented a great home through VRBO, which is a Vacation Rental By Owner service. The property was beautiful and there was a welcome message for us, with information about the property management company to contact for any issues. On day 3 our garburator stopped working and the dishwasher was overflowing into the sink and on the kitchen floor. We immediately contacted the property management company and they said they would immediately send someone over to fix it. We arrived home after a long day at Universal Studios to find it wasn’t fixed and no one had come to fix our problem. Our expectations were definitely not met. Despite numerous emails and phone calls, no one came to the house during our 8 days to address our concerns and we had to deal with a blocked sink and overflowing dishwasher for the remainder of our holiday. This lack of customer service was extremely disappointing and such a stark contrast to our experience at Disneyland and Universal.

Bethany is certainly not a theme park, but we too are living into Service Excellence and our Standards for Service Excellence. These standards guide our behaviours to deliver excellent service to all we serve. Let’s all create some of the Disney magic through finding ways to help others and spread joy and happiness. Happy residents, families, tenants and staff create a dynamic and engaged workplace. Imagine a future where Bethany is considered “the happiest place to live and work”. I believe that future isn’t too far away and is absolutely possible.

– Lisa

I have found this summer to be very interesting. In addition to the fantastic weather we have experienced in Alberta, which has enabled us to do many things close to home, my wife and I took a couple of trips to visit with friends in their new homes out of province. As usually happens when you catch up with old friends we had not seen for a while, much of our conversations were about “the good old days” and the activities and events we shared in the past. These memories are important to us as we build on those relationships which we hope will last, likely from a long distance, for many more years. At work as well, it is enjoyable to think back to the things we used to do, either at Bethany or with previous employers, often thinking back (sometimes enviously) about those “good old days.”

One of the things I have been working on is preparing for a Bethany Care Foundation Board retreat later this month. The purpose of this retreat is to have the Board think of their preferred future direction for the Foundation – to identify the directions that they would like to see the Foundation take over the next decade. At home as well, there are plenty of opportunities to plan for the future; whether it is for the educational course we would like to take, or how we will save to buy a new car or house, or establishing a plan to marry, start a family or retire. These are all times when looking into the future and attempting to build that perfect plan are important.

One of the things I have noticed is we often spend so much time looking back in our pasts and planning for the good times ahead, that we sometimes forget to focus our attention on the present time. What is the task I am doing today, how can I do it better, and what can I do to make sure I enjoy what I am doing? I believe this is true in our personal relationships and activities as well as what we do at work. The Standards for Service Excellence provide guidance for some of the ways that we all can provide the direction to our day-to-day work, as well as in how we interact with people in our personal lives, as we meet the challenges of meeting our day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Applying focus and direction to those responsibilities is just one of the ways that we can meet Bethany’s mission of 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

Shaping Big Decisions

Life is full of big decisions. What will I do for a career? Who will I marry? What neighbourhood will we live in? For our family, the current big decision is what kind of dog we are going to get. We have done a great deal of research and talked to a lot of people about their experiences. Finding a good match is most important and we are taking our time.

For families with a loved one in care, choosing a care facility is one of the biggest decisions they will ever make. And there isn’t often the luxury of time. Yet, they too are looking for a good match and will be influenced by conversations with others who have loved ones in care and experiences visiting our sites. By approaching the work we do through Service Excellence we are shaping the experiences of current and future residents. We want them to feel that Bethany has been or could be the right choice because they can continue to live their story in a community that values them and surrounds them with heartfelt care.

Each of us is part of this community. I hope the big decision you made to work with Bethany has been a good match also. Service Excellence isn’t a program, but rather the sum of all the positive interactions we have with residents, families, our peers, volunteers and suppliers each and every day. Thank you for the excellence you bring to the ways you serve!

And while I may spend my evenings oohing and ahhing over the latest puppy video, my days are brightened by your stories of the unique ways people at Bethany are creating moments of meaning for our residents and each other. Please continue to send those to me at daranne.harris@bethanyseniors.com.

Blessings,

– Daranne

WAVE….Service Excellence at Bethany

Over the last few weeks we have introduced you to Bethany WAVE, our service excellence program. This exciting initiative provides guidance and tools to help all of us who serve the People of Bethany action our values. Great things happen at Bethany every day. When we care, show respect and act responsibly we are living our values and ensuring we deliver on our mission of creating caring communities.

Please take the time to watch our Service Excellence videos where members of the Executive Leadership team and our Aramark partner share their views on the importance of service excellence. As you become familiar with the elements of WAVE, specifically the service standards, I encourage you to work with your team and discuss how these service standards become our way of “being” at Bethany. I remind you of the quote credited to Maya Angelou, “People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.”

Welcome to WAVE…Service Excellence at Bethany!

I welcome your comments and feedback about WAVE or other matters. I can be reached via email at Jennifer.mccue@bethanyseniors.com.

– Jennifer

The Importance of Surveys

For those not already aware it is survey season at Bethany! Throughout the summer, Bethany survey teams and our Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) are asking long-term care and supportive living residents, their families, and housing tenants about their experiences at Bethany. This year the HQCA is surveying family members at most of our sites as part of the provincial survey that happens every 3 years. This year is special, though, because two of our sites are working directly with the HQCA survey team in piloting an electronic version of the survey that may influence how our province surveys families into the future. Very exciting!

Our family and housing surveys are typically mailed out. However, resident surveys are completed by specially trained, registered Bethany volunteers through one on one interviews. These interviews can take anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes. In 2013, 171 residents were surveyed, in 2015, 197 residents were surveyed and we are hoping to get more than 200 surveys completed this year. This represents well over 100 hours our volunteers are committing, which is equivalent to working full time for just over 2 ½ weeks.

Coordinating volunteer and site schedules require the support of many but the volunteer coordinators at each site really contribute to the overall success of surveys at their sites. This year’s surveys are going very smoothly in large part due to their efforts. I would like to extend a special thank you to the volunteer coordinators for all of their support and assistance with our survey process.

Improving quality of care through a resident and family care approach requires support and opportunities for active engagement of residents and families in decisions that affect their lives. Surveys are one way Bethany engages residents and families in a conversation about how we are doing and how to improve the quality of care and services across our sites. Families and residents welcome the chance to share their views about their care and relationships at Bethany and can be our strongest advocates in shaping the environment where care is delivered and the quality of care received. We each have a role to play in ensuring that they are strong advocates.

Survey results will be shared over the coming months with Bethany Leadership, the site Quality Safety Committees and Family Councils. I encourage each of you to take time to review the results and to consider how you can support the suggestions, ideas and recommendations that come forward through this process.

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

Regards,

– Nancy

People of Bethany

I celebrated my first year anniversary at Bethany in June, and I have reflected on my personal highlights over the past year. What definitely stands out for me are the people – the “People of Bethany”. I have been inspired by seeing Bethany employees proudly wearing their “People of Bethany” t-shirts as I visit our sites. Did you know that People of Bethany is our digital media initiative launched in September 2016 to connect us all through showcasing the lives of our residents, volunteers, staff and community partners on Instagram and Facebook?

Our People of Bethany campaign is creating strong conversations and connecting us all. That is the power of social media. I’m sure many of you with young children can relate to my concerns about the digital generation and their obsession with technology. I struggle watching my 12 year old daughter Aimee and her friends sitting in my living room all staring at their phones and communicating to each other digitally. However, I have come to recognize and appreciate that social media connects us in very powerful (and different!) ways that can inspire us and bring us closer as a community. I believe our People of Bethany social media campaign has done just that.

I have enjoyed reading the amazing stories of our People of Bethany, and feel like I have personally connected with so many people within the Bethany community. I love going online regularly to see the new photos and read the new stories of our People of Bethany, and was proud to share my story with friends and colleagues through Facebook. Sharing on Facebook created a dialogue about my life and experience in not for profit health care that hadn’t existed otherwise.

Our People of Bethany stories are continuing throughout the next year. I encourage you to tell your story, get engaged and connect with us on social media and proudly support the People of Bethany!

– Lisa

School is out! – and it appears that, this year, we are headed into the summer in a spectacular way, at least in comparison to other summers in the last few years.

I know everyone has their own favourite season, and for me that is summer. It always feels liberating to know that you can walk outside without finding a coat and putting on boots to keep out the cold or wet. It is a time to easily keep active, by getting out for a walk or a run or a bike ride to explore the areas around our homes, or by hiking, golfing or boating in places farther afield. It is a time to socialize with our neighbours, as we work in our yards or relax outside, rather than moving quickly to get to the shelter of our homes or cars or work places. It is also the time of year that many of us travel to places near or far, either to visit relatives or friends, or to explore places we have never been before. These are just some of the many ways we can exercise our own discretion to choose how we want to spend our time. It is indeed an exciting time when we can do different things to satisfy what we want to do for our own enjoyment!

Last week, Bethany also introduced our Service Excellence Program – WAVE. I had the pleasure of introducing the program to most of the staff in my portfolio (it is a small group of dedicated staff who perform a number of very different and distinct roles). I was excited about how they identified, in their own unique ways, how they might choose to practice the Bethany Standards for Service Excellence in their day to day work. These standards provide 24 statements, summarized within 11 themes, which we can all identify with as we carry out our daily routines and activities at work, whatever those may be. The standards should not be new to any of us: they just remind us all of the things we should choose to pay attention to as we go about our work.

I encourage all of us to read the Bethany Standards for Service Excellence and apply them, using our own discretion and applying our own good judgment, to determine how we approach our work at Bethany. This is just one of the important ways we, the People of Bethany, contribute directly or indirectly 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