Category: News

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

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.

1. How long have you worked at Bethany Care Society? What is your role here and what was your previous role?
I have worked as the Lead Clinical Educator at Bethany for about a month. I used to work for Carewest as a clinical educator and Bow Valley College as an instructor for Practical Nurses and Health Care Aide programs. I have a passion for Bethany’s mission of creating caring communities and client-centered care. The vision at Bethany has helped me envision how I can make a difference and contribute my skill set to the organization.

2. Briefly describe a typical day in your shoes. What is the most interesting aspect of your job?
I lead clinical education. My day to day activities include making sure our organization is meeting accreditation standards, our client-centered care goals and building working relationships with other stakeholders within the organization. I ensure that we are providing quality education to meet our diverse staff needs and help them perform their day to day jobs according to best practices. My profession is a nurse and I have experience in acute care, long-term care and community care. I am able to utilize that knowledge and share it with my staff to support them. I’m currently also supporting the RAI assessors.

3. What is your philosophy in life?
My philosophy in life is to step into other’s needs, providing support no matter what and dedicating myself to others. I face challenges and always find a way to win those challenges.

4. Tell us some interesting facts about yourself?
I volunteer almost every day and believe in giving back to the community. I have worked as a volunteer for the UN in the UNCHR from 2000 to 2002 in the protection office department supporting refugees. I also worked as a community organizer for the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary and I have been a Director of the Sunalta Community Association for the past four years. You learn so much from society and I am honoured by that so I contribute by giving back my skills, talent and time to the community. I’m a very caring person and I’m passionate about the residents, understanding what it’s like being in their shoes and supporting them.

In 2014 I received an Excellence in Nursing Education Award and in 2015 I was nominated for Leadership and Practical Nurses Educator Award. I also love to do presentations on different topics including diversity! I am in my last course of Masters of Art in Education and Leadership.

5. Describe your favourite moment at Bethany.
My favourite moment was meeting everybody and having discussions with them in my first month. I met with all of the Client Services Managers and I enjoyed getting to know everyone. I came here with a strong alignment with Vision 2020 and I’m excited to see where we will go with education in the future.

Jeanne Calma works as a Health Care Aide at Bethany Cochrane and is an example of many of our standards for service excellence, including ownership and pride. During the past year, Jeanne took the initiative on tub room standards and our new hires orientation process. Jeanne organized the tub room to ensure compliance with safe bathing standards, IP&C practices and resident choice, coordinating over 150 baths per week!

Jeanne shows continuous improvement by monitoring and adjusting schedules weekly as needs arise. Jeanne’s ownership and initiative have created a better experience for residents and staff, as well as ensured compliance with regulatory standards.

In addition to her leadership with the tub room, Jeanne has contributed to the success of the new hire onboarding process at Bethany Cochrane. New HCA employees are buddied with a seasoned staff member who accompanies them throughout the process.

Jeanne takes pride in sharing her knowledge to ensure new staff is able to provide competent and compassionate care. Jeanne mentors staff by example and ensures they are able to discuss policy, procedures and standards at Bethany. By taking an interactive approach, new staff are able to successfully learn their roles. Jeanne is an example of providing excellent service to residents, new staff members and colleagues.

Bethany showed their strength and team spirit at one of Calgary’s most popular summer events, the Calgary Dragon Boat Race and Festival that took place on August 12-13 at North Glenmore Park and Bethany’s enthusiastic team was there to compete! Our team included dedicated and passionate Bethany employees, an Aramark employee and friends and family members. After training for months, Team Bethany posted a best time of 2:37.48 in their first race, and finished third in their final race with a time of 2:41.37. It was an exciting finish with our team showing a burst of speed and pulling their boat from last place to third place during the last few hundred metres of the “C” Consolation race. Congratulations to the team for their dedication and great team spirit! You represented Bethany well!

Last year, the town of Cochrane received provincial funding to establish an Elder Abuse Steering Committee. Bethany Cochrane was honoured to be invited to be part of this group, with a common goal of building a collective and collaborative approach to battling elder abuse. Over the last year members have come together to develop a community driven response and are well on the way to having a framework for reporting, training the community and having a 24 hour response line.

On June 15, Bethany Cochrane played an active role in the annual World Elder Abuse Awareness day. Residents from supportive living attended the event wearing purple clothing, (purple is the colour used worldwide to show awareness for Elder Abuse).

The day commenced with a pancake breakfast held at the Cochrane Legion. Speeches from the committee and Cochrane Mayor Ivan Brooker were shared about the progress of the response plan and the vision for Cochrane to become a community free from elder abuse.

Mayor Brooker also planted a purple lilac tree, the symbol chosen by the steering committee to raise awareness. This was followed by an awareness march along Main Street Cochrane involving Bethany residents and community members. It was great event and we thank the residents and staff of Bethany Cochrane for raising awareness on behalf of all seniors in the community.