To have the National Adult Day Services Association come to Wisconsin is a one-off opportunity - so i knew this was going to be a fantastic day!!
The conference was held at the Hilton in downtown Milwaukee, from the 23rd until the 25th..full of Adult Day Services and Organisational speakers...
I chose to attend Beth Meyer Arnold and Lyn Geboy's conference on "Organizational Fitness" - this was utterly mind blowing, and even though i have spent the last couple of weeks at Luther Manor, i was able to learn deeper into the Program Structures, Architectural qualities and much much more - i did not realise how much work went into providing a successful, engaging Adult Day Center.
The main ethic behind this morning session was "Personal Urgency to Make CHANGE happen" - there are many faults seen within a care home (learnt stereotypically of what a Care facility is meant to be like) but it takes alot of work to change this stereotypical culture. This needs to take a shift in the next few years to enable this New Generation to have a voice and to be engaged with everyday activities - changing this negative aging to a Positive and hopeful life.
Person Centered Care has been researched and proved successful in many Care Facilities in the US as it provides the four states of well-being, which are Personal Worth, Agency, Social Confidence and Hope. So to work closely to that individual, one-to-one, getting to know their backgrounds, interests, families etc provides the staff with crucial knowledge. They are now able to develop and design relevant programs that will engage the participants during their day at the Adult Day Center.
At Luther Manor - when a new participant arrives they are given a questionnaire to fill in about their personal life and interests and this is kept on a system for all staff members , all staff are allocated 8 members to work closely with day-to day. I think this Person Centered Approach is the way forward and allows close collaboration and inter-generational work.
The main message being "You should see Participants as Extraudinary people".
