Contextual environment
This is an analysis of Berala on the Park therapeutic recreation programs. Berala Park is twenty-four hours nursing care that offers high quality services and care to clients of all ages. Additionally, Berala Park offers leisure and recreational activities. Berala Park services are categorized into three groups, which include health, lifestyle and activities (Berala on the Park, 2012).
Berala on the Park mission is to provide “optimum quality resident care delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, professionalism and individual pride.” At the same time, the Berala on the Park is dedicated to providing excellence and compassionate care services to the aging members of the society.
The premise has established itself as a place where caring begins, and life continues. The main goal of Berala on the Park is to deliver a sustainable, healthy, and comfortable living environment for the aging. At the same time, Berala aims at providing a conducive environment that encompasses freedom, peace, and individuality. It is aimed at gaining new knowledge and insight into aged care so as to ensure high quality care services are delivered (Berala on the Park, 2012).
Berala offers low, high, dementia, and low and high respite care accommodation services to the elderly. Low care accommodation allows the client to enjoy the freedom and independence while being cared. It provides independent choices for the client and ensures that home setting environment that is warm, friendly and sociable.
High level care guarantees Gold standard level of care to the elderly by delivering quality service facilities, and comfort. This ensures the same environment is provided to the client family at the same time. High level care is designed to ensure that residents enjoy relaxing and pure comfort of peace. Low and high respite care are a flexible service that is designed for short-term stays. It gives the exact quality services as enjoyed by other permanent residents.
Various researches show that active treatment of delirium, depression and cognitive deficits caused by dementia are best treated through a supportive environment (Poole, 2000). It is on this basis that Berala on the Park introduced dementia care. Berala dementia care caters for emotional care of its residents by providing necessary care assistance. They encourage the participation of the elderly in the activities as well as providing a cheerful and friendly environment for the residents.
The primary focus of Berala on the Park is to make sure that the needs for the ageing individual are catered. At the same time, it gives the client and his or her family with peace of mind in a more professional way. Rooms at the facility are designed to ensure that paramount comfort is guaranteed. Air conditioning, flat screen televisions, fridge, telephones, broadband connectivity, and most modern en-suit are provided in all rooms. The facility has a 9A Grade hospital building that is in compliance with hospital grade standards.
Berala on the Park has highly qualified and experienced staffs that ensure that the needs of all clients are adequately met. The dedication of nurses to the service of the clients makes your stay at the facility a very nice experience for yourself and your family. The residence offers amazing and stimulating activities to the residents at all times.
Extensive activities program ensures that residents have fun and enjoy themselves with various activities such as bingo, bowls, concerts, karaoke, among other activities that are offered. Divisional Therapist creates full time activities that suit every choice. These therapeutic activities are to encourage social interaction and cultivate a sense of belonging to the residents.
Parole has well structured lifestyle that encourages residents to participate in leisure and therapeutic activities. Social and leisure assessment activities encourage individual residents’ input in the development of their own lifestyle care plans. These programs are maintained by divisional therapist officers.
Daily Physio aide exercise programs in the residence, live entertainment, morning music, gentle exercise activities, reminiscence or reflection sessions such as nostalgia mornings and memory boxes, aromatherapy and art are other therapeutic activities that the majority of resident finds very important (Astin, 1999).
Berala has improved technology for instance; televisions sets at the home interact with the call bell system, communication infrastructure such as phone systems such as call mobile and STD numbers, and new DECT phone. Berala staff also participates in activities with the residents. That such activities are all inclusive of the staff are exercises, music, and games. Other activities offered include art and craft, dancing, reading, scrabble, outings, and tai chi.
Berala has a stack to this philosophy by continuously pursuing improvement their building and making rooms more specious (Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Limited, 2009). All the workers have the skills of performing tasks. This ensures that education that is provided by the staff to the residents meets their needs. The company has a stack on its philosophy to offer quality care by intensively proper training and education of the staff.
Education relating to accreditation standards is regularly provided to the staffs which usually include quality management, aged care, administration and mentoring. Additionally, Berala in its philosophy is committed to maximizing residents privacy and dignity at all times. The staffs are adequately trained to manage the resident’s privacy by always requesting permission from the residents to access their rooms.
In support of its ageing care services, the company ensures that excellent meals are prepared for the residents. The home has chefs that that develop and prepare menus that provide fresh food for the resident. Above all, meals are very nutritious and delicious with seasonal ingredients that guarantee excellent satisfaction. The dishes provided are homemade and meet certain dietary needs of different residents.
At this point, it’s important to reemphasize the special attachment that Berala has for the aged individuals in the society. Residential aged care homes play a very important role in providing accommodation and support for elderly people in society who are unable to live independently at home. It is for the realization of these that Berala has endeavored to provide beautiful and friendly environment for resident through quality care, activities, meals, and accommodation.
Assessing of individual care needs of the client
The client I worked with in my program is called Betty. Betty is 80 years old retiree. Betty has not received any advanced aged care since she left Berala on the Park home in the last five years. Bettie experiences pain on a regular basis that has had a significant effect her individual quality of life for the last twenty years.
The pain has decreased her ability to function effectively thereby limiting her mobility, social interaction, appetite, and rest patterns. More so, the pain seems to have changed her psychological well-being for some time now. This has left her more anxious and depressed. Betty is on pharmacological pain management strategies on a daily basis of low and high respite care of Berala home.
Betty is an eloquent speaker with jovial character when a person gets used to her. What fascinates me about her is her composure and love of music and dancing. She particularly enjoys dancing to pop and jazz music and watching cartoon network. At the same time, she is a great fan of topic comic and reality shows.
Since pain assessment and diagnosis is carried out for residents with dementia or severe cognitive impairment, Betty gets the much needed assistance from the Berala home. She receives a high level of care and assistance that encourage her to participate in activities as well as stimulating mentally by creating social friends. This leaves her more cheerful than before.
Program implementation
Since Betty loves music, dancing, and watching top comic and reality shows, the intended program for her is leisure and recreation. The activity for the client should capture her likings so as a combination her current pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment can be successful. The illness caused her to be more anxious and depressed, therefore, the program is aimed at letting her recognize her that she only but her early stage dementia.
Letting her being engaged in listening to music or using imagery techniques like big screen top comic shows is inevitable in her program. This distraction will help her during painful episodes. It is good to realize that music episodes are important in reducing disrupting behavior of aggression by dementia residents. At the same time, this program requires someone who is cheerful so that my client stay active all the time.
Additionally, aerobic exercises, strengthening stretching, dancing will be fundamental in pain management so as to improve her conditions as well as improving her mood and pain intensity. At the same time, the program cognitive-behavioral therapy will be vital in reducing her anxiety and depression (The Australian Pain Society, 2005).
Evaluation
This program is not unique when compared to other pain and dementia programs in many residential aged care homes, in Australia. This is a positive score for the entire program that my client is to undertake. Well trained, educated and experienced personnel in pain management are required in such programs due to the fact that quality services are required for this program to be successful (Warden & Volicer, 2003).
These professional will be required in the program because of the attention required to avoid moving few step backs in the treatment process. This program might call for multidisciplinary collaboration of the family, nurses, physiotherapists or health professional as well as care workers.
The major aim of the program will be decreasing the pain of my client to a bearable level, and that is the essence of involvement of all these professional groups at one stage of the stages within the program. Education programs of the scope of the program activities will be made available on a regular basis to the staff as update of improving the pain management program (Parsons & Preece, 2010).
The severity of the pain will be regularly be monitored for effective treatment. Pain assessment scales can be used in the evaluation of the pain dimension during the program. The scales are used on a daily basis so as to check the changes in severity, of the pain and check whether the treatment activities are effective and how they can be improved (art et al., 2008). It is important to note that the client will also have a vital role in the program.
Betty’s individual goals are two established first and then become more honest about the treatment activities. Realistic goals of the therapy will be shared between the client and his family. Maintaining of top priority of the treatment goals will be core to the program (Steinhauser et al., 2000).
Post implementation audit is also critical is checking whether the resident pain treatment program has been completed within the required time. The program is expected to have a profound improvement in the condition being faced by my client. The major challenge of the program will be keeping the progress of the program on track so as to achieve the program goals as anticipated.
To ensure the success of the program and especially with regard to her favorite things she likes doing, I bought her favorite top comics and music and recommended the home on the best entertainment specification that are important in the entire process. From my interaction with her, she is a corporate woman willing to engage in activities that are likely to improve her conditions.
The success of this entire program depends on the staff who will be attending to her, her corporation, which is positive alongside other factor. This program promises good outcome due to the effectiveness of the treatment activities and, therefore, very important and highly recommended to other clients.
References
Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency limited. (2009). Decision to Accredit Berala on the Park. Web.
Astin, J.A. (1998). Why patients use alternative medicine: Results of a national study. British Medical Journal, 279 (19), 1548-1553.
Auret, K. A., Toye, C., Gluck, R., Kristjanson, L. J., Bruce, D., & Schug, S. (2008).
Development and testing of a modified version of the Brief Pain Inventory for use in residential aged care facilities. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 56 (2), 301-306.
Berala on the Park. (2012). About us. Web.
Parsons, G., & Preece, W. (2010). Principles and practice of managing pain: A guide for nurses and allied health professionals. England: McGraw Hill Open University Press.
Poole, J. (2000). Nursing Management of Disturbed Behavior in Aged Care Facilities. Web.
Steinhauser, K.E., Christakis, N.A., Clipp, E.C., McNeilly, M., McIntyre, L., Tulsky, J.A.
(2000). Factors considered important at the end of life by patients, family, physicians and other care providers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 284, 2476-2482.
The Australian Pain Society. (2005). Pain in Residential Care Facilities: Management Strategies. North Sydney, NSW.
Warden, V. H. & Volicer L. (2003). Development and psychometric scale. Journal of American Medical Directors, 4 (1): 9-15.