STNA Appreciation Week

June 13 - 20 is known as National STNA Appreciation Week. At Good Samaritan, we prepared a luncheon on Thursday, June 20 to celebrate our STNA's and to show our appreciation for all of their hard work and dedication to the facility and our residents. Staff members brought in a variety of food items including barbeque chicken, pasta salad, vegetable pizza, a cupcake cake, fruit salad, and a variety of other homemade dishes.

The resident's of Good Samaritan showed their appreciation for our STNA's by creating a sign that we displayed in the employee break room. A photo of the sign is posted below.

Although STNA week is a national holiday, at Good Samaritan, we try to show our appreciation for staff throughout the year by offering different incentives, raffles, and employee potluck lunches. Our employees make Good Samaritan a great place to work and live. As you can see below, the resident's would agree!

Nurses Week 2013

National Nurses Week begins on Monday, May 6th. At Good Samaritan, we are greatly looking forward to the opportunity to express our appreciation to the 40 nurses we currently have on staff. Throughout the week, we will have different treats and events for our employees. On Friday 5/10, we are looking forward to grilling out hot dogs and hamburgers at Good Samaritan on the patio. All nurses are invited to the cook-out and we hope everyone will be available to join us. Our Director of Nursing and other Managers will be preparing and serving the food/drink. Weather permitting, we would really like to have the celebration outside. Cross your fingers because Cleveland weather could potentially give us a gorgeous, sunny day (or snow)!

On May 8, our facility will be hosting Scrubs On Wheels during nurses week. Scrubs will be for sale through their company. A $5 off coupon is available for all employees to pick up from the human resources office.

A special THANK YOU to all of our nurses - you give us a reason to celebrate!

Nurse Aide week is also right around the corner in June... Stay tuned for more event details!

Save the Date May 11, 2013

2013 Lorain County Heart Walk

            Good Samaritan will be participating in the 2013 American Heart Walk Saturday May 11th. We would love to have as many walkers as possible show up and support a wonderful fundraiser. The festivities/check-in starts at 8am at the Avon Commons Shopping Center. Many give-a-ways and light breakfast served by Subway. If you are interested please let Amie Betz in Admissions know. Hope to see you there.

Olympics at Good Samaritan

    In lieu of Activity professional week, we have 3 days of power fitness and brain fitness planned in this years winter olympic games. To kick off the events we will be having an olympic parade beginning at 2:00 on 1/22/13. The residents will walk around the main part of the building wearing the flags of the country that they chose to represent. The leader of this walk will hold the infamous torch that signifies the coming together of so many different people.
Today's events include U.S. Geography and Cornhole. In U.S. geography, the athletes have 2 minutes to name as many U.S. States as they can. Pencils down when the time is up and winners will be calculated for the closing ceremonies. In Cornhole, the athletes will play each other in a braquet. The first to 21 gets to move on to the next round, then the next round until we have 1st, 2nd, & 3rd places.

Each day consists of two events and will run through Thursday. Thursday night all of our athletes will come together for the Medal ceremony. Each event has 3 winners, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place. All of our contestants will receive a bracelet and a participation certificate. We hope to see a big crowd and lots of cheers. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

Also, we will be having something special for the Activity Team and for our Volunteers, as it is Activity Professional Week.

Upcoming Events in February

February is going to be an exciting month at Good Samaritan! Please save these upcoming dates!

Recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February is American Heart Month. According to the CDC website, "Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States; one in every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke, equal to 2,200 deaths per day."

On February 1, we are asking all of our Good Samaritan team members to wear red in an effort to celebrate American Heart Month and to spread awareness. Looking forward to future events, Good Samaritan is putting a team together to participate in the 2013 Lorain County Heart Walk on May 11, 2013. If you are interested in walking with our team, please contact the Human Resources office at (440) 937-6201. The event begins at 8:00 am at Avon Commons. Please visit www.heart.org/loraincountywalk for additional information.

Also, on February 1, we will be hosting an Employee Appreciation Luncheon at Good Samaritan. All of our current employees are invited to attend. We look forward to celebrating all of our hardworking and dedicated employees! For more information about this event, please contact the Human Resources department.

Not Just Another New Years Resolution, New Years Resolution Blog

It's that time of year, isn't it? Everyone is making their pronouncements of how they will change-- become a better person, loose weight, try something new--you know the routine. Of course, changes like this can be especially difficult if we don't have the right support from our families, friends and even our workplaces. When you live in a nursing home setting a goal for weight loss is equally as difficult and sometimes additional challenges present themselves. Meals in a nursing home are planned with each resident so that everyone gets the calories they need to gain, loose, or maintain weight depending on individual goals. Of course, for many families and friends, the act of sharing a meal or food  doesn't end just because one of us lives at a nursing home. This means that the three meals perfectly planned with the dietician don't include the care packages, the bag of goodies from a favorite fast food joint shared with visiting friends or the meal out with the kids. This can add up to a lot of extra calories and weight gain for someone who had intended to lose weight this year.

At Good Samaritan, we identified this challenge for some of our residents and set about to create a support and education group to help residents meet their goals. We call it Healthy Choices. Last year,  the first year,  the group met three times. I had the pleasure of attending two of the final sessions to celebrate their success. We talked of what everyone had accomplished and what was still ahead. We even talked about how we could be more supportive in our food menu choices and how the program could grow and develop.

I'm looking forward to our next Healthy Choices group and the growing programs and systems of support. I hope that Healthy Choices can be part of even more residents support as they challenge themselves with new years resolutions.

Happy New Year!

WELCOME 2013

With a smile,

A spirit of giving,

A sense of humanity,

& A pledge to spread peace and happiness!

GOOD SAMARITAN WISHES YOU A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!

Upcoming Event: JOB FAIR

Good Samaritan will be hosting a JOB FAIR at our facility on Friday, January 4, 2013. We are looking to hire qualified RNs, LPNs, and STNAs. Please stop by our facility any time between 11:00 am - 3:00 pm to fill out an application and to meet with a Human Resources representative. We hope to see you there!

 

The job fair will be held at our main location, 32900 Detroit Road, Avon Ohio 44011. For additional information, please call Beth McCarthy (HR Manager) at 440-937-6201.

The role of activities

Let me first start out by introducing the Activity Team. First, we have Marie Osborne. She has been with Good Samaritan since 2005. She is an integral part of the team and to the residents. Our residents know that Marie can get things done. When asked why Marie became an activity professional she replied, " I do it to help people, because it makes me feel good to lend a helping hand." In her free time Marie likes to spend time with her family. She has 3 brothers and 2 sisters.

Next on the activity lineup is Sherry Mayer. Sherry is new to the Good Samaritan Team, starting on November 20th, 2012. Since starting she has proved herself to be a great asset. She has pumped up the Good Samaritan drama club to new heights. In fact, they will be performing their play at Manor Care, North Olmsted sometime this coming February. More details to follow. For all your creative needs, please see Sherry Mayer!!

Personally, Sherry has 2 grown children. The oldest girl joined the Air Force after 9/11. Sherry is a beaming proud military Mom! She has 2 grandchildren; Claire who is 6. She is already achieving a 4.0!!  Eric is just 8 months old and aspiring to be a photographer. In her free time, she enjoys going to the MetroParks and Thrift Store Shopping.

Also new to the Good Samaritan Activity Team is Pat Klempsay. Pat brings with her plenty of experience and a fantastic resume. When asked what she enjoys the most about being an activity assistant, she said she loves the people she serves.  Pat, has taken a particular interest in working with our Alzheimer's and dementia unit.

On a personal note, Pat has  3 kids, 6 grandchildren, and two sisters.  When she is not here, making our residents happy, she is spending time with her family and making them happy.

That's a little bit about us, I hope you stay tuned for next months blog!! We sincerely hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Making the admission process a smooth transition

Choosing the right nursing home is a very important and at times a difficult decision. Here at Good Samaritan we want to make the process as easy as possible for the individual as well as the family. It starts by getting to know the person and how we can meet their healthcare needs. What are the expectations, are they looking to make this a temporary situation needing to receive therapy to become stronger in order to return home or more of a permanent situation. Getting to know someone's wants and wishes is very important to us. We want to make our home feel like their home.

We encourage our resident's to bring personal belongings such as photo albums, pictures to hang on the wall, a special chair they liked to sit in at home or a blanket or afghan to decorate their bed. Anything that will help create a home-like environment. We do recommend labeling all personal items including any clothing as well.

Our staff takes pride in getting to know the residents, which helps with the transition too. The Activities Director, Angie Kaminski likes to know what things they like to do such as hobbies, religious beliefs, sporting interests they might have, music, movies and books to name a few. Any information we can get will help make the resident feel more comfortable. Many of our residents are very involved in activities throughout the facility. We have a resident council committee here, which meets monthly. It gives the residents a chance to discuss such things as planning outings, meals and activities they would like to have. We strongly encourage the residents to participate in activities as often as they can.

We always encourage anyone that is interested to please schedule a tour of our facility. Please call Amie Betz in Admssions at 440-371-8167. You will see that at Good Samaritan we are like one big family.

                                   Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year-Amie Betz-Admissions

                                                                                                                               

Our Employees & Residents

From an HR perspective, the relationship between our residents and employees at Good Samaritan is something that would be very difficult to go unnoticed. In fact, I am even going to say the relationship is dependant. Meaning, the two sides depend on one another for support, aid, sustenance, etc. The dependant relationship is something that makes Good Samaritan one of a kind - a nursing home unlike other facilities in Northeast Ohio.

At Good Samaritan, our employees find satisfaction throughout their workday from interacting and helping our residents. RNs, LPNs, STNAs, Social Workers, kitchen staff, activities professionals, and other managers working in a nursing home typically join the field with a passion to make a difference in the lives of others. Here at Good Sam, its obvious to anyone who visits that our employees have joined the health care field for that reason.

A prime example of this would be the giving tree that stands tall in our front lobby as you walk through the front doors. Our (fabulous) Activities Director, Angie, set up the tree with ornaments created by our residents. Each resident decorated an ornament with their name and a hand crafted design. Employees, family members, and visitors are invited to take an ornament from the tree and shop for a resident. At our holiday party on December 22, we will deliver the gifts to our residents. The giving tree is a unique opportunity for our employees to show their support to our residents. After our holiday party, I will post pictures of our residents with their presents from the giving tree. If you are interested in taking an ornament from the tree and shopping for a resident, please stop by Good Samaritan to choose your ornament. Pictures to follow after the holiday party... check back after 12/22!

While the employees have plenty of opportunities to show their support to our residents, the residents also have ways to show their appreciation to our employees. Tickets For Teamwork is a program that our Administrator has developed to recognize our employees for their hard work and dedication to Good Samaritan. When a resident brings forward a compliment about one of our employees, that employee is given a ticket which enters them into the weekly drawing. We draw two tickets each week and the winners receive free movie tickets.

In conclusion, as we continue to move forward as an organization, I look forward to watching the ongoing working relationships grow and prosper at Good Samaritan. Our team of employees AND our residents make Good Samaritan one of the best places to work AND one of the best places to live.

Happy Holidays, Beth McCarthy (Human Resources Manager)



The Giving Tree at Good Sam



Welcome

Welcome to the Good Samaritan blog.

As we approach the new year, I'm thinking about the changes we've seen over the years and the terrific speed and frequency with which change continues. Long-term care will face new challenges in the year to come but the opportunity to be creative and continue resident centered approaches remains at the center of our future. Here's a little preview of topics I plan to talk more about in future posts.

Preventing avoidable re-hospitalizations has been in the news this year as hospitals face increasing penalties for failed care transitions. A quick Google search will hook you up with lots of news and analysis about the impact to hospitals and role long-term care plays in curing this budget buster. As care-givers, Good Samaritan invested several years ago in an electronic data collection and assessment tool called COMs Daylight (you can find out more about this company and their product at www.comsllc.com). Through frequent, focused assessment our nurses use the system to help identify changes early and communicate with doctors prior to an issue being critical enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Generally speaking, that's what we mean by avoidable. One of the key outcomes the healthcare system is measuring is returns to the hospital less than 30 days after a hospital discharge. The average is 25%. At Good Samaritan we've managed to keep that percentage below 15% for much of the year and I'm particularly proud to report that we had no under 30 day returns to the hospital in November. As we continue to focus on that number, we are looking at other opportunities to enhance our performance and outcomes. In 2013 we will expand the use of data and early identification though the use of the Interact II process (see their website www.interact2.net). We will also be working with our residents are their decision makers to have early conversations about their care goals for management of chronic illnesses and symptoms.

Something else to look for in 2013 is coordination of healthcare. Ohio has applied to the federal government to coordinate care for "dual eligibles." A dual eligible person is participating in both Medicaid and Medicare. Dual eligible persons are sicker and use the healthcare system more frequently. Under the plan, a dual eligible person will be covered by a managed care program (think managed Medicare) which, as the plan projects, will help keep costs under control through reducing hospitalizations and unnecessary treatment (due to better coordination). If accepted, the program will be piloted in counties surrounding Ohio's major metropolitan areas and for us here in Lorain county, this means that all dual eligible persons will be covered by either Buckeye, CareSource or United.

-Kerry Bohac, Administrator