LOCH LOMOND VILLA BECOMING
A "PLANETREE CONTINUING CARE COMMUNITY"
A Philosophy that Brings Others Along For The Journey….
What is Planetree?
Vision:
As a global catalyst and leader Planetree promotes the development and implementation of innovative models of healthcare that focus on healing and nurturing body, mind and spirit.
Mission:
Planetree is a non-profit organization that provides education and information in a collaborative community of healthcare organizations, facilitating efforts to create patient centered care in healing environments.
Today, Planetree is an internationally recognized leader in patient-centered care. In healthcare settings throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, Planetree is demonstrating that patient-centered care is not only an empowering philosophy, but a viable, vital, and cost effective model. The Planetree model is implemented in acute and critical care departments, emergency departments, long term care facilities, outpatient services, as well as ambulatory care and community health centers.
LOCH LOMOND VILLA – “PUTTING THE PUZZLE TOGETHER”
WHY WE CHOSE PLANETREE
When you decide to put together a jigsaw puzzle, first you take all the pieces out of the box and put them on your table, then you usually try to find all the pieces that make up the outer edge to make the frame, then you fill in the middle with the remaining pieces and when completed, you have a sense of accomplishment and a beautiful picture.
Choosing to become a Planetree affiliate was somewhat like putting together a jigsaw puzzle for Loch Lomond Villa. We knew we had all the pieces we just weren’t sure how to put them together so that the beauty of Loch Lomond Villa would shine through. Our puzzle: as the second largest long-term care facility in New Brunswick we are Home to over 400 residents comprised of a 196 bed long-term care nursing home, 16 Assisted Living apartments, and 250 independent living apartments in addition to our Outreach Programs (Seniors Day Care Program and Lamplighter Program) that’s the outside edge of our puzzle. It’s a big puzzle!
In 2009 the Province of New Brunswick announced funding for us to rebuild this 38 year old structure in stages over the next six years. The timing was perfect. We would be building a new building, reworking our soft skills and revamping our culture. This is where the Planetree philosophy fits into our puzzle. Once we had the introductory sessions with Heidi Gil, we were hooked. We already had the puzzle pieces but Heidi showed us a way to complete the picture by becoming a Planetree affiliate. Loch Lomond Villa has always been proud of the quality care and services that we provide. We have won awards for our Connecting Seniors Dreams Program, other Nursing Homes call us for advice on how we do things, and our staff is called upon on a regular basis to provide leadership to other homes to assist with the implementation of their programs. We must be doing some things well. We asked ourselves the questions again - are we truly resident-centered? Is what we thought was quality care for our residents, truly what the resident and their family thought was quality care? Times are changing, levels of care are changing, the needs of the residents are changing, and we need to change with them. Planetree is providing us with the framework necessary to respond to this changing environment.
In the Fall of 2010, Jim Kinsey (Consultation Services Specialist) spent three days in our home conducting information sessions for residents, families, tenants, staff, volunteers, community partners, and Board Members (our stakeholders). Jim left us anticipating what was to be, he left the stakeholders excited, and assured us that we were up for the task ahead. Our puzzle pieces didn’t change, but now we know how we can more effectively put them together.
In December Jim and his colleague Christy Davies returned to Saint John, to complete our Organizational Assessment. We were both anxious and excited because any time an organization exposes “the good, the bad, and the ugly”, it is a difficult exercise. After two days of talking with all the stakeholders, the preliminary report called an Organizational Assessment Report-Out was given to our Leadership Team. The Organizational Assessment clearly identified what we were doing right, and what we needed to address. Some of the things we already knew, some of the things were big surprises, both illustrated that we still have a ways to go. Since then we have held a Leadership Retreat – WOW, two full days of really getting to the bottom of what it is we want to do, what we are going to look like and how we are going to get there and most importantly how we will be “truly resident-centered?” this is the middle of our puzzle. Challenges are many: changing the mindset of staff who believe “we have always done it that way” or, “what makes this “program” any different then others we have tried?” We have prioritized the recommendations from the Organizational Assessment and we all agree that we will work to fulfill each of them. Exciting times are ahead.
Just as we have started to build our new 100-bed nursing home across the street, we have begun the building of the philosophy of care for a new and improved Loch Lomond Villa. Becoming a Planetree affiliate has helped us to organize all the pieces of the puzzle and lay them out and see where things should fit. We have begun the journey of putting the puzzle together so that the true beauty of Loch Lomond Villa will shine through, and this is the heart of our puzzle.
Bev Wilkins
Executive Assistant
Planetree Co-Coordinator
Loch Lomond Villa, Inc.
