Culture Change Agents

So, I have returned from four days of networking with peers and regulators at the SORIM-ltc conference. it was enlightening to say the least, and now I am fired up with ideas and inspirations to create change. It is a little unsettling to not be able to sleep at night as the ideas and process change thoughts spin in my head.
What I do know, is that the current regulatory and provider environments need to realize that recreating the same product we have is not an option. Yes, we can tweak our current environments, and make them "home like". We can use fancy terms, and create "teams" and care givers who are empowered. But if we forget about the consumer who will be using our product, the same consumer who currently distrusts us, and is fearful of "nursing home" we will do nothing to improve the image or opinion of the general masses.
It is this consumer view that we need to focus on as we create culture change. Where in the models are the consumer opinion, and test group studies? It is interesting that I am not finding much information about the outcomes from this perspective.
What I do find, is the pervasive belief that nursing homes cause harm, are viewed as warehouses where care is not good, the food is terrible and abuse occurs. Nursing homes are to be avoided at all costs in the general public opinion poll. If you don't believe me, sit down and visit with strangers on an airplane, at a bar, or any public place that you can interact with complete strangers. The reaction by and large is not a favorable one.

So what do we do? Well in my sleeplessness, I often get up and get on line. I recently stumbled across two different discussion thread groups geared toward caregivers of elderly parents. These sites were designed as sounding boards for individuals who take care of an elder in their home as a family member. They basically are on line support groups. I could not resist responding to a few comments that were wrought with significant misinformation about medicare eligibility and dementia, and giving the correct response. It was after reading several posts; and a few heart failing moments; when I felt like my culture change vision was at a dead end; that it dawned on me...We are not spreading our message beyond our box. What do I mean by this? Think about it, what was the last article you read about a culture change nursing home that was not in a trade publication? When was the last positive news report about nursing homes on your TV?

The realization that we are good at patting ourselves on the back in our peer group, but are horribly deficient in spreading the good word beyond our new culture buildings hit me as a significant ah ha moment. How do we fix this? How do we get the message out about culture change, how do we get consumers to embrace the change we know we are about? And how do we as providers accept the public opinion as the hard truth when it is true and fix it? These are the really tough questions that we must answer if we are really going to create culture change in elder care, financial support of elder care and public opinion toward caring for elders.

My suggestion? Simple grassroots response. If each provider who reads this were to log onto message boards, give straight forward information, and talk about how we need culture change; it would create a new thought about what we; (providers) are all about to consumers. Write stories for your local paper, get busy and advocate for change. Yes it is time consuming,exhausting and overwhelming; but what do you really want for your future; what do you want for your own elder hood? The results of our effort could be breathtakingly phenomenal.

My own personal experience is that by opening dialogue with a few home caregivers via a caregiver website, I was able to share the culture change theory, and application; talk about medicare, dementia and offer supportive information to consumers who really did not know about our industry. Their opinion was based on that of another, and very little first level experience. Very similar to our own behavior as consumers. Think about this; if we experience bad customer service; we share that story with our friends and contacts. The same holds true for our customers. Yet for some reason, we as providers have a somewhat smug belief that we "are better" then what people think we are and that they are simply uneducated about our services.

If we are going to create a culture of care that our society can embrace, we need to get the message to the masses; and it needs to be a real story, not simply what we think they should know, but the story behind what we have now; and how we together can create environments that every elder would love to call home.

Get out there and share your story, give support, and agree; that care as we know needs to change, and we are the leaders with the knowledge to lead consumers to a new paradigm of social norms regarding elder care, formerly known as nursing care.