Shifting the Trajectory of Elder Care

After many years of working in elder care, do you know what I still find to be one of the most important (and often least thought of) aspects of this domain?Let me tell you. It’s the simple fact that the majority of us will eventually find ourselves dependent onthis side of the medical system. And yet, it’s also an area within this industry that is often greatly lacking in necessary resources.

I was alarmed by the latter discovery earlier on in my medical career.

While working in the emergency room as a registered nurse (RN), I quickly recognized a widespread need for additional resources forboth the elderly and disabled populations. I was shocked to witness the overwhelming lack of even the most basic resources for the mostrudimentary needs. Everywhere I looked, from bathing to dressing to meal prep, we were falling short of my rightfully high expectations for providing the greatest quality care.

From this experience, a passion arose within me; I felt a deep calling to do my part to make a difference.

I left the ER to become a home hospice nurse. During this time, I began working with home care agencies, taking great pride in providing the highest quality care possible to all of my patients and to coordinating care to ensure that all of their needs were being met. I’ve now have spent a great deal of my career working to help bridge the gap in care between hospice agencies and client needs as a way to promote autonomy and home life for as long as possible.

However, I’ve also found that there’s yet another widely unaddressed contributor to our lack of resources ingeriatric care. It’s the absence of what I call “Caregiver Care.”

With caregivers being the most valuable resource in elder care, an emphasis on their wellness is of utmost importance for maintaining quality. Without the implementation of “caregiver care,” those who work in this field often find themselves experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue due to the overwhelming physical and emotional demands of the job, making it incredibly difficult to properly tend to others despite having the best intentions.

With this being the case, it’s of no surprise that the way an agency responds to the needs of their caregivers directly impacts the quality of care its patients subsequently receive.

These discoveries and my desire to have a larger impact on all fronts of elder care led me to receive my degree as a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and become specialized in hospice and palliative care. This same desire is also what ultimately led me to Elite Home Care & Day Centers in Greenville, SC, where I currently and proudly work, serving patients and caregivers alike.

With Elite’s vision of quality elder (and caregiver) care being aligned with my own, I’m now able to oversee the operations that ensure that our over 1,000 clients are well-served and that their care is coordinated. I’ve also been able to implement company-wide policies that ensure the wellness and satisfaction of our caregivers.

For instance, in order to create and sustain what we refer to as “the Elite Difference” and improve the satisfaction and retention of our caregivers, I’ve recently established a retention committee.Within the committee, we focus on the needs of our caregivers, in both their personal and professional lives. This extends fromallowing caregivers to voice their concerns to ensuring a fair workload distribution for in our home care division, helping avoid burnout.

Already, we’ve noticed a significant difference, with our caregivers expressing feeling seen and valued, and our patients’ needs being readily tended to.

With my time and first-hand experience in the industry, I firmly stand by my belief that even simple changes made within individual geriatric care companies can shift the trajectory of the entire system at large. If agencies themselves begin to implement the infrastructures that ensure that resources are made available and that caregivers are cared for, those of us fortunate enough to live a long enough life can look forward to a brighter future in our own elder care.