Dedicated and compassionate workers are the heart and soul of retirement living. These team members help older adults achieve and maintain independence and enjoy this time in their lives. The staff plays a large role in providing a safe and comfortable life in a premier retirement community.
Retirement living has gone through major changes in recent decades, and the needs of residents living in retirement communities also have changed. To meet residents’ changing needs, Episcopal Church Home (ECH) in Louisville, Ky., reviews nearly every aspect of its operations every ten years. This review, which we call a Master Plan, considers a variety of renovations, new buildings, and the establishment of new services.
ECH offers a variety of services for older adults. Those services include independent living, assisted living, transitional care, skilled nursing, and more. Through the years, we have maintained a comfortable environment that our residents love to call home. We passionately pursue new ways to fill the needs of older adults who entrust us with their care.
At ECH, we offer both caregiving and homemaking services. In years past, many of our team members worked as either caregivers or homemakers. Separating those two jobs was merely the traditional approach to care. In developing our most recent Master Plan, we realized this traditional approach might not provide the full home-like experience for our residents or our employees.
What Are Versatile Workers?
The legal definition of a versatile certified nursing assistant (CNA) is one who “provides personal care, socialization, activity aide services, meal preparation services, and laundry and housekeeping services,” according to Law Insider. In other words, Versatile Workers are a combination of ECH’s current Resident Assistant, Life Enrichment and Housekeeping roles.
Versatile workers are State Registered Nurse Aides (SRNA) who support the health needs of residents, although they do much more than that. The versatile worker provides resident care, life enrichment, dining support, and assistance to our ECH residents. They also support all aspects of the household environment, including caring for residents’ pets, plants, children, visitors, and guests. Our versatile workers take it a step further by helping residents get the most out of all their planned and spontaneous activities.
The versatile workers at ECH help meet the needs and desires of all our household residents by providing for their everyday personal, physical, environmental, psycho-social, and spiritual needs. To ensure high quality, consistent care, our versatile workers always act in accordance with the established policies, procedures, and standards set by ECH.
Benefits of Versatile Workers in Personal Care
As with all members of the ECH staff, versatile workers provide person-centered care that puts the residents’ needs and desires at the forefront of all they do. Combining personal care and housekeeping allows our ECH versatile workers to provide purpose, choice, and freedom to our residents.
This approach also cultivates a deeper, more respectful relationship with our residents and their families, other staff members, and our community at large. The versatile worker model also allows us to provide outstanding customer service to all customers in accordance with ERS’s expectations and values.
For residents, versatile workers provide consistent care, as their caregivers also are their housekeepers. Research on consistent care versus rotating assignments shows residents feel more comfortable and secure with consistent assignments of team members. For aides, consistent care improves job satisfaction and helps them feel valued and empowered.
To learn more about versatile workers or how we’re setting a bold vision for the future of our premier retirement community, contact us.
