The Ethics of Truth

The past couple of weeks have been ones in which truth-telling has taken a bath. One of my personal “good guys,” Eliot Spitzer, was found – well, you know where.

And while my local newspaper endorsed Barak Obama in large black editorial typeface, my periodical of choice, Time Magazine, ran its own editorial about why newspapers should never write an endorsement of a candidate (makes them look less objective, was the reasoning).

Then in this week’s Time, a columnist shared his day’s tasks: run, eat, drop off kids, vote for Barak.

It makes me think about an issue of ethics that I’ve believed in for some time: transparency.

I remember precious little else from my undergraduate education, but this one bit of extemporaneous advice from a professor stuck with me and rang true: as people setting ourselves up to help and guide other people, the most honest thing we should do is post, for everyone to see, our own personal guiding beliefs. Then, people who chose to accept our help would know what they were getting into.

It rang true to me then, and it rings true to me today. What guides me, as a person, will deeply affect the advice and assistance I give you.

As an educator, dedicating this phase of my career to training the next generation of senior care providers, my personal beliefs profoundly affect how I craft the learning experience.

My staff has been immersed in the creation of the first online course to train Certified Nursing Assistants in the state of Oregon, a project jointly sponsored by my company, aQuire Training Solutions, and the Oregon Health Care Association.

Part of what every nursing assistant must know to pass the state exam is a set of procedures for providing specific care tasks to individuals; things like transferring from bed to wheelchair, and assisting with a shower.

The state posts these procedures, step by 101-step, on their website. Instructors must teach the steps exactly as the state sets out.

As we were creating learning activities to help students learn these steps easier I felt myself getting more and more agitated – couldn’t figure out why, until I realized – and shouted, “These steps sound like we’re moving pieces of furniture!”

We’re teaching students the steps, but we’re adding in, for every step, a sample quote of what the student might say to the individual as the step is being taken.

We’re not caring for pieces of furniture. We’re caring for individuals – with losses, with needs, with real human lives.

My own beliefs show through in every aspect of this course. I think that the course will be better for it – but that’s for you to judge. My beliefs are pretty much out there for everyone to see…

Watch the movie…you’ll get it!

Life-Saving Support Systems - it's our time to act

In among all the political news today was a story that caught my eye: the suicide rate of people in my age group – between ages 45 and 54 – has soared in the past five years.

Overall in that age group the suicide rate increased nearly 20%; for women, the increase was 31%. This is in sharp contract to the suicide rates in other age groups, which either increased only slightly (teenagers) or actually decreased (senior adults).

Of course, no one can do a factual study to find out why, but many theories are being discussed. I have my own theory: we’re feeling increasingly more stressed with pressures of being sandwiched between our responsibilities as parents (many of us still have young children, having waited to start our families until our 30s or even our 40s) and our parents, most of whom are living longer – not necessarily independent – lives.

If you google the term “Sandwich Generation” you’ll see with page after page of stories, web sites and blog discussions. This is not an isolated experience – it is nearly universal within this age group.

Of our own personal friends, the vast majority are feeling the pressure. In the past 12 months, three of our closest friends lost a parent. All had increased their visiting, their work load (to help pay for needed services) and their own involvement in their parents’ lives. All had children at home or in college. One was even fighting her own battle with breast cancer at the same time.

Is it any wonder that some people simply say, “Enough!”?

As professionals involved in providing services to seniors, what are we doing to support the people in the middle? What more CAN we do? Support groups often aren’t the answer for people who are already running every day and evening of the week. Virtual support, email support and simply being available to listen may be one of the most significant things we can offer.

Certainly, taking some of the caregiving responsibilities off of the shoulders of maxed out kids can make a tremendous difference.

Silverado Senior Living has been taking this assistance on the road, so to speak, by offering services in the homes of individuals who are not yet ready – may never be ready – to move into a community living environment.

The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) calls this approach “assisted living without walls”.

I can only imagine the relief that the families of those being served must feel.

Another option is the Quiet Care system – one which, when we previewed it in my office a couple of weeks ago, one of my team members immediately said, “I need one of those today!” For individuals trying to focus on work tasks, all the while worrying about a frail parent at home alone, the relief can be immeasurable.

There’s no doubt that the increase in suicides among the “sandwich generation” is a combination of many factors; perhaps we, as a profession of senior care providers, can step up with even more tools to provide solutions.

Elder Abuse 101

We’ve been working hard in our office on new caregiver online training programs, and one of the focus topics we’re in the middle of is training on abuse and neglect – how to identify it and prevent it, and what to do if you see it happening to someone in your care.

One of the themes that comes out again and again in stories about elder abuse is caregiver exhaustion. The source for this exhaustion is typically short staffing and lack of training. Over and over we read stories of abuse happening in facilities that don’t have enough staff, haven’t screened their new staff enough, or don’t give their employees the training they need to feel confident about their work – leading to more and more job stress.

The job of caring for a vulnerable senior is a stressful job. We can’t afford NOT to screen more carefully, staff workforces fully and train above and beyond the minimum requirements. With the easy, affordability of online training resources, we have no excuses for not solving at least one of these areas that contribute to elder abuse.

If we don’t make these efforts the persons who will be abused may be you loved one or mine. For my part, I’ll do everything I can to make sure that ALL caregivers everywhere have the tools to know what constitutes abuse and neglect, and know what to do if they feel stress or overworked or see a co-worker in that position.

Thanks to a couple of YouTubers for posting videos that help spread the word about elder abuse prevention, and who have given us permission to use their material to help train new caregivers. It does indeed take a village working together to make changes!