According to the National Council on Aging, family involvement plays a vital role in the care of assisted living residents. Families who keep in touch and visit their loved ones residing in assisted living communities, the council found, help enhance their emotional and physical health and help foster a more inclusive and supportive living environment.
It’s no wonder then that family involvement in the lives of residents is a major focus for staff in the assisted living community at Ovation Heartwood Preserve, the upscale senior retirement community in Omaha.
“Although they’ve made a big change in life, we want to make sure that our assisted living residents remain consistent in their environment,” said Collette Mieres, executive director of assisted living and memory care at Ovation Heartwood Preserve. “The older you get, the harder change is. But having familiar people around residents helps keep residents feeling settled.”
So important is family involvement at Ovation Heartwood Preserve that there is no set time as to when families and close friends may visit loved ones residing in the assisted living community. The assisted living community also uses a program called Accushield that checks families in when they visit. This program has a handy Love Meter that shows the staff how much their residents are visited so they can easily see who may need some extra attention.
“If we want our loved ones to live healthy, active lives, families need to continue being involved in every aspect of their care, especially with assisted living residents,” said Mieres. “We’re talking about vulnerable adults who always need somebody to be a supporter. It’s also so important that families oversee their whole holistic health.”
During her career, Mieres has seen the positive effect on residents who receive regular visits from family members and close friends.
“When families involved with their loved ones’ care have made every appointment and attended every meeting,” she said, “those residents have thrived, in some cases living until 100 and 102.”
To help meet the emotional and psychological needs of residents, Mieres and her team actively encourage families and close friends to visit. Families of assisted living residents are invited to partake in weekly family nights, where a special children’s menu caters to grandkids.
In addition, happy hours are open to visiting families in the independent living community every night and in the assisted living community every Friday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Families are also invited to barbecues around holidays like the Fourth of July on the Ovation at Heartwood Preserve campus.
For relatives and friends traveling considerable distances, Ovation Heartwood Preserve maintains four guest suites in the independent living residences. There, free breakfast awaits them in the morning.
“We pride ourselves on the fact that we have an open-door policy for visiting,” Mieres said. “We just say use your discretion because our residents need to get at least eight hours’ rest, and the less stimulation at night the better.”
For information on the assisted living community at Ovation Heartwood Preserve, please call 402.999.7900 or visit ovationheartwoodpreserve.com.
