Holiday Hints for Residents, Families, Friends & Caregivers of Long-Term Care Residents
The holiday season is a time for reconnecting with family, friends, and neighbors. Residents of long-term care facilities often need and enjoy your attention during the holidays. We hope these holiday hints will help loved ones and long-term care residents enjoy the holiday season.
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Holiday Visiting Tips
Holidays can be meaningful enriching times for both the resident and family. Maintaining (or adapting) old family rituals and traditions can help all family members feel a sense of belonging and family identity. For residents of a long-term care facility, a link with a familiar past is reassuring and builds self-esteem, i.e. “Look at the beautiful family I created!”
Residents, it is okay to set your own limits and be clear about them with others. You do not have to live up to the expectations of others. It is your right to choose whether or not you accept invitations to go out and visit family and friends. It is your right to accept or not accept visitors at the facility. You are in charge!
Staff, we encourage you to be aware of situations that may confuse or frustrate residents with memory loss such as: noise and loud conversations; strange distracting surroundings; changes in light intensity-too bright or too dark; or change in regular routine.
Most severely ill residents or residents with memory disorders may be able to enjoy visits more if they have adequate rest before the visit. Prepare visitors by explaining what has happened to the person with memory loss or disability. Give examples of what may take place like inattention, wandering, or difficulty hearing. Explain that the resident may not remember what is expected and acceptable. A memory-impaired resident may not remember the visitor’s name or relationship. Explain that memory loss is a result of an illness or isolation and not intentional. Stress with visitors that what is important is the meaningfulness of the moment spent together and not what the person is able to do or remember.
If you or other visitors notice that a resident is in pain, dirty, or suffering from a change in their condition get help for the resident immediately. Calmly speak with the facility’s Director of Nursing, Administrator, or other management staff. Describe your specific concerns and ask that problems be addressed as soon as possible. The Ombudsman can help monitor the situation and make sure problems stay fixed. If you feel your concerns were not taken seriously, please don’t hesitate to contact the Long-Term Care Ombudsman toll free at 1-800-372-2991 or email us at [email protected].
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Home for the Holidays
Each year, we hear from families asking, “My loved one lives in a nursing home. Can they come home for the holidays?”
The answer is YES! Your loved one can come and go as they are able.
If they are using Medicaid, they are allowed to be away from the facility for several days each year for purely social reasons. If they are using Medicare, the facility can bill Medicare for the day’s stay if they return by midnight.
With advanced preparation, going home can be the best gift your loved one could have this season. You should talk with the nursing staff at least two to three days in advance of the outing so they can prepare for it. The staff should package needed medication, bag up incontinence supplies, write down special food preparation instructions, and anything else you might need to do. Ask the staff to give instructions to you in writing. If you run into trouble, you can always call the nursing home and ask questions. If there is a medical emergency while home, call 911 as you would for anyone else and then alert the nursing staff at the facility. If your loved one tires and wants to return to her facility earlier than expected, respect their wishes. With a little planning and a lot of love, it should go just great!
If leaving the facility is not something the resident would enjoy, then don’t feel pressure to get them “home for the holidays.” Think ahead about what might make celebrating at the facility as enjoyable as possible.
Sharing your time and love is priceless. Happy Holidays!
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If you live, work, or visit in a Long-term Care (LTC) setting, you can help protect yourself and the people around you by getting your updated COVID-19 and other vaccinations.
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Holiday Gifts and Treats
Over the years residents and families have shared some wonderful ideas. Here are a few of those gift ideas.
- Ask the resident what gifts they would like to receive. If the resident is unable to guide you check with the facility activity or social services directors to see if they have suggestions.
- Pen and pencil set, journals, stationery, box of greeting cards, and stamps
- Twin size quilts or cozy lap blankets
- Comfortable clothing such as robes, flannel shirts, slippers, pajamas, cardigan sweaters, sweat suits, jackets, gloves, earmuffs, house dresses that snap up the front, warm socks, shoes, and scarves as well as celebratory seasonal clothing, and Sunday best outfits- pay special attention to any details the resident may desire such as Velcro closures, stretch materials, size, color, and hem.
- Costume jewelry and wrist watches with large numbers
- Electric razor
- Perfume/aftershave
- Books and word puzzle books. During respiratory illness outbreaks residents say they significantly increase reading and working both word and jigsaw puzzles.
- Cookies, pie, cake, chocolate, hard candy and sugar free candy, soft drinks, drink packets for bottled water, peanut butter or cheese snack crackers, and chips
- Lip moisturizers, makeup, moisturizing and/or scented body wash, lotions, and powders.
- Coins and a change purse for purchasing snacks from vending machines.
- Gift cards for online retailers so residents can order clothing and other items they pick out on the internet. Be sure to talk with facility administration to determine how to prevent theft of these cards and how staff may help the resident search for items on the retailer’s website.
- Music (old favorites), audio books and inexpensive devices to play these audio files.
- Wall art, photos, easy to read wall clocks, quilts, bulletin boards and pleasing decorative items to hang on the wall. Avoid decorative items that need to sit on a tabletop. We suggest talking with the facility maintenance staff in advance to see if wall mounting of gifts can be scheduled or if you need to provide something like 3M Command products. Also ask if items need to be treated with a flame-retardant spray.
- Memory book that chronicles the resident’s past interests and achievements
- Mobile phone, steaming TV services, or tablet- installation and monthly service fees.
To reduce loss and theft of a resident’s personal items, write a full inventory of all the items you give to the resident and provide a copy to be put into the resident’s inventory file. Use permanent ink to write resident names on clothing and other items in an area that does not show when worn or used. Residents should keep only small amounts of cash on their person. Cash gifts can be deposited to the resident’s “Patient Trust Account” which is like an individual savings account at the facility. Residents should have easy access to money placed in their account and receive quarterly statements describing account activity. Engrave expensive items with resident name or initials. Record and retain serial numbers for electronics. Provide a small storage container with the resident’s name on it to hold items when not in use. Report every loss and theft in writing to both the facility and the ombudsman.
Thank you to everyone who participated in Silver Bells, a resident holiday gift program! We will share an update on the total number of residents blessed with your generosity in our January newsletter.
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Thank you to our volunteers and staff.
You make a difference!
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What’s an Ombudsman?
Ombudsmen advocate for residents of long-term care facilities at no charge to residents or families.
Long-Term Care Ombudsmen
- Regularly make unannounced visits to long-term care facilities to visit residents.
- Protect the special legal rights of residents.
- Identify, investigate, and resolve residents’ problems and concerns.
- Empower residents to make informed choices.
- Work to monitor laws/policies to protect residents.
Long-term care ombudsmen serve residents in all counties in Kentucky. Visit our website!
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Volunteer and Staff Spotlights
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Congratulations to Northern Kentucky District LTC Ombudsman Bethany Breckel! Bethany received this year’s Northern Kentucky Area Development District (NKADD) Employee of the Year – Customer Service Award.
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Barren River LTC Ombudsman Program volunteers and staff (pictured above) gathered to celebrate the holidays and participate in training. “It’s always a pleasure to get together, so thankful for each one of these ladies and their servant hearts!” District LTC Ombudsman Lynda Love.
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Kentucky River District LTC Ombudsman Sheila Cornett and volunteers serving on her advisory council met in December for LTC Ombudsman Program updates.
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The Green River LTC Ombudsman Program received a helping hand from many elves on staff at the Green River Area Development District. Staff assembled 250 gift bags for Personal Care Home residents.
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Kentucky LTC Ombudsman Program Funding
The Governor’s budget includes $1.1 million from the General Fund in each fiscal year to support the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs to finance the unfunded mandate to provide services to assisted living facilities as passed in Senate Bill 11 from the 2022 legislative session to work with residents, families, resident councils, and facility management to resolve issues.
NHOA will continue to encourage legislators to include this allocation in their budget.
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Congressional Report Recommends CMS Finalize a Strong Nursing Home Staffing Rule
Senators published a new report, “Residents at Risk: Quality of Care Problems in Understaffed Nursing Homes and the Need for a New Federal Nursing Home Staffing Standard.” The report is the first congressional analysis of the benefits of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)’s recently released proposed rule for minimum staffing standards in nursing homes. The report is based on a Congressional Research Service review of publicly available staffing and patient outcome data from CMS. It reveals that, across a broad range of health outcomes, nursing homes with higher staffing levels that meet the requirements in the CMS proposed rule provide better quality of care than homes with lower staffing levels.
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There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers,
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter
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Residents’ Rights for residents of nursing facilities, personal care homes, family care homes and assisted living centers are available on the NHOA website.
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Additional information about Rights as a resident in an Assisted Living facility, Personal or Family Care Home is available here.
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Free At-Home COVID Tests Available
Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order an additional 4 free at-home tests beginning November 20. If you did not order tests this fall, you may place two orders for a total of 8 tests. Your order of COVID tests is completely free – you won’t even pay for shipping.
Order online at covid.gov. Order tests over the phone by calling: 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489).
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Community Education and Engagement
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If you are hosting a community event, please invite your local ombudsman program. For a full listing of all District LTC Ombudsman Programs and the counties they serve, visit our website.
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Pennyrile District LTC Ombudsman Cindy Tabor recently shared information about the LTC Ombudsman Program at the Christian County Senior Center in Hopkinsville.
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Fire Through Dry Grass, an OPEN DOORS/Reality Poets documentary film, uncovers the real-time devastation experienced by residents of a New York City nursing home during the coronavirus pandemic. Using GoPros clamped to their wheelchairs, Andres “Jay” Molina and fellow Reality Poets, Vincent Pierce and Peter Yearwood, all residents of Coler Nursing Home, on Roosevelt Island, New York, document their harrowing experiences on “lock down.” The full documentary is now available to view on PBS.
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The Kentucky State LTC Ombudsman Program is housed within the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass.
The KLTCOP is funded in part by state and federal funding provided by the Department for Aging and Independent Living.
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