When caring for residents who are experiencing memory loss, team members of person-centered senior living in Mountain Park, GA take a compassionate and upbeat approach to care. Check out how this approach gives elders more control, helps them maintain their independence, and complements other therapeutic methods.
What is Person-Centered Care?
It is a universal human yearning to have control over one’s life that does not fade away either with age or experience. It is important for older persons to be able to share their opinions, make genuine decisions, and take part in fulfilling events, even if they require assistance with daily living activities or are experiencing memory loss.
Care for the elderly in the community has, for a long time, taken on an institutional flavor, with personnel dictating resident schedules and activities. The institutional paradigm of care renders the elderly as passive bystanders, even when those making the decisions mean well. Finding happiness and purpose in life is more challenging if you have little to no say over basic aspects of your existence, such as when you get up, what you eat, or how you use your free time.
Neither residents nor caregivers benefit from institutionalized care. The institutional care paradigm is being replaced by person-centered care in assisted living communities, which is changing the way people age.
Difference Person-Centered Care Brings
When compared to the traditional institutional paradigm of healthcare, the person-centered approach delivers a huge difference that is fundamental to a resident’s welfare. Caregivers in the person-centered care model recognize that it is not their place to impose their will on residents but rather to inquire on their preferences and facilitate the resident’s pursuit of their own goals. The resident receiving care is given the opportunity to direct their treatment and make important decisions in the present.
Providing care that is centered on the individual’s choices helps caregivers develop meaningful relationships with their charges. Within the framework of the person-centered care approach, residents and caregivers are able to develop close relationships based on mutual trust, affection, and respect.
Finding the Best Person-Centered Senior Living
When a person is receiving medical care, person-centered care means they are treated with respect and dignity and are included in all healthcare decision-making. It emphasizes the unique needs of each resident. Simply put, the approach is connected to the concept of a person’s entitlement to medical care.
Person-centered care places you, the resident, at the center of your healthcare by ensuring that the caregivers are:
- Using kind words and performing good deeds towards you.
- Facilitating care coordination which is the process of sharing information about a resident with multiple healthcare providers over time. This can include when a resident is referred from their primary care physician to a specialist or when care is split between a care community and a hospital, in order to best meet that resident’s individual needs and treatment goals.
- Helping you become an active participant in your healthcare decisions by educating you about your condition and empowering you to take charge of your recovery, self-care, and continued independence.
