I am writing this post to honor some amazing people I have had the honor to work with. In any service field including health care, the key to success is being responsive. The following are a few incidents that exhibit what being responsive means:
A confused resident comes to the front lobby frequently in their wheelchair. The resident is always asking the same thing (I want to go home and see my mother). Usually the staff get the resident a cup of coffee and take them back to their room. One day I heard the residents familiar voice asking the question of the day (I want to go home to see my mother). I heard an employee say can you hold the door and I will take her for a wheelchair ride outside. This employee did not have to do that. They could have done the usual thing coffee and return them to the unit.
My facility had been going through the process of changing our facility focus which resulted in a sudden drastic reduction in residents. I was faced with the challenge of reducing staff. An employee came to me and told me the they would reduce their hours so their co-worker did not have to. The employee said that their co-worker did not have any other financial support and they did.
My last responsive story is about a maintenance man that is the best one I have ever known. He covers all maintenance duties for a large building that is 35 years old. One day I made rounds and discovered some potential infection control issues. I gave him a list that included replacing a sink and toilet, adding a sink to a utility room, a wall mounted cabinet to a utility room and putting new paper towel holders up in another utility room. I didn't give him the list till lunch time and he got all of it done in a couple of hours. This included going to the store to purchase sinks and cabinets. He also put all new mulch out and planted flowers in the courtyard without being asked.
I have seen many more incidents but these 3 really stood out for me.
