Senior Care 2.0 is Your Guide to Marketing Senior Services

		(This is a sticky post, please find current news items below) By Michael Daehn in General

 

Facilities Becoming Like Hotels are a Win Win Win

		Sunday, 08 April 07 - 10:34 PM (GMT -06:00) By Michael Daehn in General

New 5 star facilities look more like hotels than hospitals to the benefit of everyone

Business 2.0 reports on the new trend of fancy hospitals with luxury rooms, windows and natural lighting. These new hospitals are doing great because:

• Patients pay more, recover better and stay less time
• Staff enjoy the working environment and there is less turnover
• The hospitals have a better bottom line with full facilities and reduced new staff training costs

 

Does your facility look like a hospital, or someplace nice where you can recover? Would you want to spend time as a patient in your facility? What can you do to improve the stay of your customers and your staff today?

Wellness through Walking~!

		Thursday, 22 March 07 - 07:53 AM (GMT -06:00) By Kendall Brune in General

Wellness through walking with your kids~!  Simple and sweet, though seldom done in today’s nuclear family.  In a recent article AARP magazine reminds us that positive health can be achieved by simply getting out from behind the computer or TV and sharing a family walk together.

I remember like it was yesterday that my mother would walk briskly and we kids would try to keep up.  Of course we were running all over the yards, playing as she walked. However, we did not have a weight problem like so many kids today face.  So many gadgets today have slowed down the interaction with our feet. 

 

The article shares these thoughts;

 

"Walking is a little like breathing. You do it without much thought—until the day when you can’t do it as easily because of health or weight issues. Ironically, if people walked more, many of their health and weight problems would disappear.

That’s not an overstatement. In the past 20 years a growing body of research has emerged showing that a brisk, 30-minute walk most days of the week can dramatically cut your risk of heart attack and stroke; decrease your chances of developing diabetes, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer; and reduce your body weight significantly."

Use your feet as God intended them to be utilized.  Get up and take a walk with the family and stop by to say hello to neighbors and friends.

 

Kendall Brune, PhD

Saint Louis Christian College

  Minister of Health

A.T. Still University

  Adjunct Professor, School of Health Management

Casting Stones at your staff?

		Thursday, 22 March 07 - 07:27 AM (GMT -06:00) By Kendall Brune in General

What Will You Do With Your Stones?

Do you anticipate a problem-free week?

'Huh', you say?  'I work in a Healthcare Facility!'

All jobs have their high points and low points.  And Facility work is no exception.  There is no doubt that you will very soon (if it hasn't happened already this morning!) encounter some obstacle that will be a real thorn in your side this week.

Maybe it was a something someone said on a comment card yesterday.  Maybe it's a conflict with another staff member or Facility leader.  Perhaps it's just the stress of day-to-day service that really gets to you this week.

American scholar, pastor and teacher William Arthur Ward once said:  "We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them."

So... what do you do with the 'stones' that come your way this week?

Throwing Stones
Our first inclination is to pick up these stones and hurl them back where they came from.  If the stone is 'criticism', we can quickly respond back with our own criticism.  It makes us feel better; and it takes away the pressing need to consider whether or not the criticism leveled at us is at all founded.  When a stone is thrown at us, our instinctive reaction is to pick it up and throw it back.  Seems like Jesus had something to say about this 'throwing stones' thing.  As Facility leaders, you're sure to get your share of stones thrown at you... just remember that 'returning the favor' really should not be an option.

Complaining About Stones
OK... so you can't attack back?  The least you'll want to do is complain about the stone.  Somehow, complaining to others makes us feel better.  Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston says that, "Complaining is good for you as long as your not complaining to the person you're complaining about."  Complaining serves no purpose other than to make us feel better and to bring other people into our problem.  When we complain to others, we're really asking for their support, and for them to take our side of things.  Complaining really achieves nothing positive; but rather can spread a sense of negativity across your office or Facility body.

Stumbling on Stones
Sometimes when problems arise, we keep them to ourselves.  We sit.  We ponder.  We stew.  And all the while, our main job functions suffer because we're dwelling on the problem.  In essence, we allow the stone (problem) to grind all our positive work to a halt.  These stumbling stones have crippled many a Facility leader.  We stop, dead in our tracks, afraid to move.  We're afraid of more stones hitting us.  We're afraid of dealing with the initial problem.  We're paralyzed.

Climbing Over Stones
One other option is to steam-roll right over the stones...climb them, if you will.  Here's how this one works.  Let's say you have a problem with someone on your board/medical team/staff that disagrees with you on a certain care delivery process or proposal.  Climbing over the stone would be to line up the people who you do know support you to make sure your proposal goes through, while ignoring and not working on the board member who disagrees with you.  You ignore the problem, and climb over and around it rather than working through it.  This may work once.  But you'll find that this stone will soon re-appear, bigger (and harder to climb over) than before.

Building with Stones
The last option is taking the stones and building with them.  In order to building with them, you need to pick them up, inspect them, and decide best how they fit into the plan.  Rather than throwing, complaining, stumbling over, or climbing over your stones, you actually work with them.  That means you tackle whatever stones (problems) you have head on as soon as humanly possible.  It is only when you do so that these stones can be used as a positive thing in your healthcare career.

OK... here's the hard part.  Look around you this morning, and see what stones you have on the ground around you.  Did you get a negative comment yesterday?  Pick up the phone and confront it head on this morning.  Pick up the stones and build.  Build relationships. Build trust.  Build loyalty.  Build enthusiasm.

Do whatever you can today to at least build SOMETHING with your stones!

Have a great day!

Dr. Kendall Brune

FOR DISCUSSION:  What stones did you have to pick up today?  How did you deal with them?  Which of the five ways are you most inclined to handle stones and problems in your facility?

 

Tips for Recruiting and Retaining Nurses

		Wednesday, 21 March 07 - 07:34 PM (GMT -06:00) By Michael Daehn in General

John Commins has a great article on how to recruit and retain nurses.  His simple 3 step plan is to:

Step 1: Tap Into Nursing Schools
Step 2: Support New Recruits
Step 3: Invest in Relationships

With high nursing turnover and retirement of long time staff it is more important than ever to invest in attracting, developing and retaining talented people.

-Michael Daehn

Senior Care 2.0 launches

		Monday, 12 March 07 - 07:59 PM (GMT -06:00) in General

Senior Care 2.0, powered by Terapad.com (http://www.terapad.com/) was launched today featuring blog, forums, image gallery, online shop, event calendar and more.

Senior Care 2.0 can be accessed at http://seniorcare20.terapad.com/.

... More items are available in my News Archive