The MEANING Domain of Wellbeing part of CMS Regulations

The Eden Alternative? developed what are called the seven Domains of Well-being®.

If you want to learn them, Eden has a white paper at www.edenalt.org.

Another highly recommended resource is Dr. Allen Power’s book Dementia beyond Disease: Enhancing Wellbeing. Each chapter is dedicated to each of the seven domains.

Did you know CMS included the Eden Domains of Well-being in the new, 2016, regulations?

And, do you know where…? At the Activities tag!

F679 Activities.

INTENT §483.24(c)

To ensure that facilities implement an ongoing resident centered activities program that incorporates the resident’s interests, hobbies and cultural preferences which is integral to maintaining and/or improving a resident’s physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being and independence. To create opportunities for each resident to have a meaningful life by supporting his/her domains of well-being – security, autonomy, growth, connectedness, identity, joy and meaning.
(emphasis added)

The Eden Alternative? definition is

MEANING

Significance; heart; hope; import; value; purpose; reflection; sacred

Significance

Isn’t this something we all want and need? Find out what makes each person famous! Famous in their family. Famous in their community. Famous in their career. Find out, post it in several places. Encourage all to honor, compliment, thank people for their work, service, etc. and you just added significance to their life.

Heart

Find out what a person might be passionate about, a cause, a family member. Are they worried about something or someone. Don’t be afraid to ask and find ways they may be able to do something about it. Start a prayer list or journal. A prayer meeting. Help to send cards and letters frequently. Help to talk on the good old-fashioned phone or over an internet platform. Help them show their heart!

Hope

Wow. We don’t really hear about hope too much in the field of serving older adults, do we? All the more reason to talk about it. Ask people about it even if it is sad for some, ask people where they find hope. Elders tend to find hope as they have lived a long life and lived through many things. They can become the sages in your community. An Asian proverb says that The future is like walking backwards and elders have more to see…

Import

How important do those feel who live where you work? Do people who work there feel more important because of a role than how the people who live there feel? Do they feel important? Do older people feel important? Ask. And if not, what a great opportunity to turn it around. Be intentional. Talk about each person who lives there. Identify what makes them important, their import, their importance. Make sure all know.

Value

Similarly, what value does this person bring to your community? If I was you, I would get this into each person’s care plan for all team members to see. Even if a person is not able to give that much you could identify what they do give. For example, “Mrs. Smith has a peaceful countenance about her. If you are having a bad day, consider spending some time with her, you might just feel uplifted afterwards.” Wow.

Purpose

Similarly, you could also make sure all know what brings purpose to each person. Maybe it is honoring them for things they have done such as “I know you were a good momma Mrs. Jones. I’ve heard stories from your kids.” And then bring this purpose into the present, “What might you tell me? I would love some of your wisdom on being a good mother please.” Identify one’s purpose both in the past and the present.

Reflection

Serious thought or consideration, to ponder, muse, ruminate. This is something that could be done intentionally with the person, the individual and then also with those who know and love this person. Reflecting upon them, their life and their meaning… Perhaps instead of so many institutional groups, you could be helping people to tell the story of my life.

Sacred

Each person, each life is sacred. Eldercare is considered sacred work. Bring that up in meetings and discussions. Sadly, LTC work is more known for being institutional than sacred but we can turn that around. Be a leader who reminds and teaches this is sacred work!

Carmen Bowman, MHS, Regulator turned Educator of Edu-Catering: Catering Education for Compliance and Culture Change, seeks to inspire everyone to chip away at institutional culture with a strong foundation of regulatory requirements – moving away from traditional activity programing to offering real life.  Activity consulting, personalized continuing education. Compliance and culture change workbooks at www.actionpact.com.  “Cutting edge-ucation” nominal pay-per-view training videos at www.patreon.com/educatering, carmen@edu-catering.com 303-981-7228  www.edu-catering.com The Culture Change Minute for free www.facebook.com/Edu-catering