Last week we completed this year’s intensive In-Service Training. All our caregivers as well as the laundry and kitchen staff were involved. Once a month, on a Thursday morning at 07h00, winter and summer, they arrived for four hours of caregiver training.
Our trainer/instructor is Loraine Schirlinger. Loraine is a registered general nurse and a psychiatric nurse. She has a degree in community nursing science and nursing administration plus certificate courses that she has completed during her years of working in the psychiatric, geriatric community health services and for Alzheimer’s SA.
Loraine has been involved in the field of dementia care since 2004 when the then-national director of Alzheimer’s SA (ASA) approached her to develop a training course and manual for the Association. Loraine remained with ASA as a trainer, course developer, writer of manuals, support group leader, support group leader trainer, and five years as a regional director for Gauteng. She also has personal experience with dementia with her Grandmother and her sister.
So, as you can see from the above, Loraine has many years of experience to share with our caregivers and support staff and they sucked it in. Walking through the houses you could see that the employees are using the information they learned. They made changes in their own behaviour and changes in the environment. It was just great to see the positive growth of each of our caregivers and support staff.
At last week’s closing, the caregivers were asked to first address their own stresses, (we all realise how stressful caregiving can be) and then they were requested to tell the management panel how they found the training, what it meant to them, and how will they apply it in caregiving.
This is one of the beautiful quotes we received from Pretty Mutero, one of our caregivers:
“When a person is diagnosed with dementia, the family is thrown in a state of shock and they tend to blame the community for the problem, probably to protect themselves from pain.
As a caregiver, I must at all times, treat older people with respect and dignity and honour their right to proper care, privacy, cultural and religious beliefs, confidentiality and
habits.
I found that communication with the Resident is a two-way process by which information is exchanged. I use a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviours that also involves several different components, to communicate with my Resident.
Person-centered care is the way I do it:
- Make them happy
- Have fun
- Enjoy
Let them live their life with purpose.”
We at Resthill are aware of how important constant training is for our employees. In 2023 we will recap a number of the subjects trained in 2022 but we also have to add new training elements. Our employees indicated specific training they require, and we will endeavor to accommodate some of their needs. Our training program starts in January 2023 with computer training for our caregivers to enable them to work on a program specifically designed for caregiving and this will empower them also to be able to become computer literate.
We have a great team of employees and we wish to keep it that way. Our kitchen staff and gardeners, support staff and caregivers, each and every one is precious to us and they are all trained to be aware of our Residents’ needs at all times.
Absolutely brilliant
I learned a lot about dementia. I know how to communicate with the residents more than before. I even teach other people to live with people with dementia at home. I thank Resthill memory care and Lorraine for the knowledge
It was such a good experience and I learnt a lot about dementia, communication, taking care of people living with dementia and how to keep their dignity also to always know that we are a Person Care Center not an institution,thank you to Reshill Memory Care.