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CREATE CARING COMMUNITIES
WITH
THE LIFE ENHANCEMENT APPROACH that supports a holistic approach that promotes meaningful and
memorable exchanges between staff, residents, family, and caregivers
while conveying the message that the life of the older adult matters. that offers the opportunity to meet your resident’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs. that meets the older adult where they are in their life’s journey and honors their story, setting a framework on how to elevate the value we place on the elderly in this 21st century.
Newsletter The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to the community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. MORRIE SCHWARTZ 
LIFE ENHANCEMENT TRAINING Benefits: · Transforms days from mere existence into more enjoyment for residents. · Creates an environment that will foster a sense of staff loyalty and fewer days off from burnout. · Prospective employees will learn the value you place on Life Enhancement from the first interview. · Families and friends will receive tools that will allow them to create more enjoyable visit time with their loved ones. · When you create a volunteer program with this philosophy, you will attract more people who will become involved at a deeper level. · There is less time spent by your activity professionals putting together their program materials. · Caregiver support groups can focus on how to connect families and friends with their loves ones. · Community programs that are educational or reminiscence based will attract potential residents to your facility. · The quality of your program and the sensitivity of your philosophy which is actually an integral part of your program with all of the staff will help to position your facility in the community as a leader in creating environments that honor the older adult. Training: · for all employees to increase their understanding of the value of LIFE ENHANCEMENT for the older adult. · for activity professionals on how to modify their activities to the appropriate level for the older adult with communication and cognitive limitations. · for your volunteers in how they can best support the LIFE ENHANCEMENT approach. · to create effective intergenerational programs. · quarterly programs that revitalize the staff in the meaning of the LIFE ENHANCEMENT philosophy Consultation: · to develop a screening tool for new employees to identify those who would enhance your CARING COMMUNITIES philosophy.
· to develop a background profile on all residents upon admission that will support LIFE ENHANCMENT.
· to develop a screening tool that would help identify residents within independent and assisted living facility who may be experiencing increased cognitive deficits that might lead to safety concerns. · to develop a ongoing series of LIFE ENHANCEMENT educational programs for staff. · to develop a community series of creative programs to enhance the quality of life of the older adult. · to develop LIFE ENHANCEMENT programs that involve family and loved ones. · to develop programs for caregiver support and adult day care respite programs. REFERENCE LETTER August 2, 2007 Kathy Kilpatrick uses techniques in her vocation as a speech therapist that have been of great value to me, a home health aide to the elderly. Her knowledge of dietary matters has been invaluable to me in the case of an eighty-nine year old man with severe Gastric Reflux Disease. With Kathy’s supervision we have been able to modify his diet without completely eliminating the foods he loves. As a result, his symptoms have decreased significantly. Some of the modifications have been as follows: limiting his coffee, and caffeine intake in general, taking his medications during his meals, not before, and not eating certain foods, such as foods rich in citric acid together with any food or beverage containing caffeine. These have greatly reduced his gastric problems which included much vomiting. Kathy has written many publications that have also been of great service in the case of my client. He has memory problems, due to Macular Degeneration of the eyes and hearing problems. Since he can no longer see or hear well he had lost interest in doing much of anything, except sleeping. There is no dementia involved; but he was displaying symptoms similar to dementia due to his sight and hearing loss which put him in his own, very small world. Kathy’s exercises have greatly aided in his increased interest in life again. He loves for me to ask him the questions provided in her texts. The questions are designed to make one think hard and reach back in one’s memory for the answers. He has done very well with all of the exercises we have tried and especially loves the ones that force him to remember. It has amazed me at how good he is at these and how interested he is in them. In a way, these exercises have helped to give him “a new lease on life.” He looks forward to them everyday, and seeing what they have done for him has been tremendously encouraging to me. I also look forward to them as I am seeing a lot of the person he “used” to be and still is with a little help. All he needed was some stimulation to his brain and that is what he is now getting. follow-up email We are having alot of fun with these exercises. He really, truly loves them because they make him put on his thinking cap. I am going to make up some of my own questions and games as we are running out of material, but I know his interests so it should be fairly simple. I have also started reading the local news to him as well as the Bible--he loves it. So, thanks again! PP - Home Health Aide Every person’s life is worth a novel. ERVING POLSTER Contact kathy@connectionsincommunication.com and learn how you can create a CARING COMMUNITY with the LIFE ENHANCEMENT APPROACH ONLINE COURSES MEMORY - 2 PART HEARING - 2 PART
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