High-Quality Resident Engagement is Affordable

When it is becoming more common to see reports of poor performance and quality in nursing homes, with the ability of these organizations to address resident behavioral health needs brought into question, it is encouraging to find organizations highlighting the importance of high-quality resident engagement.

The team at Juniper Village at Brookline, located in State College, PA, provides a comprehensive care continuum at a community that is called home by approximately 250 older adults. Two years ago, staff members at Juniper Village recognized that their engagement strategy was outdated and that the time had come to increase overall participation rates in their programs, increase the amount of programs offered and provide high quality education to staff on how to improve resident assessments.

The changes would take time but ultimately the community knew that making these key adjustments in their engagement approach, which didn’t have to be costly,  would lead to a high return on investment in both their business and resident quality of life.

 Linked Senior  recently published a case study about the success that Juniper Village achieved after implementing their revised resident engagement strategy. Using digital technology, the staff members were able to personalize resident programming and assess in real-time any changes in resident ability or preferences. After only one year with the new strategy, the community increased the number of engagement programs offered by 145%! In addition to that, the participation rate of residents in programming went from 65% to 93% during that same time frame, moving from 12 minutes/day, per resident to 21 minutes/day.

Read more on this ground-breaking program in this article from McKnight’s.