It’s the most wonderful time of the year...unless you're responsible for ensuring your residents are provided with appropriate staffing during the holidays! Then it might not be so wonderful, right? As an administrator, I remember meeting every morning with the management team and the first question was always, “How is staffing for the weekend?” or, “How is staffing for the holidays?”
These are high-risk times for senior living centers, and there is no way to avoid it. But there may be some ways to encourage caregivers to “show up” for work, or even “volunteer” for extra shifts.
Creative Staffing Solutions for the Holidays
If you ever worked shifts, you probably had to miss some holidays with family, weekends up north, etc. Maybe you worked as a waitress in college or a CNA when you were working on your degree. Whatever your past, try to keep it foremost in your mind. If anything could have been done to make the shift work on a holiday easier, what would it have been?
Share the Burden
Making holiday shift work easier begins way before the holiday season, at orientation with your new employees. What do you tell your new employees? Or better yet, what do you SHOW your new employees? Do you expect more from the direct care staff than you do from your management team? If so, you're already in a bad place, one of distrust and an “us versus them” mentality. When talking with the management teams in high-functioning centers around the country, we hear a common theme: We don’t expect anything from our caregivers that we don’t do ourselves—and that means showing up on weekends and holidays.
It may seem like a daunting task, but if you have an engaged management team, it should be seamless. For example, if you have 10 managers in your building, there's a high likelihood that several of them aren't in a relationship, have no young children at home on Christmas morning, or don’t celebrate Christmas. On the other hand, they're probably also the ones who would much rather not get up early on New Year’s Day to show up for a shift. Communicate your needs and let the team figure it out, but having a manager's presence in the center on holidays is vitally important to overall morale.
Provide a Holiday Meal
When was the last time you provided meals for the caregivers working the holidays? We know of several communities that set up steam tables in the employee break area and provide a real meal (not pizza), including a fresh salad bar. One community even provides non-alcoholic champagne for a midnight toast on New Year’s Eve!
What about the times you can’t grant a leave day for someone with a young family at home on Christmas Eve? Invite the family in for the buffet and give the kids a goodie basket as a gift they can open.
Spread Holiday Cheer for Your Long Term Care Residents
And don't forget the residents! Most of your residents have heartwarming histories with their loved ones that they won't be able to enjoy this year. Maybe you could have a family holiday event like many communities do around the country. It might not be on the holiday itself, but it's not unusual for families to celebrate a few days before or after a holiday, so it's okay to be off a few days. The idea is to share the holiday, provide a nice luncheon or dessert cart and tea. Talk to resident council and see what they would prefer—they're never at a loss for ideas.
Bring in Special Guests
Remember that elementary school down the street? What a wonderful opportunity to invite the children in to sing carols with the residents! Put out a few plates of cookies and a punch bowl of cider, and you've got an instant party—and don’t forget to include the caregivers!
Pet Perk-up
What about family pets? Many residents have left their beloved pooch or kitten at home with loved ones as they recover in your community. A “pet-friendly afternoon” may be just the medicine needed to perk up that resident who's experiencing a little depression during the holidays. An interesting phenomenon with pet therapy is that the pet doesn’t even have to be owned by a resident to be appreciated by a resident. Therapy dogs are a huge hit in acute care settings. Do a little research on the availability of pet therapy in your community. If you're already providing pet therapy, consider increasing the number of visits during the holidays!
Be Vigilant About Falls
And finally, it's sad but true that falls at post-acute care communities tend to increase during the holidays. There are many possible reasons why this occurs, but with all of the activity and staffing challenges we often face during this time of year, it's not surprising. Can we change this trend? We believe the right incident management software can make a big difference. But either way, what we can do is help satisfy our residents' need for family and holiday celebration, even though they aren’t at home.
Open your hearts and your minds, share the moments they would otherwise miss, and have a safe and happy holiday season!
