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Another really good article about nursing homes that are embracing culture change.

Now, it’s all about choice for residents at Skyline Ridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which is the flagship for a pilot program and the first instituted nationwide by the center’s corporate owner.
The sweeping cultural change means residents are no longer treated as a group. Each individual now can choose when to get up each morning, when to go to bed each night, how many of the five daily meals to eat and exactly what to enjoy during those meals. Residents can also participate in a wider variety of options in the activities program.

Skyline Ridge is owned and operated by Five Star Quality Care, Inc., which is based in Newton, Mass., and has a total of 155 senior living facilities in 30 states. The other 154 facilities are looking at the success of the Skyline Ridge program in Cañon City before considering the implementation of a similar plan.

“The program was really designed with our residents in mind,” said Skyline Ridge Administrator Larry Lavelle. “I’m so proud to be the pilot facility for Five Star because this allows us to offer the very best in service to our residents that much more quickly.”

Lavelle said the structure of each day and the number of choices now available to residents are the most sweeping changes he has seen in his 16 years at the helm of Skyline Ridge.

“We are blessed with a long-term staff that has a lot of experience and expertise which lent itself to making this a good place to pilot the program,” Lavelle said.

Since the program was implemented Nov. 1, positive changes have been evident in residents’ health and attitudes, Director of Nursing Julie Lauer said.

“It’s been great for them,” Lauer said. “It’s all about their choices and their schedules. The residents are more alert. They sleep better now because they’re on their own schedules.”

As part of the culture change, hallways and areas inside the center have been renamed to reflect a small community. Addresses include Sunny Lane, Main Street, Pine Ridge, Skyline Square and Memory Lane. And the Skyview Café, formerly the dining room, is the heart of many of the changes.

Five meals a day are now served at Skyline Ridge, including continental breakfast, a full brunch, siesta snack, dinner and nightcap. Brunch and dinner are served in Skyview Café, while the other meals are served room-to-room from dining carts.

Like any restaurant, the café now offers a wide variety of menu items at each meal, including the “always-available” items of peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips, chef salad with choice of dressing, deli sandwich made to order or the popular cottage cheese and fruit plate.

The varied selection is thanks to Joyce Long, dietary manager, who now writes her own menus instead of conforming to corporate-wide choices.

“This is so much better than the old style,” Long said. “It’s much more open, they have so many choices. And we continue to tweak the menu with feedback from our residents.”

Those residents seem to love the changes. Resident Bob DeMars, 50, said even the food reminds him of home.

“I think the food is very good,” DeMars said. “I really like the choices now.”

Mary J. Trembly, 85, said she particularly enjoys having the food delivered to her room by staff members.

“It’s really nice to have so many choices,” Trembly said. “It’s nice to have the choice to sleep in because I like to play games at night — Yahtzee, dominos and bingo.”

The activities department also is expanding with the culture change, something DeMars also appreciates.

“I really like the activities here and the way we can do our own thing,” DeMars said. “This is my home away from home and it’s so nice now. We even get better care. They (staff) spend more time with us now because we’re not on such a strict schedule.”

Lauer agreed from a nursing standpoint and said the entire center is more relaxed.

“It’s not as regimented now,” Lauer said. “The whole atmosphere is more like home.”

Skyline Ridge will continue the process of culture change — the revolution of long-term care that is sweeping the nation. In Colorado, Long said the transformation began in metropolitan areas, including Denver, and moved into mid-size cities like Colorado Springs and Pueblo before finding smaller communities like Cañon City.

“We spent a good year laying in the groundwork,” Long said. “We formed a culture change committee with 15 employees and gathered input from all of our residents. … Baby boomers are aging. They want what they want, when they want it. Having this much choice is great for everyone.”