Dear Resident Keepers,
I manage patient housing. One residence is for bone marrow transplant cases. We have 70 units, but the patients are required to remain in isolation as much as they can, because their immune systems are compromised. Any ideas on how to build community behind closed doors?
Sincerely,
Want a community
Hi Want a community,
This is a situation that I have never thought about. I’m so grateful that you decided to write in. I’m always up for a challenge. First of all my heart goes out to anyone that is forced to be in isolation most of their day and I definitely desire to help you come up with some solutions that would be beneficial to them. If you were to call me in and say Talisa you have two weeks to turn this around I would do the following.
1. Assess who’s who and what’s what? (from a higher level): I would get a general idea from you of who lives in what unit, what their age, sex, medical restrictions and level of mobility is etc.
2. Go straight to the source: I would do surveys and interviews with every single resident on the property to find out who they are, who were they before the illness, what do they miss most now that they have restrictions? I’d find out if they have any ideas for making life more enjoyable. I’d offer suggestions. I’d dig in and plot the entire time figuring out whom I could match with whom and how I could create individual and very specific bonds. Not only would I consider resident matches I would figure out if any outside sources within the neighborhood could be of benefit.
3. Recruit Leaders: It wouldn’t take me long to scout out the natural leaders and community organizers at your facility. I’d figure out who would be good at organizing, speaking, writing, creating, drawing, knitting….I don’t know, the sky is the limit. Remember I believe in allowing people to tell me what it is that they desire. This could be extremely limited or not. That’s the joy in doing the research and being resourceful and don’t forget thinking outside of the box. If there is a will there is a way!
4. Create Plans: This again is where I hold on to all of the information I’ve gathered. We would have to be careful being mindful of medical conditions and time restraints but with careful thought, consideration and planning we could create some bonds; one on ones, groups of four, same sex, unisex…the sky is the limit.
For example; perhaps Jane in room 3B has the same condition as Mary down in 32 C and they both expressed the fact that they were once World travelers. How hard would it be to set up time for tea for the two of them once per week on the same day at the same time. This not only gives them an emotional bond it gives them something to look forward to from week to week; not to mention the serotonin boost that will take place as they share their old travel stories.
Now this is just one of countless possibilities that could be created within this community. Don’t forget how valuable technology is. You could set up online games for them all to play together or even utilize Skype, gotomeeting and other social sites so that they could chat and still have the face to face interaction.
These few ideas make me excited for your residents because it gets right to the core of why I created Resident Keepers. Every little thing wants to be loved and we were created to be amongst each other and to feed off of each other. This should be your train of thought throughout this process.
5. Execute: Just do it! One day at a time create activities, think outside the box, build bonds and improve the quality of your resident’s lives.
I hope that I’ve sparked a fire within you…or better yet added fuel to the fire that you already have because the fact that you took the initiative to write us tells me it’s there. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns or even decided that you need our help. Either way, keep in touch. I’d love to hear about your success after implementing this plan.
All the best,
Talisa Lavarry
Founder-Resident Keepers
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