Caregiving at Cozy - 8/4

Personalized care has different needs, and priorities.

Caregiving at Cozy Living Community

The caregivers at Cozy Living Community contribute to the growth of our company. They are committed to providing a personalized level of quality care services. This means understanding that each resident has different needs, and priorities. While caring for our residents, staff emphasizes relationships, communication, and independence.

Caregiving is not only a rewarding career, but also a career that continues to be in demand due to the baby boomer population. As a caregiver you assist others, promoting a continuum of good health, happiness, and mental stability. Caregivers working in assisted living facilities provide several tasks that contribute to these services. However, the most important tasks performed are direct personal care of the assisted living resident. Let’s discuss some the major tasks related to direct personal care of the resident. 

Activities of daily living

Activities of daily living also known as ADLs are personal care activities that individuals carry out every day. Our caregivers assist residents in completing daily activities, which include bathing, dressing, grooming, exercising, hydrating, and ambulating. 

Perform resident specific procedures

Our facility meets a variety of resident care needs, some are specific to the resident. Resident specific procedures are reviewed with all caregiving staff during orientation.  New hires are taught specific procedures by a facility preceptor during the on-the-job training. All new hires must complete the skills checkoff list and pass with satisfactory scores prior to being placed on the work schedule. Examples of some of these skills are attending to skin such as wound care, foley catheter care, colostomy care, intake and output and enteral feeding.

Infection Control

All caregivers are responsible for maintaining infection control practices and adhering to the facility care standards. Some infection control measures include handwashing, handling contaminated equipment, caring for residents with infections, and sanitizing surfaces and supplies. 

Providing a Safe Environment

Safety is our primary concern when caring for our assisted living facility residents. It is our goal to provide living conditions that are both safe and comfortable. The environment is kept clean and tidy and arranged in a manner that prevents potential safety hazards. Examples of providing a safe environment include maintaining adequate room lighting, keeping the bed in a low-lying position, quickly cleaning up spills, and picking up objects out of the pathway. In addition, all caregivers are required to learn and maintain CPR certification, in the event of a medical emergency; and follow evacuation procedures in the case of a fire or environmental disasters.

Measuring and Observing
Cozy Living Community caregivers are responsible for observing, and recording measurements such as blood pressure, heart rate, respirations, oral intake, output, and changes in residents’ conditions. All abnormal values are reported to the appropriate manager. 

In addition to these tasks caregivers are responsible for protecting residents’ rights, privacy, and confidentiality, adhering to legal and ethical standards of care, complying with all agency policies, and participating in staff education.

A Team Player 

Our caregivers are Team players and possess certain qualities that are essential to effective caregiving skills and practice, such as caring, considerate, empathetic, and honest. All these qualities help in building a working relationship with your residents and are necessary for lawful practice. We encourage and promote leadership within the company. Expectations are that all of staff act as leaders with or without an established title. Leadership qualities include being responsible, accountable, flexible, and dependable. We expect commitment to the caregiving duties, the ability to make the best of any situation, and to follow best care practices. 

Caregivers are one of the most important members of the assisted living health care team and maybe working alongside other healthcare workers such as technicians, social workers, RN, LVNS, clergy, dietary managers, and administrators. Working well with others is a hallmark of an efficient and effective caregiver. Being a team player means accepting criticism, listening to supervisor feedback, and following the chain of command. To summarize, good communication skills, teamwork, and practicing best care techniques are necessary for positive working relationships with residents, families and co-workers.