When families are searching for a nursing home for their loved one, two of the most important deciding factors are typically the quality of care and level of service provided by the facility. Whether it’s an independent living facility, assisted living facility, skilled nursing facility, convalescent home, RCFE, or a board and care home, Ardent Palliative & Hospice Care pairs with these communities to enhance the care provided to patients and deliver peace of mind to their loved ones.
Regardless of where a patient is being cared for, it’s essential they’re receiving the very best care possible—that’s why the additional support provided by Ardent is key to providing patients with the highest quality of life in nursing home environments. These are the seven ways a partnership with Ardent can benefit the nursing home community.
1. Our team is on-hand to give extra support to nursing home staff.
While many nursing facilities already have care staff, we can provide an extra layer of nursing support. This is especially important with hospice patients who require extra attention and a higher level of care. Our nurse will go into the facility to visit the hospice patient 2-3 times a week. In addition to that, our hospice aide visits the patients another 2-3 times a week, and our chaplain and social worker are available to see the patient as needed. Essentially, patients are able to be seen almost every day by an additional caretaker outside of the nursing facility staff. Not only does this provide peace of mind to the patient and their family, but it also benefits the nursing facility because we’re able to provide them with extra staff and help almost daily.
2. The nursing facilities we work with have 24/7 access to our Ardent nurses.
The support we provide extends into after-hour care as well. The facility’s staff has 24/7-access to our on-call nurses. So even when we’re not at the location visiting with a patient, they can still call our nurses to ask questions regarding the patient, their medication, or care.
3. We provide both palliative and hospice care, so patients are cared for at any stage of their disease progression.
By providing both aspects of care, we can give nursing home facilities extra support throughout a patient’s prognosis and health declination. Once a patient is at the point where they need greater care or have enrolled in hospice, we can come into the facility with the necessary durable medical equipment and medications to keep them comfortable.
4. Our extra support means patients don’t need to leave their home when their health declines.
As a patient’s disease progresses and their health declines, they require a greater skill level of care. When a patient reaches that point while living somewhere like an assisted living home, if the facility cannot provide an adequate level of nursing care the patient might have to uproot their life to move into a place that does. However, when we partner with nursing facilities, patients can receive dedicated hospice care without needing to move into a specific skilled nursing home. It’s a win-win situation because the original facility gets to continue caring for the patient, and the patient doesn’t need to deal with the additional stress of leaving their residence.
5. We meet each facility we work with to create a plan that supports the patient in that specific environment.
Through our many years of working in hospice and palliative care, we’ve come to realize more and more that no two patients are alike. We also know that no two nursing home facilities are alike either. While our number one goal is to provide care and comfort to our patients, we also go out of our way to cater to the facilities we work with as well. Before we begin working with a new facility we meet with its administration to find out ways we can best meet their needs—and consequently, our patients’ needs. It’s a teamwork approach where both the facility and Ardent are equal players in providing the best care possible to our patients.
6. We often provide additional training and resources to facility staff.
Our Ardent team becomes involved with and invested in the facilities we work with. Because we see our partnerships as a team effort, we do what we can to elevate everyone on our team. At one facility we work with, we offered a wound training session as a way to further educate and empower their staff. At another facility we helped host a craft day to bring joy and levity to the patients there. So it’s more than about offering physical care to our patients, we try our best to ensure they’re wholly cared for in every aspect of their health.
7. Ultimately, more support means patients have access to better care.
Because we collaborate closely with nursing facilities, patients are going to have better care accessible to them because they’ll have a larger team monitoring their care. Beyond the facility’s regular nurses, patients (and their families) have access to our Ardent team of nurses, hospice aides, social workers, and spiritual chaplains. We work together as a team with the sole goal of providing patients with the highest quality of care.
The initial call to Ardent can come from any different avenue—whether the patient, their family, or the nursing home facility requests the additional support, we connect the dots to make sure the patient is completely cared for. For more information on how our nursing home facility services care can bring comfort and a better quality of life to your loved one, visit Ardent Hospice & Palliative Care online or call us at (858) 952-1786 to set up a consultation.
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