This month’s lesson: To give the best care to others, you must first give the best care to yourself.
by: Maverick Castaneda, House Manager, McDonald
Every Wednesday morning the Sunrise Care Homes managers meet by video conference to discuss the business of managing four (4) senior assisted living homes. There is an update by each manager about their home, their staff, and their residents. They each share what is working well, and how they are going to address those areas which need improvement. And, there are always discussions about the health and well-being of the residents with each sharing their expertise and experience about how to address specific resident situations. Each manager and every home is better because of the teamwork of the management team.
In addition to the regular meeting topics for business growth and development, a portion of each meeting has always been dedicated to training and coaching on personal and professional development. We all know and believe that when you grow as a person, you grow as an employee and as a manager. For the past several months, Lida, the owner of SCH, has been facilitating discussions on this topic using the book written by Dale Carnegie–How to Win Friends and Influence People. Each week everyone reads a specific chapter of the book, shares what they learned from it, and tells how they are going to use that learning to improve themselves.
This past week’s discussion was particularly impactful for everyone. As one manager shared, “we as managers have our hands full. Some of us are wives, some single mothers, some are moms that have our children in other states, and some are grandmothers. And yet,we are managers 24/7, and we also do resident care four (4) times a week. Anyone would wonder how we can manage having ten (10) residents [some maximum care and some personal care] and still go home and have a normal life with kids, husbands or grandkids. Then it hit me. I discovered every manager is doing something healthy to keep themselves at the top of their game. Hayden Manager started playing basketball. Paradise Valley Manager started hiking. SunnyVale manager started soul searching, and McDonald Manager started eating healthier and going to the gym.”
What each manager realized as a result of the discussion was that by doing some type of exercise to keep their brains, bodies, and moods active and motivated, they can better keep up with the difficult schedule of a working manager at a senior assisted living home. “No matter how busy we are, we have to take time for our health and to keep ourselves fresh and motivated daily.”
