Shift Happens! Monthly Lessons Learned. No. 4

This month's Lesson:  Never stop raising the bar for your staff and encouraging them to be their best.By Joan Lichauco, House Manager SunnyvaleI never thought I would be a caregiver for seniors and especially did not think I would go to school to get certified for it.  I expected that I would come to the States and get a job doing what I did back home in the Philippines, for which I already had a degree.  But my boss, the owner of SCH, saw something in me and began to encourage me to get my caregiver’s certificate.  In the beginning,…
Read More
Shift Happens! Monthly Lessons Learned. No. 3

Shift Happens! Monthly Lessons Learned. No. 3

This month’s Lesson: Train caregivers to check Oxygen and vitals immediately when they see a problem before they call for more help. It seemed like it was going to be a very good day. My work phone had not rang at all which meant all the residents were doing excellent. That was about to change. One of my caregivers called telling me that one of our residents has been acting weird. I asked her to be more specific. She said he was not making sense, not following commands and his speech was slurred. I asked her to check all his…
Read More
Shift Happens!  Monthly Lessons Learned. No. 2

Shift Happens! Monthly Lessons Learned. No. 2

This month’s Lesson: When dealing with behavioral challenges, become an investigator and find out the underlying problem causing the behavior. By Lida Cubillos – Founder/CEO It is natural and a constant occurrence when you are caring for the elderly in senior assisted living homes that you will deal with behavior problems and ‘acting out’. Especially if the residents have any kind of mental issues like dementia. The question is, “how will you deal with these behavioral outbursts?” Two specific situations come to mind here. We had one resident who had just come back from the hospital after having hip surgery.…
Read More