Administrator Karen Fletchall reported that a family council for the Worth County Convalescent Center will be forming. The council is run by family members and legal representatives to represent resident concerns to administration. The first meeting will be on November 23rd at 11:30 and the council is still looking for members. Fletchall said that she has gotten some response. Staff members will be there to help them get started. After that, the Family Council will be for family members or legal representatives. This is similar to the Resident Council. Fletchall said that they would try to be flexible on scheduling to fit the work schedules of members attending.
There were 29 residents living in the facility as of last Wednesday; Fletchall said that some people had been discharged back into their homes, which she said was always a good outcome. She said that the goal of the facility was to give them a good experience so that they would return.
The board reviewed a draft of a van use policy regarding non-medical transportation for individual residents. Under the proposed plan, the WCCC will charge 50 cents per mile plus 1 1/2 times normal pay for facility-approved drivers; should a resident wish to hire a companion, that would be between the resident and the companion. This policy applies to individual residents wishing to make a non-medical trip; the policy would not apply to facility outings such as trips to the Senior Center for the monthly dinner or other such community events.
The board decided to pursue a possible proposal with Duane Warner to put in a zone heating and cooling system for the facility which would involve a new boiler systems. The price tag for the deal was around $170,000, which was at least $100,000 cheaper than any of the other offers made. The other businesses presented various offers involving individual room heating systems. The board decided to pursue the proposal of Warner after hearing presenations from him and other heating and cooling businesses. However, Board Member Anthony Steinhauser said that he was concerned about the durability of the Samsung unit that would be included, saying that he feared it would be damaged easily. Steinhauser and board member Mike Hall will meet with Warner and look at alternatives.
Board President Scott Houk said that the board and administration needed to think of ways of generating more income and marketing the facility. "If we decreased the number of resident beds, we could add an assisted living wing," he suggested. The facility recently went from a 60-bed license to a 50-bed license. Houk said that with people living longer and staying home more, the facility needed to look at ways of adapting to a changing population. Steinhauser added that it was tough to change the mindset that people had of the facility being a place where one spent the end of their days.
Ms. Fletchall announced a new workshop on living a healthy life with chronic conditions. This event is free and open to the community. It will be held at the WCCC starting November 23rd from 9 to 11:30 a.m. every Tuesday until December 28th. To register, people can contact Freda Miller or Melissa Steele at (888) 844-5626. This is sponsored by the Northwest Missouri Area Agency on Aging. This is a six-week group education workshop series and is designed to help people with chronic conditions gain self-confidence in their ability to manage their own health. Among other things, the workshop will teach people how to improve knowledge of living a healthy life with a chronic condition, identify the latest medical and pain management approaches, develop an individualized exercise program, manage fatigue and stress more effectively, find solutions to problems caused by your condition, identify ways to deal with anger, fear, frustration, and depression, discuss the role of nutrition in chronic disease management, and develop new ways to communicate with family and friends.
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