JAN'S GROUP HOME SUPPORT

If you are a group home support staff and they need extra staff to accompany disabled residents as competitors or observers to Special Olympics, do what you can to be one of those staff, you will not regret it!

I was fortunate to attend another Special Olympic competition and take photographs last weekend. It is always an inspiring and motivating experience. Pride is everywhere! Recognition for the competitors is abundant. The support from the community can make me forget the things I see on the news and read in the paper about some of the people who live in my town.

This year it inspired an article, Going for the Gold, for my internet entrepreneur blog, Jan’s Ideas.

Communication log (com log) pages are where group home support staff and group home managers can communicate with each other. A com log is also a legal document and should be treated as such. Most group homes I’ve worked at have their com log pages set up the same everything is on one page. When I managed, I had my books set up a little differently for my group home support staff.

I had a separate com log page for each resident. The reasons:

• Confidentiality-the residents and guardians have a right to view all communication logs. When all residents who live in a group home, have their information on the same page, other residents confidential information is accessible to anyone reading the com log page.
• Mobility-there are occasions when a group home resident may move to another group home within a company or change service providers and the com log can easily be moved with them. When all residents’ information is on the same page, it makes it difficult because the other residents’ information would need to be blacked out. What I have seen happen is that the com log information doesn’t move with the resident.
• Consistency of care-the more information that group home support staff and managers have, the better they can seamlessly transfer a resident to new living arrangements. Having all com logs available will provide a more accurate history of the resident and care can be more consistent.
• Staff/Resident separation-In the event that the com logs need to be accessed for individual residents’ needs or for legal proceedings, the staff communication (if not needed) will not have to be separated or blacked out. The same is true if only the staff communication is needed.

Each resident com log page would have the resident’s name. For residents that there isn’t much to write, two shifts per page will work. The residents’ com log pages can have the following sections for staff to fill in:

• Staff on shift and shift times
• Summary of shift as it pertains to resident
• Activities
• Chores
• Checklist of paper work done (data sheets, sleep log, elimination chart, med sheets, etc)
• Place for staff to initial that page was read

I would have this in each residents section in the books w/their individual paper work all in one book. I had a separate book for med logs and related information.

My staff had their own book with com log in it. The pages can have the following sections to fill in:

• Staff on shift and shift times
• Summary of shift as it pertains to staff
• Cleaning
• Meals
• Outings
• Appointments
• Staff/manager communication
• House needs
• Place for staff to initial that page was read
• Petty cash/shopping/client funds

Group home support staff might have to flip through a few extra pages to get all paper work done at the end of a shift, but time for that can be included with a slight alteration in time management. The benefit is complete and separate information being available.

We have all heard jokes about “that” time of the month. There was even jokes about being insured for injuries incurred someone you know had a PMS episode. Putting the jokes aside, there are very real hormonal changes that occur during a woman’s cycle. Understanding these changes will make you a better caregiver.

Let’s learn about cycles first. The day a woman’s menstrual cycle starts is the first day of the cycle. Approximately 10 to 14 days BEFORE the first day of menstruation, ovulation occurs. Ovulation triggers the hormonal changes. The time from the first day of menstruation to ovulation can vary due to stress or illness. The time between when a woman ovulates until the cycle ends (the day before menstruation) will be consistent. PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) occurs at this time. Even if there aren’t full-blown symptoms of PMS, there are hormonal changes occurring while the egg travels down fallopian tube to the uterus. If the egg is not fertilized, when it gets to the uterus or the uterus cannot support implantation of a fertilized egg, hormones change again and the new cycle and menstruation begins. What is normal cycle can change from woman to woman.

Now that you understand that, try to work with the cycles. Most group homes support staff is required to chart menstrual cycles. Know your resident’s cycles. Additionally, a journal can be started for two to three months. The first day of the cycle is day one. Start over each new cycle. Information to add to journal each day:

• Appetite
• Mood
• Food cravings
• Behaviors
• Sleep changes
• Urination frequency differences
• How clothes fit (pants snug, sensitivity to having bras put on)
• Crying episodes
  

Some women glide through their cycles with no noticeable changes, while others cannot and have distinct signs menstruation is approaching. If your resident has difficulties, plan around it and work with it.

• Make any stressful appointments before ovulation and the pre-menstrual hormones rear their ugly head, not a few days before the cycle starts and hormones are peaking.
• Prepare for extra tiredness and behaviors. Schedule accordingly for activities. Allow extra time to wake up an extra tired resident. Encourage earlier bed time.
• Have medication available for physical discomforts.
  

Especially w/non verbal residents who may not be able to verbalize what is happening and for group home residents that don’t have the skills or ability to adjust to the hormonal changes, it’s up to the group home support staff to help make the monthly changes comfortable.

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