Dear Friends,
We believe all human life has dignity. That life is meant to be cherished in all of its stages. This is the philosophy of Grace Living Centers.
Mother Theresa once said that God doesn't ask us to do great things, only that we do little things with great love. In each of our homes, we have an opportunity to do little things, with great love, countless times each day. Each time we assist our elders with activities of daily living such as bathing or dressing, helping them with lunch, assisting them with medication administration or simply passing them in the hall, we have an opportunity to love them.
Of course, meeting the physical medical needs of our elders is our primary objective,
but unfortunately for many providers of long-term care, this is the only objective. At Grace, we believe that we are also called to address the emotional needs of our elders,
to help complete their lives with companionship, spontaneity and the opportunity to care for other living things. These are the things that bring fulfillment to all of us, and have brought fulfillment to our elders for their entire lives. Meaningful life does
not end just because we get older and meaningful life can and should continue in a nursing facility.
How do we accomplish this? First is the embodiment of our mission in a statement, entitled our "Statement of Commitment." All of us agree to abide by this statement. Every employee hired accepts this statement before completing a job application. We orient and train staff to meet these objectives. We also operate from our annual strategic plan that commits us to accomplishing concrete steps to fill our elders' lives with meaning.
To measure our progress toward meeting our goals, we routinely survey our elders' families to solicit feedback.
Finally, we fully embrace the principles of resident centered care to help us address the three plagues of nursing facilities: loneliness, helplessness and boredom. As a result, in many of our homes you will find gardens both inside and outside, animals of all types (birds, dogs, cats and even a couple of pot-bellied pigs!) and the sounds of children visiting. In fact, in a program we call "Shared Graces" we have partnered with the Oklahoma City Public Schools to bring children to our homes in school buses each week to read books with our elders. In one of our homes, 60 children actually attend school every day inside our building, playing every day during recess on the playground equipment specially tailored to be accessible by our elders.
Our mission cannot be accomplished overnight, but it is deeply imbedded in our culture and has become a personal mission for us. Grace Living Centers are different, and we are proud of that difference. Please visit us and see for yourself.
Sincerely,
Don Greiner
President,
Grace Living Centers
