Mission-Driven = Person-Directed

© Imelda Maurer, cdp

On March 21, 2017, I posted an entry about mission-driven workplaces as exemplified by correspondence from Melissa Angelo, HR Director for The Villa, a nursing home in Baden, PA, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden.

Shortly after that post, Melissa told me about some activities around Employee Appreciation Week and, at my request, sent me some pictures of one of their events.  Each "household" had a tri-fold poster display about how, as staff, their household lives out the Villa Mission Statement and Values.  I asked Angela if I could share it with my blog readers and was so happy she said, "Of course!"

The pictures do not permit easy reading of what employees wrote, but they are so worth reading that I have included some of them beneath the appropriate picture.

Enjoy!

We treat our residents with a bushel of kindness and respect, a peck of good old home cooking lastly "a bushel and a pack and a hug around the neck."

Hospitality filled with a cup of Joe. 

A spoonful of love makes the medicine go down 

1 oz teamwork, 1 cup compassion, 2 cups of person centered care. Mix in love

Stir in goodness and positivity.

A sprinkle of care and compassion

A bundle of teamwork

This display reflected how employees saw living out the Villa Values of Respect, Quality, Stewardship, Community and Collaboration

"The Villa is a place where all staff truly strives to provide all the needs of each individual resident. Not just physical needs. We daily attempt to make sure each person feels safe, loved, and knows that they are valued. We want each soul to live there days to the fullest."

"Interacting with each resident as much as I can, stop to give a hug, sing a song, or just give them a smile, never be too busy to show them love."

"The mission statement means showing the residents that we care about them. We help them when they need help. We try to make them feel at home. We also get to know the families. And most of all we all work as a team to keep them safe."

"Our residents and their families become our family – and we share in their joy and grief."

"We make this place feel like the resident's home as much as possible. Let them eat when they want to eat. If they want to sleep in, they can. We treat them the way we treat our own mother and father, with dignity, respect, and honor."

LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS

© Imelda Maurer, cdp

Yesterday I posted the poem, “Light Within the Darkness”, suggesting that you ponder it before I offered my own thoughts on it. Here are those thoughts.

The writer counters the decline of the physical body with the ongoing development of the mind, spirit and soul. The consequence is “the radiance of the sage”, becoming the light within a dark world.

Recent advances in the study of the brain and adult development do indeed show that there is growth and development on multiple levels in the second half of life. The positive changes of life after fifty do provide for the blossoming of wisdom and generativity.  Indeed, the sages of the world can claim “radiance” in a dark world.

Why don’t we experience that that is so?  My first thought is to blame the pervasiveness of ageism.  Older adults are seen as ‘over the hill’, and ‘past their prime’. That does not make it so, of course. However this is what complicates the matter – self-perception in many cases.

Have you read Kennth Clark’s study done around 1940 with young Black children aged three to seven years? These youngsters were shown two dolls and asked to choose.  One doll was white with blond hair; the other doll was brown with black hair.  Overwhelmingly the young Black girls chose the Caucasian-featured dolls. Here is a quote about the study:

Some of the participants even employed aesthetic language in their unsolicited explanations for choosing the white doll. “Cause it’s white — it’s pretty,” said one child, or “cause he’s not colored like these — they the best looking cause they’re white.” The black dolls, on the other hand, were described as “ugly.”

The Black children in the study had internalized society’s racist views to their own detriment.  Because racism has at least been exposed, though not erased, it is probable that Kenneth Clark’s study would result in different conclusions today. 

I believe older adults are very prone to internalizing society’s prejudices of ageism.  Older adults who internalize this prejudice have their own self-esteem diminished. It is not surprising in a way. Every encounter offers the chance that we are seen, not as a person, an individual with a unique life story and accomplishments, but as an “old person” with all that our society believes about old people

Rise up, my good people! Our task is to confront this ageism from within and from without! Know and honor who you are and who you are becoming! Recognize the signs of ageism within yourself and confront them. Confront ageism wherever you see it.  The darkness of the world needs the brilliance of the sage!

Words to Ponder

The following poem was posted in the free, online monthly newsletter, “Human Values in Aging”, edited by Harry R. Moody, Ph.D.

Tomorrow I will share some of my own thoughts about the poem.  But first, what are your thoughts and insights from reading and pondering this poem?

As the heart grows tired, the courage awakens.
As the steps wobble, the soul remains unmoved.
The radiance of the sage becomes
the light within the darkness of the world.
Can you imagine millions
of strong-spirited,
free-thinking,
courageous elders
living in our cities and towns?
It is my hope for the world. 

Source:
From William Martin, The Sage's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for
the Second Half of Life, New York: Marlow & Company, 2000.