Some key points from “Person Centered Health Care–Some Additional Defining Thoughts…”

Person centered care is an acknowledgment of the importance of identity for both sides. Moreover, issues of IDENTITY naturally extend the personal support and medical interaction in the homecare model to the many dimensions of the mind and the community:

Looking more deeply at person centered care has allowed us to look beyond standard models of care, and their assessment processes, to areas that may also have impact with respect to the client’s physical and mental well being to greater extent; addressing typically “non care” areas, for older adults where complex care needs impact being, may well be of critical importance to the person in raising the quality of life otherwise achieved from outcomes limited to nursing and personal supports.

As providers of longer term home care service based relationships, that include a great many older adults with complex care needs, we also believe we have a responsibility, as gatekeepers of our specific environ, to address the importance of the person, outside of the typically defined care relationship, as a being rich in meaning, history and creative potential. 

For many of those who are in “the chain of care”, it is the very fact that we are aware of the imbalance in the lives of those we care for that we see the need for this greater emphasis on the person.  

It is not just that a person’s best interests should come first, but that the ability to make decisions in their best interest cannot be made without first defining what those interests are.

Holistic does not just mean knowing the whole, but covering or considering the whole area of needs when addressing care;referring on when identified needs fall outside of the specific area of expertise or the existence of a chain of care that will address these wider needs as the person moves through the process. 

As a community focused homecare company we are especially aware of the gaps in care that relate to the person as a being of meaning and as a person existing within a wider community

To address the impact of gaps, especially those associated with loss of social interaction and reduced engagement in interests, activities and communities, we may have to be creative. “The Meaning of Me®”.

Gate keeper role: be aware of your interactions, widen your knowledge base and realise that you are one of many within a web or chain of care that links the person to the wider holistic solution.

The search for person centeredness is effectively also a search for an holistic model and better definition of the areas where the practitioner and the care provider and the wider community of care providers interact.   Holistic is therefore knowing the whole and addressing the whole along an integrated chain of care that extends from the primary physician at one end to the community and social infrastructure at the other. 

Person centered care is an acknowledgment of the importance of identity for both sides

We know that loneliness and isolation can have quite dramatic impacts on health, for older adults, yet a healthcare system that does not address these issues somewhere along the chain of care does risk impaired health care outcomes.  

Solutions embodied in redefining process and structure to dimensions of being that impact care outcomes is one that provides a supportive environment in which the identity of the person in need of care can be established

Issues of IDENTITY extend the personal support and medical interaction to the many dimensions of the mind and the community.    

Home care is one of the furthest points along chain of care that you can get for the older adult and occupies an important space in the care continuum, dominating essentially large parts of the person’s space and time. 

Importantly the home is especially relevant to aging in place dynamics and community interaction and is therefore much closer to the personal centered care dimensions of the mind and community. 

It was this proximity to community and place, engendered by our long standing belief in the importance of community towards aging in place and age friendly communities, that helped gather our minds’ eye on “The Meaning of Me®” as an important interface to the person that we care for.

These comments are drawn from the longer and deeper post “Person Centered Health Care–Some additional defining thoughts with respect to Mosaic’s Presentation at the European Society For Person Centered Health Care’s 4th Annual Conference

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