No control, vulnerable, fearful and exposed.

At Calvary St Paul’s aged care home at Cundletown, near Taree, staff are being asked to not simply imagine, but to experience it for themselves to see what a resident sees, feel what they feel, and better understand their vulnerabilities.

Involving the residents

Residents are also working with the Calvary St Paul’s team to co-design a series of other hands-on, practical training sessions for new trainees, existing staff and future starters, all aimed at improving the resident experience.

Taree couple Richard and Jennifer Woolcott, both former teachers, are part of the co-design team.

“I think it’s important that staff themselves get put in the sling and be hoisted,” said Richard, who has limited mobility and moved into the home almost two years ago.

Although full of praise for staff, Richard believes “it’s good for them to see what it feels like”.

Home manager Michelle McKenna said the idea for more experiential learning came from a series of well- attended workshops, where residents, families and staff discussed what was working well, what could be improved, and, together, developed and prioritised solutions.

The co-design workshops are part of Calvary’s PEARS model for caring for older people, which embraces the aspects of personhood, environment, activity, relationships and safe care, each underpinned by a set of principles and outcome measures.

“Designing solutions with residents, for residents is at the heart of our PEARS approach. It gives residents a voice and is empowering them to actively shape their care and activity around their home,” Ms McKenna said.

Understanding the hoist experience

Long-time care worker Cindy Brown was one of the first staff to go through the hoist experience and said the unnerving session has already led to changes in the way she works with residents.

“It was scary just hanging there and putting myself literally in everyone else’s hands – and I was fully clothed. There was no privacy,” Ms Brown said.

“Transferring people using the sling and hoist is something we do every day but this made me stop and think a lot more about it. It was really worthwhile to see it from their perspective.

“Now when I need to transfer someone, I make sure they have privacy.” Jennifer Woolcott visits most days and has suggested training include staff taking a turn at being confined in a wheelchair or the large mobile lounge chairs that are a common fixture at the home so they can experience the room and home environment as residents with limited or no mobility do.

“Imagine if you’re sitting in a bed or one of the big chairs and you can’t get a drink of water, or it’s just out of reach, or the cord has fallen out of your mobile phone, or you can’t reach the remote controls. Richard doesn’t want to be buzzing all of the time to get the basic things. He wants to be as independent as possible and be able to maintain that as well as his dignity.”

Ms McKenna said experiential training will be expanded to cover other aspects of daily living at the home including residents dining experiences.

Several other practical improvements have also been adopted as a result of the initial workshops, including large-print staff name badges to help residents more easily identify and talk with staff, and pocket notebooks so staff could jot down residents’ queries or requests and report back.

Our adoption of PEARS

Calvary’s National Chief Medical Advisor, Dr Tracey Tay, said Calvary St Paul’s was an early adopter of the PEARS approach, which has now been introduced at 18 of Calvary’s 50-plus aged care homes across the country, with 11 more homes on the agenda for 2025.

“PEARS is a systematic yet simple approach that allows us to think about all those parts of life that we need to pay attention to, so we provide a good quality of life for our residents, and are continuously improving,” Dr Tay said.

“Each of our homes is different, the residents are different, the environments are different, and so the co- design process highlights different aspects or issues that we need to focus on – some large, many smaller, all important.”