HJBR Sep/Oct 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  SEP / OCT 2022 29 to incorporate favorite activities and hob- bies as part of everyday community life at St. Jude’s. A chess club and gardening club are two such projects being explored by res- idents. Abook club is another, starting with a New Orleans Public Library partnership. LA PEERs reached out to the New Orleans Public Library to help residents renew their library cards and help others obtain their first-ever library cards. The library sends books, audiobooks, and audio machines to residents. This library partnership inspired one of the LAPEERs to start the book club. Another area of interest is “green space.”St. Jude’s is currently in a location with virtu- ally no green space. Solution: create con- tainer gardens. Agarden club is in the offing. The LA PEER program serves as a model for all long-term care facilities. The benefits of the program flow to residents and facili- ties alike. WHY LA PEER? In today’s world, with healthcare organi- zations adapting to changes and staff short- ages locally and nationwide, one might ask why a facility like St. Jude’s would agree to take on a new, relatively unknown program for residents that will require time and buy- in from staff. Courtney Broussard, the administrator for St. Jude’s, said, “It took me only a minute to say ‘yes’to the Louisiana Long-TermCare Ombudsman who presented the program to me. I immediately recognized the value of any program empowering the residents to have a voice in their community — St. Jude’s is their home, neighborhood, community. Who knows the concerns and solutions bet- ter than the residents who live here 24/7?” Why would a resident volunteer for such a rigorous program? One resident explained, “These are my friends. We laugh and talk and argue and laugh some more. We are best friends.”Another LAPEER said, “We watch out for each other.” Yet another added, “I want to do something that gets me out of myself. LA PEER helps me help oth- ers; helping others gives me meaning.” Lynette Burrows, long-time activities director at St. Jude’s, commented the month following graduation that “each of them seems to have an air of confidence about them that I never noticed before.” St. Jude’s marketing director Amy Sprout agreed, noting, “There is a sense of pride among the staff that St. Jude’s is the home of the first class of LA PEER graduates in Louisi- ana. The staff is proud of the role we all play in working with our residents to provide a thriving home environment.” MEASURING SUCCESS Although there is no official statisti- cal data on the impact of PEER as of 2022, Pennsylvania reports that their PEER facil- ities have fewer complaints, residents are happier, and the staff is more engaged, rec- ognizing their workplace as their residents’ home. St. Jude’s is working with residents to get their feedback and is learning ways to improve the program so that every resi- dent feels, and is, empowered to live their life to the fullest. LA PEERs appreciate the value of mea- suring the results of this nascent program. Their goal is to measure the successes and to spotlight any areas of concern that need attention. Each LAPEER has agreed to keep track of the problems, concerns, and com- ments brought to them. They record their observations: do residents appear happier, and are staff more engaged? The facility can also track whether or not complaints have diminished and the impact and sus- tainability of new resident-initiated proj- ects. The ombudsman will compare the number and nature of complaints before and following LA PEER and is looking for more than just a reduction in the number of complaints and concerns; they want to see activity (gardening, book club meetings, chess boards galore) abuzz in the residents’ home. The ombudsman wants to see smiles, hear laughter, and perhaps learn a thing or two about advocacy from LAPEERs. THE FUTURE OF LA PEER LA PEER is now a viable partnership between the Louisiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program and St. Jude’s Health and Wellness. Residents and staff alike are spreading the word about their first-in-the- state program. Residents and staff at other nursing facilities in the city and around the state have already expressed interest in LA PEER, and at least one facility has asked to institute the PEER program for its residents. Hopefully, all or most of Louisiana’s 400 nursing homes and assisted living facilities will embrace the program. Ombudsmen are available to meet with any interested nursing facility in the state to discuss LA PEER training oppor- tunities and can be reached via email at StateOmbudsman@la.gov or by phone at 866-632-0922. n Beverly Gianna, the statewide volunteer coordinator/ombudsman for the Louisiana Long- Term Care Ombudsman Program, which operates under the aegis of the Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs, is employed by Capital Area Agency on Aging. Beverly serves as an advocate for nursing home residents in the Greater New Orleans region. She also recruits and trains volunteer ombudsmen across the state. Prior to becoming an ombudsman, Gianna was vice president of Communications & Public Relations for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, now New Orleans & Company. Beverly is a graduate student at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Photo Credit: Cheryl Gerber