Email: leslie@dignityq.com

 

Leslie’s Book

What Living as a Resident Can Teach Long-Term Care Staff: The Power of Empathy to Transform Care

by Leslie Pedtke

Transform your culture of care using the innovative program Through the Looking Glass!

 

Created by an administrator struggling to jump-start culture change in her care community, Through the Looking Glass is a unique program that changes staff attitudes and teaches the importance of person-centered care practices by placing staff directly in the shoes of residents—with remarkable results.

 

Even the most caring staff can fail to appreciate the effects of challenges that residents in long-term care can face on a daily basis. This book introduces you to a program that builds staff empathy for residents’ experiences by having them simulate a diagnosis and live alongside residents. The lessons learned create more compassionate caregivers, improve care practices, and enhance well-being for both staff and residents.

 

Learn how to set up this program in any residential care setting, as well as ways to address high turnover through the hiring and orientation process. Measurable benefits include:

 

• Elimination of personal body alarms
• Decreased falls
• Reduced use of psychotropic drugs
• Increased staff retention and satisfaction

 

Filled with compelling journal entries of real staff experiences, this hopeful and encouraging book will inspire you to achieve truly person-centered care.

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See What Others Have To Say About Leslie’s Book

  • There are so many takeaways from this book - but the one that stands out the most to me is the idea that the residents are (and should be) in charge. I cannot recommend this book enough - though I’m not sure who to recommend it to more... the administrators and owners, or the nurses and support staff... I would even recommend this book for families and loved ones of residents... and even residents. As eye opening this book is for those of us who work in long-term care, I think it would have a huge impact on family members and residents - if they too, were given the opportunity to see both the difficulties of living in long-term Care as well as some great ideas on how to overcome those difficulties. Go visit your grandma or grandpa. Go often and stay later.

    Ralph Peterson

  • This book by Leslie Pedtke (Administrator at Aviston Countryside Manor and Chair of the Illinois Pioneer Coalition), is a must-read for everyone so that we all understand what it is like to live in a nursing home and realize the great need for change. It tells the story of Leslie’s/Aviston’s program, Through the Looking Glass, which started out as an empathy program for the staff and ended up being a tool for transforming the culture of the nursing home, making life better for the residents and improving the work life of the staff. Through the stories and journal entries of the staff that lived as a resident in the nursing home for a period of time, the reader learns what it is like to be a resident and the lessons learned by Leslie and her staff about how care practices and other aspects of nursing home life should be different, and what to do to make it so. The Appendix includes information about how every nursing home in the country can replicate the program, which I believe would greatly increase culture change adoption by providers and make it the norm in this country.

    Cathy Lieblich, MA, Director of Network Relations, Pioneer Network

  • In my work with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, I have had the opportunity to observe how hundreds of skilled nursing homes, assisted living, and adult day care centers (in 28 states and internationally in 7 countries) take care of people. With Leslie Pedtke’s innovative leadership, Aviston Countryside Manor ranks among the best-run communities I have had the honor of working with. When I participated in Through the Looking Glass, I learned so much about empathy and myself. While this book is not a magical key—it takes daily hard work to achieve what Aviston Countryside Manor has achieved—I can say if you follow Leslie’s steps, it will lead you to a magical place; a truly person-centered, respectful, and loving community.

    Gary Glazner, Founder and Executive Director, Alzheimer’s Poetry Project

Buy Leslie’s Book Today!