OBJECTIVE 1:  CULTURE CHANGE CONFERENCES
PURPOSE:

*To bring solid, factual information on culture change to residents, family members, family councils, local and state elected officials, ombudsmen, AAA personnel, long-term care facility staff and administrations, and the general public.

*To send a message regarding the imperative of including family members and family councils as an integral key player in the success of this transformation.  

*To make the general public familiar with or more familiar with Voices for Quality Care, The Pioneer Network, and other partnering groups as sources of information and assistance in this process.
PLAN:

*Provide conferences in locations making all parts of Maryland within a 540-moile radius of a conference.  Include Delaware in radiuses.

*Develop one agenda for all conferences.  Use different speakers if necessary and/or train in place.

*Since these will be regional conferences, we can probably expect a smaller audience--less than 60 people at each.   Churches/ nursing homes/ large assisted living facilities/ CCRCs/ public facilities are possible places to hold these conferences without renting space.

*Grants are available for this kind of activity as are gifts from other organizations if we get moving on them soon enough to receive them before we need to hold the conferences.  We will plan these conferences in the initial phases, however, as if we must do them with Voices resources only.

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS:

In looking at a Maryland Map, I think we need to schedule conferences in the panhandle, Southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore, and one or two in the Baltimore-Washington area.  I suggest somewhere around the following locations--

1. Denton
   
2. Elkton
   
3. Cumberland
   
4. Waldorf
   
5. Laurel
   
6. Frederick
   

The Cumberland location would possibly include parts of West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania

ANTICIPATED EXPENSES

    Lunch and snacks for conference participants
    Hand-outs for conference participants
    Publicity
    1Transportation and hotel expense for conference planners/presentors
    2Rental fees for locations
    3Speaker fees
        1  Transportation may be donated by some planners and/or presentors
        2  Free rental locations such as churches and public gathering places will be first choices
        3  Speakers may donate time.

POSSIBLE FUNDING SOURCES
    AARP-funded most of conference in VA
    SEIU
    OHCQ
    Delmarva  (QIO)
    Commonwealth Fund

    We will also put out the donations jar so we may collect some funds from one conference
    to fund the next one.

PARTNERS & ASSISTS
    The Pioneer Exchange

OBJECTIVE II:  THE PILOT:

At this time, most of the emphasis and resources in the Culture Change movement are directed toward
industry associations, corporations,  individual facilities, staff, licensing agencies, QIOs, and
ombudsman. The ways each of those groups participates in projects has been and is being documented.  Guidelines, educational materials, pitfalls, suggestion, and cautions have been and are being developed.   You'll notice that residents, family members, and family councils are not on those lists.  We think they should be there, in alphabetical order, along with all the others.  Unfortunately, since there has been little resident/family participation to date, there is little in the literature or elsewhere to use as a guideline for the inclusion of residents, family members, and family councils as equal participants in this process.

PURPOSE:
* To develop working models of family council participation in Culture Change projects that can be used
  by QIOs, Culture Change organizations, and long-term care facilities in Maryland and in other states.
    *To document the benefits of full family participation as well as to identify any pitfalls of that
  participation and explore remedies for them
*To make family participation an integral part of the Culture Change process in Maryland.

PLAN:
    *Five nursing homes will be selected for the pilot.
        *Requirements:
            *Nursing homes must have a functioning family council with a reasonable
  working relationship with the administrator of the facility
            *The facility must either currently have embarked on a Culture Change journey
              or plan to begin one.
            *Both the facility and the Family Council must agree that the Family Council
              will work with the facility as an equal partner with residents, staff, and the
              administration for the duration of the project.
            *Both the family council and the nursing home must commit to seeing the
             project through with good intent
            *Both the family council and the facility must agree to share their
  experiences in Culture Change so far as the family council/facility partnership
  is concerned with the other facilities in the pilot program
*Both the family councils and the facilities must agree to share their joint
  experiences in a documented format to be shared with other facilities and
  organizations involved in Culture Change
*An escape hatch will be provided
    *Community mediator?
Trying to add some formatting.  Maybe.

    *The Pioneer Exchange will provide:
*A total of 10 copies of their Getting Started program.
            *Two will go to each facility, one to the family council and one to the facility
itself
        *A private space on the Pioneer Exchange web site for sharing ideas, successes, concerns,
        remedies, and general comments and observations between the 5 groups

ANTICIPATED EXPENSES:  None

The more I learn about person-centered care, the more I believe that families and residents MUST be involved.

Our hope is to roll out a culture change campaign in early May. I should be able to give you all more info about that later.

I also have copies of the Almost Home Video and A Tale of Transformation. I actually like the later better.

My plan would be for me or one of the QIO to attend each of the Voices conferences. We could show the videos.

More later. This is exciting and I look forward to working with you.

Carol

Joe has also offered to speak.   He can provide an overview of the Culture Change movement in general and also a more national review of what's currently happening.  He brings an air of authority on the subject to the conferences!

If we use all or parts of the "A Tale of Transformation" DVD. we have most of the conference already.  Since we're focusing on family involvement, it would be nice to have a family member currently involved in a Culture Change project speaking but I'm not sure there are any of those availale.

MAIN TASK:  Our main task now is to get this preliminary plan in a shape that we can send it out to possible partnering groups and agencies.  It might be helpful to include these program items in the plan.

Joe Angelelli:  Joe is our leader here on the Pioneer Exchange, He is Director of Networking & Development for the Pioneer Network and the person primarily responsible for running this web site.   He's a much sought-after expert on Culture Change. and hangs out in Pittsburgh, PA.  He brings a wealth of knowledge on the Culture Change movement to the group.

Carol Benner:  Carol was the Director of the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality, our long-term care licensing agency,  for many years.  In order of importance, she recently joined Voices for Quality Care as a member, become a consultant for Delmarva, our Quality Insurance Organization, and retired from OHCQ.  Carol is working with the QIO to bring Culture Change to our long-term care facilities.  She brings considerable  information on how things work in Maryland as well as on what is currently happening in the Culture Change movement in Maryland to the group.

Bob Bronaugh:  Bob is vice-chair of Voices for Quality Care and a member of the Board of Directors.  He's also President of the family council at Manor Care Chevy Chase.  He has had many years of experience in the family side of long-term care.  He brings considerable skill as a public relations person and an advertising whizz to the group and he's a great organizer.

Dianne Bryant:  (not yet logged on) Dianne is a co-founder of Voices, a member of the board and chair of the Family Council Committee.  She's also President of the family council at Spring Brook.  She brings a great deal of knowledge about the family side of long term care and is very good at keeping things on track.

Sharon Christie:  Sharon is a member of the board of Voices.  She's a nurse/lawyer by profession.  This makes her an expert in most of the things we need an expert in.  Her work has given her a good insight into the more serious issues in long-term care as it exists today.  What better skills for that job and this one?  

Otto Drengwitz:  (not yet logged on)  Otto is an early and dedicated member of Voices.  He's a member of our board of directors and chair of the Public Relations committee.  Otto can always be counted on to lend a hand regardless of the hour or the job.  Otto brings a great deal of personal knowledge in the family side of long-term care,  He also brings a willingness to manage whatever tasks need doing and, even  better, he's willing to drive long distances to do them!

Pat Englehardt:  (not logged on yet) Pat is a retired nurse who is now teaching several days a week in Delaware.  More importantly for us, she serves on the Delaware legislative committee charged with the oversight and improvement of long-term care in Delaware.  Pat has been an encouraging supporter of Voices since we formed.  She is now involved in a fledgling citizen advocacy group in Delaware.  She brings a great deal of general and specific knowledge about long-term care to the group.

Sandee Merrigan0Harrison:  Sandee is a member of Voices and President of the family council at the Washington Home in the District.  She has successfully led that family councils for a number of years.  She brings great organizational skills to the group along with considerable knowledge in family involvement in long-term care issues.

Jerry Ricks:  Jerry is our Voices Communications Coordinator.  He doesn't attend many meetings but he puts in a great deal of time as our web master,  in the running of our listservs, and in assisting our members with specific computer problems related to both.  He brings considerable personal experience in family councils and family involvement in long-term care.  He also brings computer skills and is a great project manager.

Clare Whitbeck:  Clare is Voices Treasurer and a member of the board.  She's also chair of our Legislative Committee and has done a superb job in the 2006 legislative session.  And, she was a faithful attendee of the Assisted Living Forum recently held by the Office of Health Care Quality. She brings personal knowledge of family involvement in long-term care to the group as well as considerable skills in all things legislative and political.

And then there's me, Kate Ricks, co-founder and chair of Voices for Quality Care.  The group started wtih Dianne and me.  Now, it includes nearly 100 individual members as well as a number of family councils.  We've managed to affect legislation, direct care, agency responsiveness, and the level of awareness of resident and family rights in Maryland over the last 4 years.  Not bad for a start-up.  To me, the most effective thing that we can do for residents and their families now is to bring Culture Change to every communal long-term care situation in Maryland.  And, in the process, if we can bring residents, families, and family councils to their rightful place at this table as equal partners in the develolpement, implementation and continuation of Culture Change projets we'll have gone a long way in meeting our original goal of quality long-term care.

This actually shouldn't take a great deal of time or work to set up and, with Almost Home circulating among the general public, the proverbial iron is probably as hot now as it's going to get for a while.  I'd like to see a fairly fast execution date.  By that, I mean it needs to be done this year.  What is the best time of the year to hold events such as this?

Lastly, she's Clare Whitbeck's sister which is how we were able to coerce her into working with us.