By manning the nursing home facility seven days a week exclusively with staff and not agency or contract healthcare providers, Bayside Care Center differentiates their care from most other nursing home facilities.
Kelly Smith Friedman, LNHA, Administrator and CEO of the facility told The Bay Net, “Using staff instead of contract caregivers provides our patients with a familiar face with whom they can gain a level of trust and comfort.”
Most such facilities utilize contract or agency caregivers in order to save labor costs. Unfortunately, the patients never have the opportunity to get to know those in charge of their care. For patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, losing such familiarity can be a traumatic experience.
The Lexington Park facility is undergoing a complete renovation as part of their on-going mission to ‘change the landscape of long-term care forever.’
The Bay Net asked Friedman to explain the mission further. She said, “We not only make every attempt to provide the very best in long-term care for the elderly, but firmly believe that spiritualism is a large part of healing process. We are upgrading all of our 125 rooms and renovating common areas such as the dining rooms and gathering area of the center.”
Bayside Care Center supports a complete Quality of Life initiative, believing that only by raising the quality of patients’ care can the treatment be truly successful. In initiatives still in the planning process, the center plans to include activities for long-term patients that go beyond the typical elderly activities such as bingo and shuffleboard.
“We are looking at some very out of the box things to be able to improve the patient experience here,” Friedman said.
Director of Admissions and Marketing, Lisa Shumaker said, “We actually discharge 93% of our admissions.” She went on to explain that not only does the nationally licensed and certified center provide long-term geriatric and residential care, but offers full-service post acute care treatment and both physical and emotional therapy.
“Our population is a lot younger than in most traditional nursing home facilities,” Friedman stated.
When asked why, she related that Bayside Care Center was deeply committed to the Lexington Park area and strives to provide quality of life treatment to anyone they can.
In order to further their mission, Bayside Care Center has another initiative moving beyond the planning stages whereby patients can eat when they choose, rest when they want, do activities on their schedule.
Friedman stated, “Unlike other facilities, we are planning to staff around our patients’ schedules as opposed to forcing them to conform to ours.”
This year, Bayside Care Center held its first ever Hall of Fame Café rewarding and recognizing four resident patients for their life – person and professional – achievements, community involvement and volunteerism. The first four Bayside Care Center Hall of Fame residents are Thomas Dean, John Edinger, Gufferie Smith and Charles Duffy. They plan to make the event an annual celebration for residents.
In the past, Bayside Care Center has come under some criticism based on out-dated information reported by a local newspaper. When asked about that, Friedman indicated that there were some problems, but that everything was taken care of very quickly and there have been no complains since that time.
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