Strength in Commitment to Aging Supports and Education

By Sue Walker, Chief Program Officer and Cate Saracen Peters, Director of Workforce Development & Training

As a part of our mission, we have made a commitment to support and care for people through all stages of life.  More than 20 years ago we recognized that the people we supported had changing needs as they aged. Many of them came to us as very young adults, and some as older adults. With advances in preventative medical care, more people were living healthier, longer lives.

Jim Finney came to Hammer Residences when he was 9 years old. He passed away at the age of 82

Over the years we have cared for so many people through their elderly years and with more complicated medical, physical, and emotional needs. This means that we need to have understanding relationships with guardians and families, provide training and ongoing support for direct care staff and program leaders, and involve interdisciplinary teams to provide additional supports and services. All of this while maintaining effective connections in the medical community.

We have now reestablished an Aging Task Force with representation from our Program, Training, and Nursing teams. Our focus will be on Aging, Alzheimer’s, and End of Life Care. We are currently in the process of evaluating all our supports, efforts, and training offerings, to make sure we are current in our materials and knowledge base. The overarching goal is to provide the support that is needed for the people we serve, the staff, families, and peer relationships. This task force participates in conferences on aging, staff training, and team support when advanced and end-of-life care is needed to remain current with industry standards. We are also planning for increased opportunities around family education moving forward.

Through our training team, we have materials that are required for direct care staff to complete when they care for people in their advanced age. We provide personalized training at our homes and apartments with staff teams when people we serve have changing needs. Our nursing team provides medical knowledge and support to make decisions with the direct care staff, guardians and families, and other medical specialists. We continue to use hospice services when we need to care for someone through the end of life. With hospice support, we have a quality-of-life focus in place that provides physical, emotional, and spiritual care and comfort.

Frank Palony was supported at NER for 48 years and passed away in 2023

A large part of this personalized care includes being intentional about inserting Hammer & NER’s Core Values into our holistic approach: Training that includes family members along with the staff team sustains the memories that are an important part of a person’s life history and ensures supporting the family during all aspects of the aging process. We support a person’s housemates as well. These relationships represent a person’s connection to their daily routines; relational, person-centered care, is truly at the heart of maintaining a meaningful life amid many changes that a person experiences.

There are so many staff members and families we have supported who have cared for people into their golden years. This extension of personalized support includes providing expressions of empathy, trust, and caring for the caregivers. When wanted and needed we bring in a consultant to work with our staff and/or family members as they navigate this part of living for their loved one. A time to share and process what they are walking through, connected to grieving and loss.

This work continues to be an honor as we provide care through people’s last days. Our staff are so committed to this tender time as people they have cared so deeply for enter this season in their lives. The love has been demonstrated in many different ways over the years and will be in the days and years to come. Staff have honored people with gardens, music, trees, special photo books, handmade memory bears, preparing a special memorial service when family are no longer present, and much more.

So, life indeed comes full circle and in all the details it is our mission to support people to live their lives to the fullest. That includes their changing needs and care, and interests and dreams as they age. The dignity and love that each person deserves and that we can provide is absolutely priceless.

Photo above: David lives at our Arkansas home and Barb resides at Lee Avenue