By: Ray Rusin

Even when intimately involved with caring for or ensuring the care of a family member, it is the rare person who can intuitively sort through the available options to determine what are the “best” services and what environment best meets one’s needs when care and services are beyond our capacity to provide for ourselves or our loved ones.

The truth is a significant percentage of us, or someone we love, will need the care, services and supports traditionally found in the nursing home environment. Any negative perceptions we might have or have heard of or read about, or any previous negative involvement with nursing homes we might have experienced does not change that reality.

Rhode Island Generations is here to help. It’s a partnership made up of individuals and representatives of organizations from all over Rhode Island, including the RI Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging, the RI Health Care Association, Quality Partners of RI, the Alliance for Better LTC, the Departments of Health, Elderly & Adult Services, and Health & Human Services, the American College of Health Care Administrators, Hamilton House of Providence, AARP, and consumers – and we are still growing!

RI Generations works to focus on one of the most important aspects of the reality of needing nursing home care; and that is that the care and services provided be person-centered. Our focus is on individualized care and being resident-centered. These terms better identify the need to respect the person as an individual and not presume to make or arrange choices for them. Such actions, even with the best of intentions, often serve to reduce, or by default, devalue the person’s personal civil liberties.

Founded in 2005, RI Generations (originally named, RI Culture Change Coalition) members are passionate about the need to change two things about nursing homes, in order to accomplish:

1. That the philosophy and systems are designed to ensure that individual residents’ and their family members proactively participate in and choose the manner in which the services can best suit their needs and preferences – without sacrificing the quality of care, a persons independence and choice, or personal dignity; and

2. The public perception of “nursing homes” as a desirable option where individuals need not relinquish their individuality, choice, and personal dignity.

The latter issue might be the most important element for driving change in nursing homes. It is clear when the “consumer” becomes more aware of a specific level of quality in a product or service, they will demand that quality, seek it out, and reward “quality” through choice. Unfortunately, consumerism is rarely the driving force in seeking out care in a nursing home. Subsequently, when a nursing home is the appropriate option, there is a begrudging acceptance of it as the worst of the negative options and – “..that’s just the way it is.”

Members of RI Generations do not believe “…that is the way it is!” Additionally, there are many nursing homes in RI striving to change the image and reality of nursing homes from the institutional model into a more holistic and engaging home environment. RI Generations’ members meet monthly to plan and initiate actions to change not only what is happening in nursing homes, but also the public’s perception of what should be happening for them and their loved ones.  On November 14th, 2007 RI Generations will hold its first public “culture change” symposium.  For program information or to register, please visit http://qualitypartnersri.org

For additional information see: www.rigenerations.com or to become involved with RI Generations e-mail riginfo@rigenerations.com

Ray Rusin is the Chief of the Office of Facilities Regulation, RI Department of Health, and current Chair of RI Generations