Introduction
The establishment described in this paper is George Herman Assisted Living facility that is a relatively large institution of the type. The facility is designed to station ten patients. In spite of the common stereotype that assisted living facilities serve to provide long-term care to the elderly individuals only, George Herman Assisted Living is a home to people of all ages who are unable to live independently and require professional care on a daily basis (Shi & Singh, 2011). In that way, the facility is equipped to incorporate older adults as well as people of other ages with physical and mental disabilities.
Mission and Vision
The mission of George Herman Assisted Living facility is to deliver care of the highest quality to all its patients focusing on the provision of the unique approach to each separate client based on his or her individual needs. The leaders and staff of the facility view their patients’ needs for safety, security, and independence as some of the primary values. In that way, the professionals working at George Herman Assisted Living facility are determined to develop individual care plans in strict correlation with the requirements of each patient and taking into consideration their dignity and providing the highest possible degree of autonomy and comfort. The facility personnel is dedicated to the creation of the harmonious and stress-free environment for its clients and addressing the diverse needs of patients’ – physical, cognitive, social, and emotional.
Objectives and Purpose
The objective of the facility is to provide levels of care that vary depending on the needs of the patients. In particular, the facility is equipped to handle the daily needs of its clients such as feeding, bathing and toileting, dressing, mobility, laundry, and cleaning. In that way, the patients stationed in the facility would be provided the kinds of treatment required for their specific conditions in the home-like environment. In addition to these services, the facility staff would also ensure that the social and emotional needs of the patients are satisfied with the help of diverse recreational programs. Occupational therapy and exercise complexes are going to be available for the clients who are in need of them. Moreover, special care would be delivered to the patients in accordance with their specific conditions and health requirements. Separately, the clients with mental health conditions will be provided with the necessary services such as monitoring, reassessment, diagnosing. Moreover, such patients may be more difficult to work with than the other clients due to the behavioral issues.
Days and Hours of the Facility Operation
The facility is open 24/7. The new patients are registered and accepted from 9 am to 5 pm. However, since the home-like environment requires constant care – the services are provided all day long without days off. The employed personnel works day and night shifts so that the patients are under a constant supervision and are given the necessary levels of care.
Difference between a For-Profit Organization and Nonprofit Organization
There are a number of differences between for-profit and non-profit organizations. However, the primary point of difference is the organizations’ purpose and reason to exist; in non-profit organizations, it is the provision of services and the effect they make on the community in which they function, and for the organizations that work for profit one of the primary reasons and sources of motivation is the income they earn providing their services (Ingram, 2016). Moreover, the income of non-profit organizations comes from donors, the individuals or institutions donating funds for the needs of such organization that in turn needs to plan how this income is spent focusing on the needs of the people and communities receiving the services (Ingram, 2016). The revenue of for-profit organizations is generated by means of the provision of paid services and is spent to cover their expenditures and debts (Ingram, 2016). The latter type of organizations is facing a lot more ways to spend the money, and thus its expenditures need to be carefully monitored from the ethical perspective.
The Facility under Discussion
George Herman Assisted Living facility is a for-profit organization; however, a large portion of its income is further recycled to fulfill the needs of the organization and maintain its high-level performance. Owners of the facility publish annual financial reports in order to provide transparency to the revenue and expenditures of the facility as well as its success in the market. The leadership of the facility and its owners are interested in attracting investors, and that is why the market performance of the facility, its revenues, and profitability need to be communicated and made available for the researchers on a regular basis.
History of the Chosen Location
George Herman Assisted Living facility is located in Miami, Florida. The area where the establishment is situated is quiet and peaceful so that the clients are offered a high level of comfort in a stress-free environment. However, the market in the region is very competitive when it comes to the presence of assisted living facilities. In fact, the clients searching for a suitable institution would find over a hundred of assisted living facilities of different sizes and kinds.
The competitiveness of George Herman Assisted Living facility is based on its readiness to provide the highest levels of care that many of similar institutions do not include due to their complexity and a degree of responsibility.
The Reason for Choosing the Desired Location
George Herman Assisted Living facility is located in Miami, Florida. There are several bases for the choice to place the facility in this area. First of all, it is known that the most likely clients of an assisted living facility are older adults. According to the University of Florida (2015), Miami-Dade County has a significant percentage of people who are older than 65 (15.1%); and about half of this percentage is represented by the individuals older than 74. Moreover, this number has been growing steadily since the 1990s and it likely to grow in the future. In addition, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2015), Miami-Dade County also has a large population of individuals with disabilities (25.7%), who are the other group of the potential recipients of the assisted living services. In that way, the reason for choosing this location was primarily the population’s need for an institution providing long-term care and assisted living.
Target Audience
The target audience for the facility are the people of all ages and both sexes who require professional medical help with their daily tasks such as feeding, dressing, mobility, toileting, and bathing; and also who due to different health (and mental health) conditions need monitoring, reassessment, diagnosing, and medication management. The only requirement established by the facility is concerning the age of its patients; namely, the facility only accepts patients who are older than 18 years.
Staff
When it comes to the staffing of assisted living facilities, the Assisted Living Federation of America (or ALFA) sets quite a flexible standard as to the staff-to-resident ratio. In particular, the organization enables the facilities to hire as many professionals and caregivers as it is required to meet the needs of the clients (Do staff-to-resident ratios in assisted living effect residents well-being?, 2015). This is the case because the patients stationed in such facilities have very diverse needs and thus, the facilities often have to alter their staff composition in accordance with the clients’ health requirements.
Size of the Facility
Since the facility is ready to place as many as 10 residents – it needs a sufficient number of people to maintain the high levels of care. The facility has one administrator who supervises the business and takes care of the staffing matters making sure that there is no understaffing. The administrator also is to speak with the residents’ families, answer calls, and handle the business issues on a higher level. Moreover, the administration is to include general office and accounting staff to keep the paperwork and handle the residents’ health and personal information.
The nursing staff of the facility includes registered nurses (at least 5), and licensed practical nurses (at least 5). The nurses’ duties include working directly with the residents and managing their occupational therapy, medication, vitals, and treatments, monitoring their behaviors, needs, and quality of life. Moreover, the Head Nurse is charged with a task to develop and monitor recreational activities and make sure that the residents are provided with holistic care. In addition, a medical director is in place to develop healthcare and treatment strategies for the patients. The remaining staff members are responsible for housekeeping, maintenance, and dining whose duties include meeting the daily living needs of the patients.
As for the salaries of the staff members of the facility, registered nurses earn about 62 000 dollars per year, while the salaries of the Administrator and the Medical Director are as high as 75-78 000 dollars annually. General office staff and maintenance staff are paid salaries that are lower than that.
Challenge
One of the challenges currently facing the entire assisted living community (not only in Miami but everywhere in the states) concerns the ethical issues of managing the patients suffering from mental impairments. In particular, traditionally, people with severe mental issues are placed in mental care and psychiatric institutions. De-institutionalization of such individuals would require the community-based healthcare service providers to raise the level of their care significantly. In order to station the mental health patients, George Herman Assisted Living facility is planning to develop a set of policies as to which tasks the institution is ready to perform and what kind of regulations are in place for different challenging situations (such as patients refusing to receive care or patients willing to leave the facility without supervision). The families of the clients will be familiarized with the policies prior to bringing the patients. In addition, working with a challenging patient, the facility will take all the necessary measures, hire the required staff, and adjust the environment where the patient is doing to live according to his or her individual needs.
References
Do staff-to-resident ratios in assisted living effect residents well-being? (2015). Web.
Ingram, D. (2016). Non-profit organization vs. profit organization. Web.
Shi, L. & Singh, D. A. (2011). Delivering Health Care in America. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
The University of Florida. (2015). Florida estimates of population 2015. Web.
The U.S. Census Bureau. (2015). South Florida disability statistics. Web.