A lively discussion ensued at the Cook County North Shore Hospital’s board of directors’ October 22 meeting when it came time to talk about plans being made to transition from an institutional care center to a household model.
The change will occur when the new construction is completed and residents move into spaces that have been designed to be more like a house.
Board member Tom Spence said he would like to see a timeline detailing education, training, and instruction from trainers who will work with staff to make sure the transition goes smoothly.
“We already know that not all staff will be on board with these changes,” Spence said. “To make this work, you need to have your staff buy in.”
Hospital Administrator Kimber Wraalstad said she had met with an expert to talk about the care transformational process, describing what had been done and what is planned to make sure the staff is ready when the new care center opens on May 1, 2016.
“She [the expert] suggested bringing in people who had already completed this transformation and finding out what worked and what didn’t work for them,” Wraalstad said.
“We have also purchased a tool kit with policies. But that’s just paper. We want to talk to people who have already done this and find out where the land mines are,” she said.
“Are you, as CEO, satisfied that by May 1 that the training and transition will be done when we open?” Spence asked.
“Yes, I believe it will be,” Wraalstad said.
“I have no interest in micro-managing this project. That’s your job,” Spence said. “But I am looking for something black and white; here is what is budgeted, here is when the training will take place, here is when the speakers are coming.”
“You want a road map,” suggested Wraalstad.
“Yes, I want a road map and I’m not seeing that. I know you are busy but we’re six months away from opening. It would increase my comfort level if we were given plans for these things to happen,” said Spence.
Wraalstad said she would have information for the board at the next meeting.
Spence suggested someone should be looking at the May 1 deadline and then working backwards to set times for training. Wraalstad said some training had already begun, and some needed to wait because at this point it was too early for some of it.
Board member Kay Olson thought Spence’s idea of creating a timeline was a good one, and the rest of the board seemed to concur.
Once the “home model” is under way, staff will be called universal workers. Under this model all workers will be more responsible to look out for the care of the nursing home residents. Wraalstad gave one example of how this would work. Under this model a nursing assistant could fix a snack for a patient rather than having someone from the kitchen prepare it. The goal will be to give the patients faster and better service, Wraalstad said.
Staff, at least some of it, will also be given new titles and new responsibilities when the switch is made, said Wraalstad.
Plans are to continue working with a model called “Artifacts of Cultural Change,” and Wraalstad promised the board an outline of ways that the staff was being prepared to work under the new model by the board’s next meeting.
Construction update
BOLDT Construction Supervisor Ruth Drake gave the board an update on work that has taken place so far. Phase one on the south side of the care center includes waterproofing and insulating a new wall that has been put up. Work on the north side includes rock removal and drilling, with footing and foundation work to start on Monday, October 26.
Drake said one of the three boilers in the hospital had been removed and the south wall of the care center will be poured next week. It too will be water proofed and insulated when the wall is up. Foundation for the care center mezzanine will also be started in the near future. Drake said the mezzanine needed to be in place soon because many of the mechanical and electrical lines go through that area.
Currently there are about 25 workers on site, but there will be 30-35 in the winter, Drake said.
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