Completed Operationalization of Professional Development

About the Facility http://www.ongov.net/vanduyn/info.html

Van Duyn Home and Hospital is located in Syracuse and up until Sunday, December 1st, it was a not-for-profit organization.  So far there has not been much change in the operation of the facility, that my source has seen, except for the loss of some of the Not-For-Profit clients who can no longer serve Van Duyn with its new for-profit status.  

I spoke with the Director of Volunteers, Nancy F. http://www.ongov.net/vanduyn/volunteers.html who provided answers to my "audit" questions to supplement the extensive information I found online.  Nancy works with many agencies and schools as well as individuals who contact her to take part in volunteer partnerships, service learning opportunities, and personal or civic engagement activities with Van Duyn.  She has over twenty years of experience in the Not-for-Profit field, and her degree is in history.  In addition to her individual role at Van Duyn, she works with various offices and care teams who contact her to facilitate volunteer needs. We spoke for about an hour and she was very knowledgeable about the facility.  

Van Duyn houses 500 or so residents currently with wide-ranges of care needs and ability levels.  The residents are primarily elderly, although younger people have resided there both short-term and long-term for rehabilitation or because they have developmental disabilities to such a degree that they cannot live on their own.  There are many activity and meeting spaces at Van Duyn including a library, several classrooms, a computer room, a conference room, and what they call the "giant" room.  The residents live on one of six floors and are grouped according to need.  For example, there is a floor dedicated to dementia care, one for rehabilitation, one for bed-bound, and the others are grouped by high to low ability/activity levels.  Activities and events are planned according to ability/activity levels by floor.  It is common to see different activity calendars on different floors.  Here is a copy of the 6th floor activity calendar:

What is its Mission? http://www.ongov.net/vanduyn/mission.html

According to the website, "The mission of Van Duyn Home and Hospital is to provide its residents with the highest quality care in a comfortable and caring environment, responsive to their medical and social needs, potential and lifestyle, and to maximize the quality of life of each resident."

What types of programs are offered, who facilitates them, and which are most popular?  

Residents enjoy many types of recreational activities facilitated and planned by the Activities Department from baking to Pokeno (a card game, who knew?), but their favorite, according to Nancy, is BINGO.  There are full days of BINGO from 10am to 4pm!  At any one time, there could be 50 residents trying their luck.  After that, the runner up is musical concerts performed by various groups like, Spirit of Syracuse, and Elvis impersonators. 

In addition to recreation opportunities, a social worker is assigned to each resident who provides one-on-one training about healthcare.  Residents are provided transportation to outside appointments and activities organized through various offices depending on needs.  For example, the activities director would arrange for transportation to events or religious services while the nursing staff would arrange for transportation to medical appointments.

For residents who are room or bed bound, staff and volunteers bring their services to the patent providing individualized activities.  Some of these types of activities include music therapy, "friendly" visiting, and physical therapy.  A "care planning team" including social workers, nurses, doctors, and activity instructors plan individualized programs.  

Staff go through a week-long orientation when they are hired.  The orientation includes presentations by each department head who give an overview of their respective areas as well as the facility's mission, vision, and goals.  Additionally, the new staff have HIPAA training, hazardous chemical/waste training, sexual harassment training, medical training, and department specific training. The Educational Training Department is responsible for instruction and learning transfer. 

Volunteers go through a one-hour training with Nancy.  Training is individualized depending on the type of volunteer project.  Some types of volunteer opportunities are friendly visits, working in the library, giving musical performances, assisting with recreational activities,  and taking residents to church off-site.  Nancy is called upon by the various care areas and she matches the volunteers with the care needs.  For example, Nancy might get a call from the social worker of a patient who is lonely for her grandchildren and Nancy would arrange for a friendly visit from one of her younger volunteers, or perhaps from a grade-school class doing service learning.  

ALL training is done in-house and the facilitators are experts in their respective fields.  For example, the hazardous materials and safety training is provided by the Director of Hospital Safety and Security while the training for HIPAA might be presented by the Medical Director.  All department heads have at least a bachelor's degree in their field, and the medical staff have their proper credentials.   

Needs Assessment and Support
Staff from various areas of the facility identify training or program needs.  Patients and families also suggest training and recreation needs and ideas.  The program will be supported by management if it is within the scope of the mission and a recognized need.

Instruction
Who is assigned to build the program or training activity depends on the area of the need.  If it is a medical training need, the Educational Training Department is tasked to develop and deliver the training.  If it is a workplace bullying seminar that is needed, Safety and Security along with Personnel would be assigned.  And so on.

Details and Budget

Scheduling and other details are handled by the department in charge of the experience. Training for staff is budgeted for, but many of the social and recreational events are not.  Budget is lean and all areas have to find creative ways to accomplish their goals. Nancy quips, "Procurement is one of our sidebars".  Various groups do fundraising for various initiatives.  

Evaluation

A "Program Audit" is done periodically to determine learning transfer, effectiveness, budget allocation, and popularity.  The audit is done by the Training Department.  A measure of assessment for transfer of learning would be demonstrated by the number of mistakes made by staff after training, or complaints made about staff performance.  Learning transfer could also be measured by the number of patients who demonstrate independence after being trained in a particular area such as using the computer. 

Program Planning Model for Van Duyn (based on the knowledge provided by interview)