ALFA’s Best of the Best award
ALFA’s prestigious “Best of the Best Award” proudly presented to Kris Brock in honor of BPMSL’s unique and outstanding Personal Preferences Program. From left to right; Tiffany Tomasso (ALFA Chair/Executive Vice President Sunrise Senior Living, European Operations) Kris Brock (Vice President and Regional Director of Operations, BPM Senior Living), Richard Grimes (President/CEO of ALFA).
Personal Preferences Program
When every provider offers the same basic services and the same promise of independence, choice, and dignity, what sets one community apart from another? BPM Senior Living believes the answer cannot be found in a marketing brochure, but in tapping each resident’s personal preferences
BPM has established a full-time Personal Preference Coordinator (PPC) at each community to root out residents’ preferred routines, hobbies, special dates, meaningful activities, food choices, and preferences regarding their care. From the day they enter the community, residents have a designated advocate for their “druthers.” The PPC is required to gather each resident’s highest priorities and make them happen, from bathing at an odd hour to pursuing a favorite hobby.
While many companies use “resident interest” forms to get to know a new resident and meet their basic preferences, BPM requires the PPCs to go well beyond that. For example, if making pottery is a resident’s thing, then BPM will either add it to the calendar or recommend another outlet, such as a city-sponsored class. “If it’s at all possible, it needs to happen,” says Kris Brock, director of health services administration.
PPCs also are held accountable each month for coordinating a special surprise or “wow moment” for a resident. “What is a wow moment? It’s not the fact that we had a St. Patrick’s Day party this month. That’s not a wow moment,” explains Brock.
In one wow moment, a PPC arranged for a miniature horse to visit the bedside of a hospice resident with dementia who had been passionate about horses all her life. The resident spent one of her last days stroking the horse’s nose.
The press was not alerted. “We don’t use these wow moments for marketing,” says Brock. But such gestures clearly touch residents, families, and staff, and have enhanced their word-of-mouth reputation, Brock adds. “Every resident deserves wow moments.”
