Meadowlark Value Statement

Meadowlark hopes to become each resident’s home, they are focused on providing a safe and enriched living environment for all guests and residents. In their values statement Meadowlark lists several points that reflect the Social Work Core Values, which are the center of all agencies who provide a social service. As an agency, they strive to normalize the aging process by saying, “Aging is a natural process of human development, beginning at birth and continuing through death.” Growing older is inevitable and as a community it is a necessity to provide a safe home when people can no longer take care of themselves. They also believe to provide a person centered home all staff and volunteers must have a clear understanding that, “The sanctity

For example, Medicare affects how guests in Skilled Nursing are taken care of. These stays are normally short term and are used for rehabilitation after surgeries or traumatic health incidents. Medicare decides whether the guest can receive Physical Therapy and/or Occupational Therapy and for how long. It also decides how many days a guest’s room and board are covered in Skilled Nursing. Policy is also influenced by Federal and State regulations, Meadowlark creates policy to follow these regulations. Since the Nursing Home Reform Act, for facilities to be able to accept Medicare and Medicaid they have to comply with the act. The NHRA was created to prevent neglect and abuse in long term care. One of the guidelines for facilities discusses the importance of managing and preventing bed sores, which can be an indication for neglect. If someone develops bedsores it could mean they have not been properly taken care of or prompted sufficiently to take care of themselves. As explained earlier Medicare and Medicaid comprise of 28% of the total budget for Meadowlark Hills. If they did not comply with one of the regulations in the Act they would be penalized financially, which then prevents them from providing a safe environment for older adults in need. Other policies external to Meadowlark that significantly affect how they care for others are HIPPA and the Nurse Practice Act. HIPPA helps protect

Confusion and memory loss are a part of growing older, a significant amount of residents struggle with these to different degrees. Within the policy it states that sexual abuse is any sexual contact with a resident that is nonconsensual. All people no matter the age have physical needs and have the right to express and act on those needs. The problem is depending on confusion and memory loss who determines if a sexual act is consensual? For example, a woman could believe a man in her long-term care facility is her deceased husband and she consents to having a physical relationship with that man. Although they both consented, is she aware of who she consented to? It is not wrong for her to have a relationship with this man that she believes is her husband because she gave consent. Another example could be a married couple one of which has dementia, they might not remember the act or could be confused of the act later but consented in that moment. These grey areas have always been a problem but are still trying to be addressed, and until they are it leaves a large gap in sexual abuse policies between