Three Generations of Care Giving
Care giving is our vocation. Our family is comprised of three generations of care-givers with more than 30 years of experience in long term senior care. Prior to our family emigrating to Canada in 1991, we had owned and operated senior care facilities in the UK for many years. For us, moving to Canada felt like coming home as many generations of our family were already living here, as our Great Grandfather had emigrated from Canada to the UK after the First World War, leaving behind many brothers and sisters.
At the time of our arrival in the Okanagan, despite the large senior population, the kind of specialized care we were familiar with in the UK had not yet been developed in Canada. Seeing a need for holistic, quality care for seniors, Prairie Valley Lodge was created.
Our Household Model of Care
Prairie Valley Lodge long-term senior care is based on the Household Model of Care
Culture Change
The Live Oak Institute in Berkeley California defines a senior as "a person who is still growing, still a learner, still with potential and his life continues to have within it promise for a connection to the future."
At Prairie Valley Lodge Senior Care home, we promote the concept of Culture Change. This is a movement towards transforming Long Term Senior Care to provide more Person Centered Care and accordingly more quality of life. The philosophy at the root of Culture Change is to provide seniors with care beyond the medical model (which is vastly institutionalized) with Resident or Family Directed Care and Relationship Based Care. The Culture Change philosophy centres on relationships between residents and care staff (Person First Care and Relationship Based Care). It is essential that the caregiver gets to know the resident well, in order to build the relationship and provide successful care.
Culture Change also endorses the "Household Model" environment.
Household Model – 24 hour care
The environment is a key component of Culture Change. The comforts of home must be provided in order to achieve quality of life.
Accordingly our unique, warm and attractive home is based on the Household Model. A smaller sized senior care facility where eight individuals can enjoy all that home has to offer, experience daily pleasure and continue to live a vibrant life with the reassurance of 24 hour professional care.
The residents have visual access to the kitchen, where all our food is cooked on site. Food and drinks can be requested at anytime from the kitchen, and the aroma of baking and meal preparation will arouse the residents appetite.
Visitors are always welcome, and engagement within the community at large is encouraged. Life in the Prairie Valley Lodge Household Model is normal, spontaneous and full of new experiences making each day a day worth living.
Person First Care
"Honour the person before the task." Person First Care centres on relationships between residents and staff. After operating in the UK for over 15 years and embracing the Person First Care model first pioneered at the University of Bradford during the 1980's by Dr. Thomas Kitwood, we have continued to apply that philosophy of care here in Canada. We strive to carefully hire staff who understand the principles of Person First Relationship Based Care.
At the Prairie Valley Lodge we respect that our residents can still make personal choices were appropriate. Quality of care and quality of life at Prairie Valley Lodge is attained by considering the whole person, knowing them well, and honouring their individuality, (emotional, spiritual, social, psychological) as well as their physical well-being, safety, and environment.