Several of those challenges are related to the hiring of staff, the retention of staff, financial concerns for many parties, including community owners and operators, residents and their families, community staff members, as well a myriad of ongoing stresses for everyone who ultimately is trying so hard to provide a happy and healthy lifestyle for our aging population. For those directly or indirectly involved in helping people age longer in place at home, those same challenges eerily mirror one another.

Individually, most of us in this now-gelled space have big hearts and are caring people with good intentions. But is it just me, or do you sometimes feel that, as a whole, we are improving wide-scale clinical and social outcomes at a snail’s pace, if at all?

I am curious as to how many others who are pondering the big-picture problems that are facing our aging population today sometimes feel as if we have a snowball full of hiccups that is getting bigger and bigger. The snowball is picking up steam as it is coming down the mountain. It is moving faster and faster, with the fluffy white clouds in our sky’s background looking a little bit grayer.

How do we see more white clouds in the distance? How do we tackle the snowball? How do we become more proactive in our approach to providing better care for both older adults and ourselves? 

I think the answer may lie somewhere between education, teaching more young children how to play chess, and being able to understand ripple effects of our individual actions to solve problems more effectively from a big-picture view.

Whew! That’s a lot to digest in one sentence. Let me explain.

When I was younger, my older sister taught me how to play chess. Although I don’t know exactly what age it was when I learned how to play the game, I do know that it had to have been while I was in elementary school. I know this because we lived in a small cape cod-style home with a staircase on the first floor that led to the upstairs second floor. My sister’s bedroom was on the left, and my bedroom was on the right. We laid the chess board down on the small upstairs landing space that divided our two tiny rooms to quietly play the game with one another at night. In hindsight, we probably should have been sleeping as per our parents’ bedtime rules. 

Fast forward to adulthood, and I taught both of my two sons to play chess when, give or take, when they were around the ages of 7 and 10 years old. It is the only game that I never let them win until they truly beat me on their own. Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, Uno, Operation, Go Fish and several others were the games that even if they didn’t legitimately win, I had no issue in crowning my boys “the winner.”

But the game of chess, to me, is much different than many other card and board games, because when you learn how to play chess, and when you finally understand the game enough to win it, the feeling is an overwhelming one of excitement that feels like endorphins on steroids being released into your brain.

Chess is a game of strategy. To become a good chess player, you must think beyond your individual move, and you must think how your move may affect the move of your opponent. The more moves you can think ahead, and the more that you understand the cause-and-effect factors of your move, the more likelihood you have of winning the game.

In a sense, what children are learning at very young age is how to see a bigger picture of cause and effect based on their own individual actions. Chess teaches players to view the entire board versus looking at only their individual pieces of the game.

Both of my sons are young adults now, and my oldest still loves playing chess. As I get older myself, I am not able to think ahead as many moves as he does, and thus it is a challenge to win against him. On the rare occasion that I do win, I still get that same exhilarating feeling that lingers for a bit in a wonderful way.

So how can teaching elementary school age children to play chess help solve some of the challenges that we are experiencing currently in the senior living and healthcare space?

In the senior living and healthcare industries, unfortunately many roles are still task-based, with departments often being siloed from one other. Many people struggle to see the big picture, the cause-and-effect, the ripple effects, so to speak, of their “moves.”

Let me share an example. In my professional world, I work with a team of incontinence experts who each day visit with consumers, senior living community employees and healthcare professionals to educate them about the importance of choosing high-quality incontinence products, either for themselves or for people for whom they are caring who are living with the chronic condition of urinary incontinence.

Choosing products that are fully breathable, have inner leak guards, are super absorbent and are made of soft materials for comfort will allow people with incontinence maintain skin integrity, reduce the risk of urinary tract infections, reduce the risk of falls and reduce stress for caregivers. High-performing products may cost a few pennies more per individual product piece than other, lower-performing products on the market. When overall value is understood by the buyers of these products, however, quite often they come to realize that the ripple effects of using high-performing products often will lead to both better outcomes and a reduction of overall costs. The cause-and-effect of making the move to transition to high-performing incontinence products ripples out to a much bigger picture.

On the flip side, if a decision-maker is only looking at the price per product piece, rather than the overall high value, then he or she is more likely to have less favorable outcomes and increase overall costs. In a sense, those buyers are unlikely to “win the game.”

Much like the game of chess, if more people are taught early on to understand ripple effects, I believe that we would have improved outcomes in more clinical and social aspects related to care — far beyond my one incontinence products example.

I often think about children nationwide as young as 6, 8 or 10 years old learning to play chess. Although it would take some time, imagine what the future of senior living and healthcare might look like in 10 years if more kids are taught to play the game. Imagine what clinical and social outcomes might look like if more people understood the bigger picture and provided care based on a deep understanding of how their individual actions affect another resident, another patient, another teammate or another department. 

At a minimum, I think many of us will agree on a couple of things with this approach. The first is that children who learn to play chess no doubt will develop their strategic skills in some capacity. For those who seek a profession in the senior living or healthcare space, I think we also can agree that when we compare understanding the game of chess to providing better quality of care, individual pieces are easily pushed off the board to the side. Once you understand the entire board, however, winning, in fact, is a culmination of all the pieces playing together in tandem.

Learn chess. Play chess!

Deanna Vigliotta is the national sales manager for Seni premium adult incontinence products and has a 30-year background in healthcare sales and sales management. She joined Seni in early 2019 to help expand the brand presence on the US market and to educate consumers, healthcare professionals and senior living communities about the importance of choosing high-quality, fully breathable products.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living marketplace column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

Have a column idea? See our submission guidelines here.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words “keeping residents safe.” What exactly does keeping residents safe in assisted living communities mean, beyond the obvious human basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, etc.?

The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that although keeping residents safe in assisted living communities is a priority for almost anyone involved in the senior living industry, the meaning behind the words can vary considerably not only for assisted living community staff members, but for owners and operators, outside clinicians, home health companies, hospice companies, vendor partners, families of loved ones and residents themselves. Systemically, there is a focused effort to change the perception of aging and what “aging well” looks like for older adults living in senior living communities. How do we define the meaning of exactly what “keeping residents safe” means with so many parties involved?

Regarding the words referenced by my mother, I can share with confidence that she meant that our relative will have a good meal in her stomach, a clean bed, clean clothes and someone close by should she fall “again,” which, unfortunately, would equate to four falls in less than one month.

There are more than 30,000 senior living communities in the US currently, with approximately 810,000 older adults living in these communities. The National Center for Assisted Living reports that more than 478,500 people were directly working in assisted living communities as of January, and that count doesn’t include all of the additional personnel who provide a host of additional needs to residents and/or to communities. That’s not only a large number of people related to employment within the senior living industry; it’s a large number of people with thousands of different opinions regarding exactly what “keeping residents safe” means.

We can learn from healthcare

Many assisted living communities either have transitioned already or are transitioning to more of a healthcare model to accommodate members of our aging population, who are living with more chronic conditions than ever before. Although most people will agree that our current US healthcare system warrants significant improvement, some positive things can be learned from the healthcare industry that can be transferred over to the senior living industry. One of those things is the importance of interdepartmental connectivity along with outside connectivity as relates to taking care of older adults living in assisted living communities.

In healthcare, there is much interdepartmental connectivity to help keep peoples safe. For example, outpatient radiology imaging centers typically employ a community outreach person. This person’s role is to build relationships with area physicians in hopes that the external physician will refer patients to the imaging center when a patient needs magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography or some other type of imaging exam.

I think it’s fair to say that the salesperson role that I am describing for a radiology imaging practice has similarities to a senior living community salesperson. The senior living community salesperson spends time building area relationships with other senior living industry professionals. If the community salesperson has done his or her job well, then the community should be top of mind when an industry professional with whom they have built a relationship with has a client who is exploring assisted living community options.

Although there are several similarities to roles both in healthcare and in senior living, interdepartmental connectivity may be lagging as the senior living industry evolves. Certainly not for all communities, but for some. It is important to remember that human connectivity and communication are two very different things. Connectivity is a much deeper understanding of how one person, place or thing affects another person, place or thing.

As an example, in the radiology patient care cycle process, once a person is referred to a radiology practice, there are many internally connected departments, along with external connections, that must work well with one another to ensure that the patient is taken care of throughout the entire process.

The radiology imaging center scheduler must have a pleasant phone manner and be able to convey to the potential new incoming patient, available appointment times, insurance information, necessary prep prior to the exam, and possible exam risk factors. When the patient arrives at the imaging center for their scheduled exam, the front desk person must be personable, knowledgeable, and helpful to the patient while paperwork is completed.

Quite often, the next step in the cycle of taking care of the patient is that a radiology technologist will come to the exam waiting area to greet the patient, walk with the person to the exam room and share details of what to expect during the exam. The cycle doesn’t end there, as once the exam is completed, the radiologist physician becomes connected to the other internal imaging center departments and to the patient by virtue of the imaging read. The radiologist physician also becomes connected to the external referring physician by virtue of his or her final report and digital images being transferred back to the referring physician’s office via a web portal.

The cycle can break

In this example, there is a tremendous amount of connectivity. If there is one weak link in the process, the entire cycle becomes broken. What if, for example, the salesperson, the scheduler and the front desk person did a wonderful job getting the patient through the first part of the cycle, but the radiology technologist was not friendly or nice toward the patient during the walk to the exam room? Will that patient return to this same imaging center in the future?

What if the salesperson, the scheduler, the front desk person, the radiology technologist and the radiologist all did their jobs amazingly well, but the outside referring physician didn’t contact the patient in a timely manner to inform the patient of the test results? The entire cycle becomes broken because the connection is lost. On the positive flip side, when internal departments connect well with each other while also connecting well with outside “departments,” the cycle of patient care is more streamlined with people feeling cared about and “safe.”

Consider connections

So what can we learn from the healthcare industry that will help keep residents safe in the senior living industry? I think the entire senior living industry will fare better overall if everyone involved in the industry, regardless of their role, takes a pause to better understand how internal departments connect with one another within an assisted living community, as well as has a better understanding of how communities connect with outside third parties, too.

For example, what happens if a community salesperson shares with a prospective resident during a community tour that the community has a weekly bridge club and the potential new resident loves to play bridge, but the reality is that the bridge club has dismantled? Once that potential resident moves into the community, he or she now has an expectation that there is a bridge club. If, in fact, a bridge club no longer exists, then that resident will be disappointed and may approach the activities director with a complaint regarding the bridge club expectation. The activities director, having been left in the dark about what was shared during this resident’s community tour, now is left to handle a negative situation, and the connection is lost between the sales department, the new resident and the activities department. Will that resident feel “safe?” How will the activities director feel toward the salesperson?

It’s very challenging to keep residents safe if departments within communities are siloed. It also is important to understand how assisted living communities connect with outside parties, such as families of residents, healthcare providers, hospice companies and home care agencies, to name a few.

Outside ancillary product and service vendor partners who are well-connected within a community also play a very important role in contributing to favorable resident outcomes. Whether directly related to resident care, related to the physical building upkeep or related to a host of other pieces and parts that help a community function, vendor partners’ contributions matter, too. Understanding holistic connectivity is vital to helping older adults age well.

A vendor perspective

As an employee of a global manufacturer of high-quality incontinence products, and as an ancillary product and service partner to many senior living communities nationwide, we, too, have our unique viewpoints of what keeping residents safe means. First and foremost, our company always thinks about strategies that we can share with community staff to improve some level of continence for their residents because we know that improving continence helps to reduce overall risk of negative clinical and social outcomes, thus keeping residents safe.

For those residents who do need to wear a brief or a pull-up, we provide high-quality products that allow residents to sleep undisturbed through the night. If residents are sleeping at night, then they are not up, thus keeping them safer from a potential fall. Fewer resident falls connects to happier and healthier residents, which connects to less worry for families of loved ones. The connectivity ripples on and on between residents, families of residents, community staff members, etc.

We also think about “Mrs. Smith,” the resident challenged with functional incontinence only because her legs don’t work as well as they used to. What’s the connection with community staff members? Well, if there are not enough staff members on hand to assist “Mrs. Smith” when she needs to use the toilet, and provided that “Mrs. Smith” is wearing a fully breathable, super-absorbent incontinence product that has inner leaks and is comfortable to wear, she will be OK if a community caregiver cannot reach her in time to assist with her toileting needs. “Mrs. Smith” will remain safe, meaning that there shouldn’t be concern of skin breakdowns, because the community made a good decision to buy high-quality incontinence products for residents. The manufacturer of the product is connected to the community distributor, and the distributor is connected to the community’s staff. In this example, the manufacturer of the high-quality product is indirectly connected to the resident. To my earlier point, it all matters!

Regardless of a person’s title, role, rank or offering, walking in the shoes of others to understand the connectivity between everyone is vital to improving and enhancing the quality of life for the older adult population being served.

Although “keeping residents safe” takes on many meanings depending on who is being asked to define the phrase, it probably is the No. 1 thing that all of us attempt to achieve for the betterment of the older adults for whom we are providing care, directly or indirectly.

The most important lesson

If we can take away some positive golden nuggets learned from the evolution of our US healthcare system, the word “connectivity” may be the most important lesson learned. As community providers, department staff within communities, residents, families of residents, clinicians, home health companies, hospice companies, and product and services ancillary support partners, let’s strive to better connect with one another. A holistic mindset should trump a siloed mindset.

Providing high-quality care for older adults is not easy, and for many, it may feel like a giant, 30,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. When we better understand how our unique pieces connect — not only into the bigger puzzle, but individually piece by piece — is when I believe we will be closer to defining what “keeping residents safe” means.

Deanna Vigliotta is the national sales manager for Seni premium adult incontinence products and has a 30-year background in healthcare sales and sales management. She joined Seni in early 2019 to help expand the brand presence on the US market and to educate consumers, healthcare professionals and senior living communities about the importance of choosing high-quality, fully breathable products.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living marketplace column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

Have a column idea? See our submission guidelines here.

Not long ago, I traveled to South Florida for business and stayed overnight at a Hampton Inn. For those who travel, you may know that the Hampton Inn offers a complimentary breakfast. I have always liked their morning coffee.

As is quite common for me, I awoke in the morning, made my way from my third-floor hotel room down to the hotel lobby, and headed straight for the self-serve coffee container located in the breakfast common area. Next to the coffee cups were napkins. The extraordinarily bright white color of these napkins struck me instantly and so I picked one up. Immediately, I could feel the high-quality construction of the napkin. It was thick. It was super soft. It was longer, wider and heavier than most disposable napkins that are found at hotels.

As I sat down by myself at a nearby corner table, my mind started to think about the quality construction of the napkin that I was now holding in my hand. It felt so much like a “holiday” napkin. I found my mind drifting back in time to some great memories of holidays past, when my own grandmother would host a big holiday at her house, and how much joy was shared with my family during that five- to six-hour period.

My mind took me to thoughts about the upcoming holiday season, and I began to think about how many people will have an early-evening phone conversation with a member of their immediate family, or extended family — perhaps a parent, an aunt, a great aunt or a sibling — and if they are so lucky, maybe even a grandparent. The conversation will be about the holidays and how “the family” is growing with kids growing up, girlfriends, boyfriends, who will be going where, how much someone in the family is missed, and how it feels as if almost overnight the family has become very large. “We’re all getting old,” someone will say. 

Many of these holiday conversations then will turn to “remember when?” with fond memories being exchanged by those involved in the conversation. Eventually the conversation will pivot to the question about who will be hosting the holiday dinner, what time everyone should arrive and what everyone can bring to help.

Many families across the country will maintain their year after year holiday celebrations and gather at “Nana’s” house, or at “Aunt Clara’s” house, or perhaps “Grandpa Jack’s” home. Their comfortable, memorable, yearly traditions will continue. Although many large family gathering traditions may continue for decades, either because several family members live in the same general geographical area, or family members have moved away but are able to travel home for the holidays, one thing that does change over time is that everyone attending is aging. 

What may change with family traditions, as Nana or Aunt Clara or Grandpa Jack get older, is that at some point in time, the cooking, the cleaning and the preparation for the big holiday celebration may feel like a lot more work for them. And so, a minor pivot from the holiday tradition may take place, with a conversation about disposable paper plates and disposable paper napkins being used in lieu of fine China and cloth napkins. 

When this happens, either prior to the “big day” or announced almost immediately as you enter your nana’s home, Nana will almost look for confirmation as she shares, “Now just so you know, I am not using the good plates and cloth napkins this year, because the family is just getting too big, and it’s a lot of work. It’s too much.  

“But we will have plenty of good food. I made my special chocolate cheesecake, cookies for the kids, and I bought the good plates and holiday napkins,“ Nana will share.

“Clean-up will be easy,” she will continue.

More than likely, as family and friends attending the gathering begin to use the disposable paper plates and holiday napkins, someone in the party will comment on the quality construction of the holiday paper plates and napkins because of their rich touch and feel. They will look nice and feel thick, and everyone will be comfortable filling their plates with all the holiday food and trimmings.

As the guests lay their high-quality holiday napkins across their laps at the dinner table, they will have no worries that if cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, cake crumbs or pieces of red and green cookie frosting fall on their napkins, they will have no issue with a mess. They are confident that the holiday napkin will protect them. They can “feel it.”  They have little doubt that the high-quality construction of that napkin will protect their clothes, thus protecting the microfiber seat of their dining room chair, and thus protecting the multicolored rug on the hardwood floor beneath them. 

As I started to eat my raspberry Greek yogurt in the breakfast area of the Hampton Inn, I also started to think about how many nanas, Aunt Claras and Grandpa Jacks will be spending this year’s holidays in a long-term care community, which led my mind to ponder how much a high-quality napkin shares common ground with a high-quality adult incontinence product.

Many people can easily identify high-quality because they either “see” it, “feel” it, or both.  And if they can’t literally “see” it, they can “feel” it in two ways.  One way is being the literal touch and feel of a product.  High quality pull-ups and briefs, just like high quality holiday napkins, feel better than others.  They are thicker, softer, and more comfortable to the touch.  And then there is the inner “feeling” or perhaps better stated as that “peace of mind” feeling.  For anyone familiar with incontinence products, products that are fully breathable, super absorbent, have inner leak guards, and are made of soft materials, will result in better outcomes for incontinent elders. 

From a clinical perspective, favorable outcomes can mean less risk of urinary tract infections and less risk of skin breakdowns.  There will also be less risk of falls as incontinent people who wear high quality products will be able to sleep uninterrupted through the night.  Incontinent elders will awake more alert, more engaged, and reap the benefits of restorative sleep.   

From a social perspective, wearing high quality pull-ups and briefs often results in users having more dignity and confidence to visit with their families, enjoy the holidays and sit at the family dinner table with less worry of an embarrassing situation from happening.

As we approach the holiday season, I encourage all readers of this article who are involved in buying incontinence products for residents and/or loved ones to educate themselves about the importance of choosing high-quality incontinence products, versus paying too little attention them, or even worse, buying a product based only on unit price. 

After all, many of the incontinent residents living in senior living communities this holiday season are quite likely to be our very own nanas, Aunt Claras and/or Grandpa Jacks who have gone out of their way for decades to provide great family memories for us by virtue of providing high-quality holiday napkins.

I am casting my vote for “holiday napkins,” aka high-quality incontinence products, year-round as one of the best gifts we can give to those loved ones in our circles who are no longer able to play “host” themselves any longer due to aging.

Deanna Vigliotta is the national sales manager for Seni premium adult incontinence products and has a 30-year background in healthcare sales and sales management. She joined Seni in early 2019 to help expand the brand presence on the US market and to educate consumers, healthcare professionals and senior living communities about the importance of choosing high-quality, fully breathable products.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living marketplace column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

Have a column idea? See our submission guidelines here.

I attended a mid-morning marketing session about branding, led by a senior-level marketing executive from the corporate office of a large national Italian restaurant chain. She started the session by sharing a story about one food item on their Italian restaurant’s menu: chicken fingers. 

Although chicken fingers typically weren’t an item that this Italian restaurant would add to its menu, the restaurant thought that doing so would be a great kid-friendly food option for children, as well as a menu item that parents would support. The decision was made at the company’s corporate level to add chicken fingers to the menus at all restaurant locations nationwide.

Several months after offering this one menu item, however, hiccups were obvious. Few orders for chicken fingers were being placed, and the chain had lower-than-expected profit margins on the item. There also were disruptions to the employee workflow with plating, cooking temperatures and other service delivery issues, although I cannot recall the details.

And so, at one of this restaurants’ monthly regional meetings, the subject came up about replacing chicken fingers on the menu. Brainstorming followed, and many ideas were tossed on the table by members of this executive marketing group. Alternative food items that could replace the chicken fingers were discussed. Other ideas, including redesigning the look of a new menu without including chicken fingers, and time frames of when a new plan of action could be implemented, also were talked about.

The group agreed that it would take about 10 months to make this change. In fact, for this restaurant chain, 10 months was considered quick, and so group members were very proud of themselves that their plan of action aligned well with the company’s established expectations related to time frames.

The newly hired CEO of this Italian restaurant chain also was at the meeting. After listening, he stood up and moved to the center of the room. “I have a couple of questions to ask you,” he said. “Are we all in agreement that our customers don’t like the chicken fingers that we are offering on our menu?”

Several marketing team members responded “Yes.”

“My second question is,” the CEO continued, “are we all in agreement that we are actually losing money every time a customer orders these chicken fingers?”

Again, the majority response was “Yes.”

“And do we all agree that our workflow, for the many reasons that each of you shared this morning, makes it difficult to serve these chicken fingers?” he asked.

Again, heads nodded “Yes.”

“Then why in the world would we wait 10 months to pull this item from the menu? What good reason do we have for waiting? Can we agree to pull this item immediately?” asked the baffled CEO.

A person in the audience responded, “I guess that is just the way we have always done it. I hadn’t really thought about doing it any differently.”

I share this story with you because I think we will all agree that the mindset of this CEO in the chicken finger story, has been resurrected, so to speak, in today’s current challenging senior living environment. His thought process of making immediate change, versus waiting, is echoed by a large majority of people working in varied roles throughout the senior living industry.

Our emphasis today is about changing the way we think to “What can we do right now to make positive impact to better serve seniors?” and “We must do some things differently to make positive change for our residents.” We are, in fact, bearing witness to a significant paradigm shift in the way we do business. For the senior living industry to thrive, “positive changes and immediate actions are needed” is a sentiment shared by many, regardless of corporate rank and position.

Just as in the chicken fingers story, when it comes to inferior incontinence products being used by residents in some senior living communities, and even when some products are not performing effectively for some residents, we still are in the habit of taking months and months to make a product change. And yet a change to a high-quality incontinence product is one way to create an immediate positive impact for residents, caregivers and communities overall. Instead of changing the soiled sheets daily, more people should consider changing the product. 

Not all, but certainly many, senior living communities wait until multiple incontinent residents have multiple incontinence-related issues, before setting aside time to review the incontinence products being used at their communities. Cost analysis takes time, forming committees takes more time, and with high nursing and caregiver staff turnover, the process takes even longer, often being “left on the table” for a host of additional unintentional reasons. It certainly is not ill intent on anyone’s part. 

Think about the example provided below, however. I think it may help people working in the senior living space better understand how requesting free, high-quality product samples today can make a big difference for residents’ tomorrow.

If incontinent resident “Betty” awakens every morning wet, and her sheets need to be changed each morning, unfortunately, this easily can become part of the daily tasks that community caregivers “just do.” Patterns are developed, and those daily patterns often turn into daily habits over time. Habits are difficult to break, and the habit of changing wet sheets for residents every day goes back to the same statement from my chicken finger story: “I guess that is just the way we have always done it. I hadn’t really thought about doing it any differently.”

Changing Betty out of her soiled clothes, and changing Betty’s sheets each morning, “fixes” the short-term problem at hand. More than likely, however, multiple residents within a senior living community will have experience similar issues to those of Betty. Or even worse, they may experience pressures sores, falls related to bladder leaks, urinary tract infections, etc., until consideration is given to changing brands, style and/or absorbency levels of incontinence products that are not working.

If we think about the importance of person-centered care, waiting for multiple residents to experience negative outcomes related to using inferior incontinence products is not fair to a single Betty, nor is it truly providing person-centered care at all. Why wait to ask for free product samples for even just one resident who is struggling with incontinence related negative outcomes?

Sometimes, a change in product may seem like a trivial small thing when it actually is a very big thing. In fact, it is a very vital component to providing person-centered care for residents living with incontinence. Using high-quality, fully breathable incontinence products can reduce skin rashes, UTIs and falls for incontinent residents. If a resident stays dry and comfortable and can sleep uninterrupted through the night, then he or she won’t get up. If the resident doesn’t get up, then he or she doesn’t fall. And thus, the resident is less likely to end up at the emergency department due to a fall during the night. 

How can communities create positive change immediately for residents struggling with urinary incontinence related issues? Ask your current suppliers, distributors and/or incontinence manufacturers for free, high-quality incontinence product samples. Most incontinence products manufacturers, who are laser-focused on providing high-quality incontinence products in conjunction with stellar customer service, will encourage people to “try before they buy,” and so most will provide free product samples and even include free shipping.

Free. Yes, free! Why wait? Ask for samples of high-quality products that are fully breathable, super absorbent, have inner leak guards and are made of soft materials for comfort.

So why do so many community staff members wait to ask for free product samples and wait so long to explore looking at alternative incontinence products for their residents? Changing products is difficult within senior living communities for many reasons, including product review, cost analysis, purchasing policies, lack of time and lack of staffing. Another reason may be that established contracts with manufacturers or formularies only permit certain sizes, absorbency levels and styles of incontinence products can be ordered by community staff as per corporate mandates.

Have we systemically made things too complicated? I often ponder “What if?” What if more senior living communities requested product samples immediately for those residents like Betty who are struggling with wet sheets, soiled clothes, skin rashes, UTIs and being awakened at night due to bladder leaks? What if a product sample was ordered, and the new product worked extremely well for residents like Betty? What if skin rashes were decreased, UTIs were decreased and a community’s subgroups of Betty-like residents remained dry and comfortable? What if all of this started with taking action to obtain free product samples? Can you imagine the positive ripple effect for incontinent residents nationwide?

Why wait when this action of requesting free product samples can be done immediately, has no cost associated with it, and potentially can significantly improve the life of a single community resident at a minimum, if not more residents? 

Taking the time to think about “What can we do today?” and then acting on our thoughts just may be part of the answer to improving the quality of life for many people as we age. After all, aging is common ground shared with literally everyone in our country. What are we waiting for? If a current product being used is not performing well, why are we waiting 10 months to “take it off the menu?”

Deanna Vigliotta has 30 years of experience in healthcare sales and is the national sales manager for Seni USA Inc. She joined Seni in early 2019 to help educate people about the importance of choosing high-performing, effective adult incontinence products.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living marketplace column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

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Understanding the U.S. healthcare system’s shift to more person-centered care, I believed that this conference would be a great opportunity to share with these marketers all the many reasons why selecting superior incontinence products would be beneficial for their residents. I made it my goal before the conference to learn more about the communities that my fellow exhibitors represented.

One by one, I approached each of these assisted living community marketing representatives to learn about their current continence care programs, offering and to see whether an opportunity existed for them to lead me to their resident wellness directors, executive directors and/or corporate-level decision-makers. To my surprise, what I heard was that residents and/or their families are responsible for supplying their own incontinence products and, “That’s not something we would be interested in.”

In fact, I clearly remember that less than a minute into a conversation with one sales and marketing director representing an assisted living community, she politely lifted her arms toward me as if to say “stop,” while she proceeded to share with me, “We don’t get involved with that. Our residents supply their own incontinence products.”

Fast forward a year, and I now realize that their responses were not intentionally apathetic. In fact, similar responses run the gamut from other people at all levels of decision-making within some senior living communities. I believe these types of commonplace responses stem from a lack of awareness about the importance of high-quality continence care, social stigmas about incontinence, and a lack of thought about marketing a continence care program to residents. No doubt, they also are tied to senior living’s values of resident independence, privacy and choice, as well as efforts to differentiate themselves from skilled nursing facilities.

Communities can keep residents healthier longer, however, when they limit clinical risk for residents by virtue of the clinical team establishing a continence care program, and choosing what brand of incontinence products will be included in the program, versus residents and/or families bringing inferior products into the community.

A program that includes superior-quality, 100% breathable, super-absorbent products can help reduce the risk of skin breakdowns, urinary tract infections and falls for community residents. Offering a continence care program also has many benefits for caregivers, chiefly, less stress, more time and happier, more engaged residents.

Why? Fewer changes are needed when using more absorbent, high-quality products. That reduction equates to less risk of a caregiver having to leave his or her shift due to a shoulder or back injury. During these unforeseen times of extreme staffing shortages, why would any community take that risk, especially when an option to help guide residents to quality products where risk is minimized is an option?

Also, less time is needed to change soiled sheets, fewer gloves are needed and less intimate contact is needed because of fewer changes. Add in fewer changes with residents who have dementia, who can be averse to intimate contact, and I can’t imagine why a community wouldn’t think about a continence care program in hopes of guiding residents to quality products.

Another benefit to the community? A continence care program also may serve as an additional revenue. As marketing professionals continue to look for their own community key differentiators in what has become an extremely competitive playing field, where every “value add” helps increase occupancy levels, such a program could be worth considering.

Although community social activities, dining and pleasing aesthetics are important, solid medication management, wander management and quality continence care ultimately will keep applicable residents happier and healthier longer. Adult children of aging parents are more educated as consumers than ever before, so being able to have such programs in place and convey their importance is crucial to securing move-ins.

Selecting an incontinence product brand remains a resident’s choice, but they and their families may appreciate guidance. Speaking as a person with an elderly mother, I would be more inclined to write a monthly check knowing that my mother has quality incontinence products that keep her safe and comfortable versus go to a big box store, select products that I know very little about and hope for the best.

Many families of loved ones have no idea about proper sizing, absorbency levels, briefs versus pull-ups, etc. Why would they? Although we now are seeing more commercials and information about incontinence products than ever before, seeing middle-aged people dancing on TV hardly is informative.

For those who have changed sheets, seen skin breakdowns, witnessed an elder socially isolating himself or herself from everyday activities out of fear of embarrassing situations, or have been in crisis mode due to incontinence, more continence care management consideration is needed. Although discussing this topic may be uncomfortable, and although implementing a continence care program requires internal resources, it is a topic that warrants more attention.

Deanna Vigliotta has 30 years of experience in healthcare sales and is a key account manager for the East Coast with Seni. She joined Seni in early 2019 to educate people about adult incontinence products.