ST. LEONARD A "BLUE ZONE"?
The final analysis was that the 'Blue Zones' cultural environments all supported longer, healthier and happier living.
Surprisingly one of the Blue Zones was in the U.S., in Loma Linda, California. Why then couldn’t we emulate the same results consistently in our country? We needed to begin trying.
That’s why it made sense to take an existing late age product, such as a CCRC, and give the residents back their lives; by infusing it with a new idea – a purpose driven life! Let’s live longer, healthier and happier for less cost.St. Leonard meticulously went through the 8-step program implementation "Beta" period in a 9 month orientation program, which was required to insure that there was a “fit”, i.e., that the community was both committed and CAPABLE, to achieve the potential results a properly executed program would provide. As they were the first community to be accepted into the program, and because they were so committed to the program, the Vital Nation Board and Bill Witte asked them to become a Vital life Beta Community, to pave the way for others, learning by doing, as to how to bring the overlay to life, and make what was good, even better.
The Beta program was established to insure that the initiation of the operational realities would identify the natural “push-back” that occurs when new dimensions or "rhythms" are introduced to an existing culture, from the standpoint of both residents and the employees.
Debra Stewart, the wellness director, and her colleagues recorded how they felt most comfortable in introducing, learning patterns, testing, and then finally implementing the program to both stakeholders and beneficiaries.
The “push back” is natural and is not a negative thing. While many may find it threatening, it is in reality a clarifying process providing a needed roadmap as to the issues and components that must be successfully mitigated to obtain the “inclusiveness” that is key to a successful community program. We are talking about more than individual tasking or responsibilities; we are also talking about creating a new virtual extended family that will become our support group, enabling us to accomplish that which we could not accomplish alone.
Debra would be the first to tell you that the beginning stages were slow, that some of the employees and residents were leery of all of the new constructs that made the program work, and of course, were concerned about the role they had to play. But after all, it was THEIR program, and it was instrumental that they become involved, create, volunteer and eventually lead.
The problem historically was that these types of communities evolved from primarily a care-culture environment, where most of the residents needed almost all of the aids-to-daily-living provided for them. Even when the nursing home environment expanded to add Assisted Living and Independent Living as a CCRC, there were still people in Assisted Living, who needed aid in several areas. Even those in Independent Living occasionally had issues and “needs” which required intercession and then rehabilitation – more aids to living.
In the past, the “old-folks home” was where the elderly went to make the last of life, safe, comfortable or bearable and on occasion joyful. We learned through the “Blue Zones” studies that the U.S. was one of the countries where more citizens died from chronic illness and disease and not old age – whereas in the Blue Zones people actually lived longer and healthier lives, many over 100 years.