Training › For care providers › Care fundamentals
SHARED PROVIDER + ADVOCATE
Elder Dignity and Person-Centered Care
How to support someone in a way that respects who they are, not only what they need.
This module is about your next visit. After it, you can walk into Mr Khalil's apartment or Mrs Diallo's house and provide help that follows the older adult's lead on the small choices that make a home feel like theirs. You are the professional in the room. The home belongs to them.
Your first minute in the home
The first minute sets the tone for the visit. The older adult is watching how you carry yourself before you say anything useful.
Greet the person by the name they prefer. Some families call their mother "Mum," some call her "Mrs Diallo," some use a name in another language. Ask the first time. Use what they tell you every time after.
Confirm what kind of help they want today. The booking note explains what was arranged. Read it. Then check with the older adult: "The note mentions a bath this morning and a light lunch. Does that sound right to you?" Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the older adult would rather sit for ten minutes first. Both answers are valid.
A small note on who booked the visit. The booking may have come from a family member, the advocate, a partner organization's staff, or the older adult themselves through the iCaria elder mobile app. Whoever booked, the older adult is the person you are supporting in the home, and they lead the small choices in the moment. Do not treat the booking note as the older adult's voice. Confirm with them on arrival.
Ask before you act
Ask before you enter a room. Ask before you open a cupboard. Ask before you touch the person. Ask before you move their belongings.
It sounds slow. It is not. It takes three seconds and it is the difference between a guest and an intruder.
What this sounds like
- "Is it alright if I come into the kitchen with you, Sylvie?"
- "Can I open this cupboard to find a clean mug?"
- "I am going to help you stand up now. I will hold your right arm. Ready?"
- "I noticed the blanket on the floor. May I fold it and put it back on the chair?"
If the answer is no, the answer is no. You do not negotiate it. Move on to the part of the visit the person has agreed to. If the no makes the booking impossible, say so kindly, and follow the path in the next section.
Follow their lead on the small things
The booking covers what to do. The older adult lives in the home and decides how it is done, where there is room to choose. The booker (family, advocate, partner staff, or the older adult themselves) set the plan; the older adult is the one walking it through with you, three seconds at a time.
Karim likes his tea with milk in first. Mr Khalil takes his shirt off the left arm first because of his shoulder. Mrs Diallo always rinses her hands before she eats, even if you have already wiped the table. These are not preferences to argue with. They are how this person has lived for many years.
When the family and the older adult want different things
This is the hardest part of the work and it will happen. The booking note says "make sure she eats a full lunch." The older adult says she is not hungry today and would like a piece of toast. The booking note says "help him into the shower." He says he would rather wash at the sink today.
The rule is simple. On safety, you follow safety. On preference in the moment, you follow the older adult. If something the older adult is asking for puts them at risk, or if the family's request and the older adult's wish conflict in a way that you cannot resolve gently in two minutes, call your advocate.
Your advocate is your first line of support, not a supervisor. The advocate is a credentialed local resident who lives in the family's community and knows them. They coordinate the family's care and they back you up. If the family and the older adult want different things and you are not sure what to do, message your advocate. They will help you work it out, often with one phone call.
You will not be judged for asking. You will be judged for forcing a person to do something they did not want to do because the booking note said so.
Talk through what you are doing
Nothing should happen to the older adult without warning. Not a hand on the shoulder, not a sleeve being lifted, not a chair being moved behind them.
Describe what you are about to do, do it, and then say what comes next. "I am going to lift your right arm to slip the sleeve on. Now I am going to button the front." Slow, plain, clear. This is the part that turns a visit from a procedure into care.
Closing the visit
Tap "completed" in the provider app when the work is done, the same way you tapped "started" when you began. Those taps are how the family and the advocate know the visit went well. Before you leave, ask if there is anything the older adult wants to mention or anything they would rather you noted for the family. Often the answer is no. Sometimes the answer is the most useful thing you will hear all day.
Key takeaways
- Greet the older adult by the name they prefer and confirm with them, not only with the booking note, what kind of help they want today.
- Ask before you enter a room, open a cupboard, touch the person, or move their belongings. Every time.
- Follow the older adult's pace and small preferences on dressing, meals, and routine. Whoever booked the visit, the older adult lives in the home.
- When the family's request and the older adult's wish conflict, call your advocate. They will help you work it out.
- Describe what you are about to do as you do it. Nothing should happen to the older adult without warning.
Finding this again Open Training from your portal any time to come back to this module. A knowledge quiz follows, and you re-take it each year when you renew your certification.