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Located in the heart of Chenal Valley in Little Rock, the new Chenal Heights Nursing and Rehab is bringing a “culture change” to the mentality of long term care (LTC).

“This is a new way of thinking which deinstitutionalizes and provides more individualized care by creating a home-like environment,” said Vicki Vinson, administrator of Chenal Heights. “It brings all who are involved in the care — staff, management, families and the resident — to a new way of working together.”

The 140-bed facility broke dirt early last year and welcomed its first resident this March. The home is part of ConvaCare Inc, which has nine nursing homes around the state and three more “culture change homes” slated for construction this year.

Features such as salons, a putting green, movie screen, spacious living areas and family-style dining can be found in the home.

“There’s nothing on this scale in Arkansas,” said Scott Edwards, RN and director of nursing at the home. “This has been in the works for a while. We are trying to bring the entire long term care industry to this level.”

According to Edwards, the industry is broaching a new area of LTC where the rules and regulations are gray. The facility is working with physicians to change and improve the standards for nursing homes.

“We’ve tried to up the scale of everything here, making it more luxurious,” he added.

The 55,000-square-foot center was built in a wagon wheel design. Contrary to many design plans that place a nurses’ station in the middle, Chenal enclosed stations on each of four halls. Each hallway has its own whirlpool room, shower room, dining and living area.

“With culture change in mind, each hall functions as a mini-community,” said Vinson.

Approximately 3,000 square feet of treatment space is available for physical, occupational and speech therapy for patients needing either extended care or a short rehabilitation stay.

All rooms have electric beds that easily allow residents to position themselves without assistance. In addition to the central heating and air conditioning throughout the home, each room is equipped with individual units. Daily baths are provided in Jacuzzi tubs.

The dining areas on each hall have a full-size refrigerator, stove, sink, microwave and steam tables. Staff can serve meals directly from these kitchen areas for unique family-style dining, or residents can enjoy meals on a spacious patio.

A move to lessen the sound load of the home was also a priority.

“When you walk into a busy hospital ward you hear all the commotion, phones ringing, call lights…” said Edwards. “We have tried to quiet the environment.”
Edwards said this was accomplished by installing a wireless call light system, which reduces noise by using staff pagers, rather than the traditional means of alerting the nurses’ station with a loud buzzing. The facility is the second in the state to install the system — Green Acres Nursing Home in Paragould was the first — and state regulations had to be rewritten to allow the new technology.
As part of the call light system, 40 cameras that can be viewed from the nurses’ station have been installed throughout the home to help keep tabs on residents. Wander guard devices, such as watches or pendants are also in use.

“Though this is a different look for a long term nursing facility, we still provide skilled services such as IVs, trach care, wound care and feeding tubes,” said Missy Stroud, director of operations for ConvaCare Management, Inc.

Stroud said there is still a lot to learn while developing a blueprint for nursing homes employing the new culture change concept. She said training via outlets such as Eden Alternative, a Wimberley, Texas-based non-profit founded in 1991 by Dr. William Thomas, a geriatrician and Harvard educated physician, created a foundation for the venture.

The concept is finding its way into the company’s other facilities, too. “We do not want residents to think they are in a nursing home,” she said. “Being admitted to a long term care facility and having to leave your home is very difficult. I would rather be in a home-like environment than a clinical one.”



May 2008

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