Whats In A Name?

We are now moving into the era of Person Centered Care, and we all know the importance of Life Stories and knowing the personhood of the residents in our care, especially in our Memory Care Communities.

Whats in a name? This may seem a simple question but how many of us really know what a person wants to be known as? Do we know that of all our residents?

The importance of this was brought home to me when a friend who used to be a member of the same Homemakers Club that I once belonged to, told me that another member was now living in a Memory Care community that belonged to our group. The next time I spoke to the Life Enrichment Director there I mentioned that one of my friends Bert J---- was there. "I don't think so, we have no-one called Bert here", was the response. I said it was strange as my friend had visited her there. Her? Yes Bert J-----. Oh! maybe you mean Roberta J-----? We do have a Roberta here but she is a screamer, cant get her to do anything, impossible to have her in activities.

Hardly surprising I thought, imagine you have dementia, you are confused and no-one is calling you by the name you have been known by for years, everyone is calling you by a name you dont recall. I suggested that they try calling her Bert. Out of curiosity I called a few days later to ask if they had tried using her name. I was told that surprisingly, she had stopped screaming when they called her Bert and opened her eyes.

I am sure most of us have the question of Nickname on our forms but when residents move in and all the conversations we have as the management team, and all the paperwork we receive, has their formal name on, how often is that overlooked? We may not realize our mistake as usually it is children who come to visit and they call the person Mom or Dad and not their given name. Take time to look and be sure that what you are calling the person is the name they are familiar with.

At this time I have an early onset, non verbal, male resident who is a 20 year navy veteran and when we have difficulty getting him to do something for us we have found that he will do it for the uniformed staff. I am hoping to find out his rank in the navy because maybe using that name may triger a memory and help us to communicate with him. His family do not visit or comminicate regualarly but I have put a reminder out to all staff that if they do visit or call to try to find the information out for me. I will update you if we make progress......