philosophy of care
PHILOSOPHY OF CARE
The Baptist Home's greatest strength, Love, is also the most difficult
to define. Fortunately, this Love is demonstrated in two very tangible
ways:
First, The Baptist Home is staffed for personal attention and
care-giving, with a staff-to-resident ratio among the highest in the
United States. This offers employees, from housekeeping to
administration, the flexibility to care for residents rather than
simply taking care of them. When visiting you will notice the
residents and staff relate to each other like family.
Second, The Baptist Home practices Validation Therapy. Developed
by Naomi Feil, this method requires special education for the staff and
is more difficult and time-consuming than its alternative, Reality
Therapy. Due to these challenges, Validation Therapy is practiced by
relatively few residential care organizations in the United States. In
fact, The Baptist Home has been a pioneer in practicing this form of
care.
Validation Therapy seeks to respect the resident's time frame and
autonomy. It uses what, where, when and how questions to explore the
meaning of all behavior. It avoids using "why" to not offend or raise
the defenses of the confused resident. With reminiscence, the resident
becomes more oriented.
Reality Therapy attempts to bring a confused resident into our time and convenience.