The Nursing Department of Citizens Care & Rehabilitation
Center provides care to its residents through the capable
and caring hands of Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical
Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, Hospitality Aides,
and Unit Secretaries. Citizens stands behind the career
ladder in our Nursing Department. We offer training programs
for Certified Nursing Assistants, sponsor GNA's for Certified
Medicine Aide training, and through our Resident Council
provide scholarship funding for continuing education --Certified
Nursing Assistants to LPN and LPN to RN. We, also, enjoy
a long standing relationship with our local community college.
Over
the last decade, we have seen a dramatic change in the long
term care resident. Their care needs have greatly increased,
resulting in an acuity level much more demanding of the
skills of our nursing staff. Citizens Care & Rehabilitation
Center has found itself
providing care for a resident whose care needs have skyrocketed.
This provides our staff with opportunities to develop and
utilize nursing skills previously needed only in an acute
setting. We find that not only do our residents arrive with
multiple medical problems, but often with a diagnosis of
dementia with associated care requirements.
Once the resident reaches our doorstep, we find that they
have pretty much exhausted the resources in the community
and often exhausted their families as well.
We not only provide care for our residents but for their
families as well. Our goal is to meet the needs of our residents,
and their family expectations, as well as the regulatory
agencies by whom we are scrutinized and held accountable.
The Nursing Department works hand-in-hand with other departments-Food
Service, Activities, and Social Services-toward providing
the best possible quality of life for our residents. We
meet collectively to create and monitor our plan of care
for each resident. Families and residents alike are invited
and encouraged to take part in the development of this care
plan. After all, it does belong to the resident!
Our residents are monitored 24 hours a day for any change
in their condition and their care plan is adjusted accordingly.
Families are kept abreast of any changes.
Providing nursing care in a long term setting can be very
challenging but also very rewarding. Our nursing staff has
the opportunity truly to get to know our residents, since
they are long term, generally, as opposed to the short stay
in an acute care setting. We become almost like a member
of our resident's family.
