What is a Family Council?
Family Council is an organized, self-let, self-determining, democratic group composed of family and friends of the residents of long-term care homes.
Program Services Manager (Michael Ciardullo) is the appointed to support and facilitate the Council along with President Merike Merimets.
All Family Councils provide mutual support, empowerment and advocacy to the family and friends of the residents of long-term care homes. Although all Family Councils have this goal in common, each Council will be unique in meeting the needs of its members, the residents and the home.
What is the Purpose of a Family Council?
The main purpose of most Family Councils is to improve the quality of life of residents and to give families a voice in decisions that affect them and their loved ones in the Home.
Specific objectives vary greatly from Council to Council depending upon the interests of Council members.
Some examples include:
- Support for families’ i.e. emotional support
- Education and information i.e. education on Alzheimer’s Disease
- Discussion and action on concerns i.e. Food concerns?
- Communication with the staff in the Home and residents i.e. Good way to keep in touch with staff about concerns one may be having.
What are the Benefits of a Family Council?
- Allows families to give each other the support and encouragement they need.
- Provides a forum for education and information regarding residents’ rights and to become knowledgeable about the Homes operations, policies, rules and health conditions.
- Council involvement helps provide family members with an opportunity to express their ideas and concerns in a way to work for positive change.
- Family Council involvement can benefit residents who are physically or mentally unable to voice their concerns and needs as well as those without family.
- The Home also benefits through dealing directly with families and establishing meaningful lines of communication.
- Residents benefits from Council Efforts to improve the quality of life in the Home.
Some examples of what family councils have done to make a difference at their home
- Families initiated the use of name tags and an in-and-out board to identify which staff on each floor were working that shift.
- Families noticed that many of the residents’ clothes were missing. The Council offered to clean out the storage closets and in so doing found many of the misplaced garments.
- At the urging of the Family Council, the Home agreed to assign the same nursing assistants to the same residents. Both residents and personal support workers reported that they like the system.
