By Wendy Allman, Director of Social Services
The RP Home is excited to announce that the PA Long-Term Care Ombudsman’s Office provided the Pennsylvania Empowered Expert Resident’s (PEER) training program to our residents!
A PEER is a resident who is trained to be an advocate for themselves and empower their fellow residents to improve their quality of care in long term care facilities like ours. The PEER program is resident focused, gives residents a voice, provides a connection with Ombudsmen, volunteers and other PEERs statewide, provides residents with opportunities to stay productive and involved, and honors PEERs through recognition events.
Seven residents completed this PEER training program which is a 5-part empowerment training. The training sessions included: The Focus is on the Resident, Negotiating the Facility, Building Self-Resolution Skills, Respecting Confidentiality and Differences, and PEER Limits – The Sky is the Limit. During these sessions the PEERs learned how to negotiate issues, communicate with staff, work with resident council issues, address confidentiality, report issues and make the most of their care plans.
A celebration was held and residents received a certificate of completion, met with many local Ombudsmen and enjoyed lunch.