8 Best Qualities of Assisted Living Staff

When exploring elder care options, like an assisted living community, one of the factors you must consider is the assisted living staff. A lovely community with plenty of amenities and activities for residents is great. However, the team is responsible for the senior residents’ care, health, safety, and happiness.

Finding a community with supportive caregivers will make a difference in your aging relative’s quality of life. You can narrow your search by understanding the most desirable character traits for caregivers in an assisted living environment. 

Keep these ideal qualities and traits of caring, qualified staff in mind when looking for an assisted living community in Boyertown, PA.

Empathy and Compassion

Caregivers aren’t typical employees who sign into work, complete their tasks, and go home. Assisted living staff have daily responsibilities like providing medication to residents, helping them with grooming, and performing light chores around their residents’ living spaces. They also aid in improving and maintaining residents’ quality of life. 

The ability to empathize with residents allows staff to provide exceptional care. When a caregiver understands what a resident goes through, they can deliver care and support in a way that extends beyond completing tasks on a checklist. The personal connections between the staff and residents at assisted living communities can bring happiness and fulfillment to everyone. 

Excellent Communication

Effective communication is essential for any workplace or community to thrive, and assisted living environments are no different. However, listening is as important as verbalizing your thoughts, needs, and opinions. When working with elderly residents, knowing how to listen and interact with others goes far. 

An unfortunate aspect of aging is dementia, aphasia, or other conditions that make communication more challenging. However, a good caregiver understands the importance of listening to the assisted living community’s residents to establish a rapport with a foundation of respect and care.

Knowing how to engage with residents ensures that the staff can understand their needs, interests, and concerns. Caregivers must also effectively convey information to the residents’ families to keep everyone up to date on the latest news about their families and loved ones. 

Ability To Advocate for Residents

People with medical conditions and aging adults rely on their caregivers to advocate for them. The best assisted living staff will go above and beyond to protect the rights and best interests of the people within their care.

Patience and good communication with the people they care for help nurses and caregivers become effective advocators when speaking with other team members, the resident’s family, or the community’s medical team. 

Respectful

As a caregiver at an assisted living community, a nurse or other staff member will become part of the residents’ daily lives in an intimate way. For instance, caregivers often assist with providing medical care, helping residents bathe and dress, and ensuring that the residents have well-balanced meals. These tasks are essential for elderly residents and people with dementia, but they can also be challenging for new residents who are used to being independent. 

The community’s support staff and nurses must respect each resident, despite the difficulties that sometimes occur. They should tend to the individual needs of everyone under their care while being respectful and patient. 

Calm in Stressful Situations

Working with residents who are ill or have a form of dementia like Alzheimer’s disease often means caregivers will deal with unpredictable situations. The assisted living staff will need exceptional patience to handle unexpected moments, including anxiety, mood swings, overactivity, and wandering. 

The unpredictable nature of working in an assisted living community can be stressful. However, all dedicated staff should know how to exercise calmness and patience to tend to residents and whatever may happen during the day. 

Strong Sense of Ethics and Values

One of the undesirable traits a caregiver can have is a lack of values or morals. Assisted living staff that doesn’t care for residents and their well-being can make careless decisions. For instance, they may take shortcuts with their tasks or speak disrespectfully to people under their care. 

It’s best to find a community with a team of caregivers, nurses, medical professionals, admins, and support staff with a strong moral code. People with solid ethical foundations know how to work as a team and make good decisions. In an assisted living environment, those traits help the staff treat residents like their personal family members. 

Willingness To Prioritize Residents

Residents come first in an assisted living community. However, it’s not enough for the staff to prioritize the residents by fulfilling their job-mandated obligations. It’s best to be part of a community that puts its residents first by making them feel welcomed and special, in addition to taking care of their day-to-day needs. 

For instance, the best staff would take time to learn the preferred names of the people they care for and get to know them and their loved ones well. It’s also helpful when the staff participates in social events with residents to foster a sense of community and companionship.

Well-Trained

Inexperienced volunteers who want to help people in an assisted living community might have their hearts in the right place. However, caregivers should have proper training with state certification to prove they have the qualifications to fulfill the role. Assisted living communities that encourage continued education among staff often have advanced services that continually improve. 

Discover the Leading Long-Term Care Facilities in Pennsylvania

After exploring the benefits of an assisted living facility vs. skilled nursing, you may decide that the former is best for your elderly loved one. Finding the most appropriate community with skilled healthcare providers, qualified assisted living staff, and high resident care standards can be challenging, but We Care Senior Solutions is here to help.

We have decades of experience and hundreds of partner communities to help families find assisted living facilities in Pennsylvania that best accommodate each potential resident’s needs. Our helpful team will give you peace of mind by filtering through the hundreds of elderly care options to find your ideal solution. Call We Care Senior Solutions at (610) 970-4200 to schedule a consultation.