Volunteers Of America Spirit Magazine: VOA Become Authorized Validation Organization
Forty years ago, Volunteers of America committed to serving the care needs of increasing numbers of aging persons with the opening of Maplewood Care Center, a skilled nursing facility in St. Paul, Minn. Today, we continue this commitment by providing housing, home care, adult day care, assisted living, transitional and rehabilitative care, PACE and long-term skilled care and services to thousands of senior persons each year in several states. Long-term care delivery has evolved since the first nursing homes were built, particularly in the specialty of caring for persons with dementia.
In those early years, best practice was to use “reality orientation” as a means to bring the impaired person out of memories into the here and now. This accepted practice had caregivers telling those suffering with dementia in their care such things as, “No, you can’t see your husband now. Remember? He passed away five years ago. You live here with us now.” This approach was not only ineffective, but it almost always elevated frustration and emotional distress.
Fortunately, an enlightened woman with a pioneer spirit saw the need for a new approach. Meet Naomi Feil, developer of Validation, a method for communicating with severely disoriented, “old-old” people. (download the full PDF article)
VOA Becomes Authorized Validation Organization (AVO)
On February 1, 2010, Volunteers of America National Services signed a contract with the Validation Institute to become the United States’ 4th Authorized Validation Organization.
What is this? Within the past few years, many of you have attended Validation workshops presented by Naomi Feil, the originator of the Validation method for communication with the elderly with dementia. Validation is a tested model of practice for both professionals and personal caregivers who work with confused older adults. The Validation worker tunes into the person’s inner world by helping him or her restore the past, reliving good times and resolving past conflicts. Validation helps disoriented people to reduce stress, and gives them enhanced dignity and increased happiness.
As an AVO (Authorized Validation Organization), we will now be able to offer certifications classes at the worker and group leader levels. It also gives us access to a variety of products and information based on the copyrighted works of Naomi Feil. Additionally, in conjunction with the Validation Institute, we will eventually grow our own trainers/teachers.
Volunteers of America provides care for a growing number of cognitively impaired adults and their families in a variety of community and facility- based settings. We recognize the need and opportunity for integrating the Validation method into the organizational culture and for becoming a leader in teaching the Validation method locally, regionally and nationally. This aligns with Volunteers of America’s ‘Aging With Options’ initiative, and ongoing development of Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) with home and community-based services. We will be the primary server of the Minnesota, Ohio & Arizona regions. We will work together with the already established Colorado AVO for our facilities located there.
Over the last several years Naomi Feil has presented to our facilities in all the geographic areas in which we have programs. She will travel to Minnesota in April, and we look forward to scheduling her for all of our facilities in the near future.
For further questions you can contact:
David Nilson Linda Shell
dnilson@voa.org lshell@voa.org
