Quality of Life (QOL) has been defined as the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group. Areas examined to determine QOL for elders include autonomy, dignity, food enjoyment, functional competence, individuality, meaningful activity, physical comfort, privacy, relationships, security, and spiritual well-being. There has been plenty of research using quality of life surveys to find out how we can improve QOL for our elderly family members especially when residing in a nursing home. Findings have shown the top three factors that affect our kupuna’s satisfaction the most were dignity, spiritual well-being, and food enjoyment.

Garden Isle Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center knows the importance of QOL. Our skilled nursing and rehab center has tailored the services to enrich the lives of our residents using information like this to create an engaging and safe environment.

We believe that care should go beyond residents’ physical needs to include social and goal-directed activities.  Our center provides a variety of religious services weekly to meet the spiritual beliefs of our residents. Our activities department is full of wonderful staff that prepare daily social events, entertainment, arts and crafts and so much more in order to increase their social engagement and cognitive stimulation needed to feel fulfilled and active during their residency or short term stay with us. New to our activities department, is weekly Tai Chi sessions to help improve balance and fall prevention. Home exercise programs are also developed by our rehabilitation team full of physical,occupational, and speech therapists that are carried out daily by our certified nursing assistants in order to keep an active lifestyle and higher level of independence. Assisting our residents to maintain their physical and cognitive function is a priority for our rehab department. We provide therapy to our short term rehabilitation patients, as well as our long term care residents, knowing autonomy and dignity is a large factor of life satisfaction.

We also service and care for our kupuna who have experienced cognitive impairments and dementia, whom pose a particular challenge for family members to maintain a good quality of life. Our trained speech therapists specialize in assessing what these residents CAN do even in the face of this devastating degenerative disease. We then capitalize on these abilities and provide the sensory stimulation and assistance they need to keep them participating in meaningful activities or feeling useful as long as possible.

Garden Isle Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center also ensures that QOL is maintained through food enjoyment. A variety of menu options rotate weekly ranging from chicken adobo, lasagna, macaroni and beef casserole, the kitchen can also prepare saimin or a protein shake, pick your favorite! We have speech therapists on site daily to assess and treat residents suffering from swallowing difficulties. They will modify food textures to be safe and teach staff strategies to assist. The registered dieticians are also there to ensure nutritional needs are met.
We understand as we get older taste buds change and food needs to be prepared differently. It is our goal to keep residents fulfilled through food enjoyment!

Another aspect affecting quality of life is family/friend visits and because of this Garden Isle allows visitors at any time. There are no restrictions on visiting hours and we encourage family members and friends to come and participate in our kupuna’s care. Residents value frequent contact with family members and we encourage that! Residents even enjoy spending time and visits with other resident families, as we all become One Ohana.

So as you care for your kupuna at home, think about these factors affecting their quality of life. And know that Garden Isle Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center provide these services because We Care!

For more information, call 808-245-1802 or email info@gihckauai.com