Touring Guidelines for Person-Centered Care Homes

A tour is a wonderful way to give a potential consumer an “inside look” at your home. If you have the added benefit of working for an organization that practices Person-Centered Care, you may find yourself in the happy situation where the community sells itself.

One of the first questions to answer is, “Who is responsible for giving tours?” In an organization with a typical, top-down management style, the admissions coordinator and the administrator are usually the two individuals most often expected to give tours. However, in a home that embraces Culture Change, every team member, and often even residents can be expected to provide the same service. Just as we advocate that team members give tours to potential employees, we do the same in the admissions process. After all—who knows the home better than the people who work in it everyday?

Remember, a tour is not the time to be collecting payor or clinical information. That takes place later, behind closed doors in a sit-down with the admissions coordinator, administrator or social worker. The tour is a time for your home to shine—and any member of your team should be educated on how to put the home in its best light.

We recommend that you choose three individuals who are not managers to give basic tours that are available on the day shift. It does not matter what their role in the home is—but they must be capable of the following:

* Possess a clear speaking voice
* Exhibit a friendly and caring attitude
* Demonstrate pride in the home
* Be familiar with the home’s Person-Centered Care assets
* Have some longevity with the home
* Possess current knowledge of recent survey results
* Know the names of all elders and team members in the home
* Keep the tour moving and on-time without appearing to be rushed
* Be able to answer questions easily without becoming flustered
* Know when to redirect certain questions pertaining to clinical and financial matters for the post-tour sit-down with the appropriate team member
* Listen to understand the needs of the person touring

In some cases you may want to reward a team member who has longevity, excellent performance evaluations and is highly-respected by their colleagues with the opportunity to give tours. This can be a wonderful way to thank your team members, and give them an added level of authority—by recognizing their expert knowledge with regard to Culture Change.

It is important to have three individuals ready to give the tours in case there is a need for more than one tour to take place at a time or in case someone is unavailable in a meeting or otherwise involved in an activity.

The preceding is an excerpt from our manual, "Marketing & Admissions for Person-Centered Care Organizations." The manual is available for purchase on our website, www.caregivereducation.org