Personal hygiene and immunity often deteriorate with age. That makes the elderly more vulnerable to infections and illnesses, and your aged care home’s cleanliness a challenge. Be it a Government-subsidised or private aged care facility, it is no easy feat to maintain the hygiene and quality of life of the elderly, day in and day out.
Apart from the management, staffing and organisational development, your care home is responsible for accommodation, food and medical help. It is crucial that you have complete trust in your aged care cleaning services to keep the facility spick and span and in its best shape, creating a safe habitat for the elderly residents, always.
Please read below some tips to lead your Aged Care Facility on a path to success.
Above: Woman cleaning dust on a window sill
-
Build an online presence
In this age, almost everyone relies on the internet for the first impression. So quality online content will help attract customers and highlight your USP – cleanliness, even if they haven’t heard of your facility from word of mouth. Age affects immunity and for an Aged Care Facility, routine cleanliness is mandatory.
Share photos of the facility, the cleaning staff in their uniforms, and their safety measures of routine cleaning service on your social media or website. It will motivate the carers or the elderly to come take a tour of the facility.
-
Use the dustbin and declutter!
Since some senile persons are incapable of understanding the concept of tidying up and personal hygiene, you must keep dustbins in all the right places and ensure that the appointed cleaning service declutters and puts away daily-use things to where they ‘should be’. They and their support workers or carers should get strict instructions of throwing their trash away, not spilling, dunking or storing it. Dustbins should be placed in all accessible ranges to avoid inconvenience.
-
Be cordial and well-behaved
“Don’t worry, be happy” – Are you humming that song already? Could Bobby McFerrin be more correct!
Everybody likes good behaviour. Since ground staff is already working hard to be in the good books of the guests, front-office staff should welcome the aged and their carer, and give strict information of waste management, like eating in the dining hall to avoid spillage or using the dustbins kept in the facility, during check-in.
-
Let the experts do the cleaning
Not all cleaners can serve the specific requirements of an Aged Care Facility. Other than the cleaners’ professional history, hiring a professional aged care cleaner ensures that the candidate has passed a skill test to meet the cleanliness standards of your facility. Some aged care cleaning services undergo an induction process at the start, which helps them to understand the needs of the facility and its guests.
If an elderly does an order-in or some friends come over for tea, the facility should always be informed and prepared for any spillage or difficult stains on your table linen
or bed. To prevent any kind of messy situation, make sure that the cleaners keep enough napkins, coasters, and waterproof runners around. As prevention is always better than cure!
-
Cleaners proficient in English
Sometimes, a cleaner might have to communicate with an elderly or the carer. If it is a request to clean up personal space, or mini-library, then the cleaner will need permission from the guest. A cleaner proficient in the English language renders better communication, or the ability to communicate or call for help in times of any medical emergency. A common language is of help to the cleaner as well as the guest.
An Aged Care Facility is approved to receive government-regulated subsidies only after it meets all 44 standards of Aged Care Accreditation, based on the Aged Care Act 1997. Although it is enough pressure already, your Aged Care Facility should always strive for perfection when it comes to cleanliness.
