Recall in February, the Adelman Advantage interviewed Dr. BJ Miller and Sonya Dolan, co-founders of Mettle Health, a palliative care counseling and resource center, as part of the continuing narrative on optimal supportive end-of-life care. This month, I am pleased to introduce a resource for families to support them with end-of-life communications, grieving and assistance with managing experiences and events that arise after a loved one dies.
The importance of taking a communication viewpoint on death and dying highlights the messages (both verbal and nonverbal) that occur between family members, residents, care providers and others in our life circle. In the long-term care setting, providers play an important role in supporting families after a resident in our care, a loved one, dies. The continuum of care actually continues after our residents have died and Empathy offers both logistical and emotional support to those grieving the loss of a loved one.
Empathy offers an innovative, digital companion application that helps families deal with loss. Combining technology and human support, the Empathy app streamlines end-of-life bureaucracy, minimizes tedious tasks, and automates processes involved in the administration of an estate—freeing families to deal with emotional repercussions, and to be there for one another. Empathy also offers human support to provide users both emotional and practical assistance, creating a hybrid experience to help families navigate arrangements and grief.
Paul Griffith, Chief Strategy Officer for Empathy, understands the importance of family communication and the struggles that people have after the loss of a loved one in their family.
“On average, families spend over 500 hours following a death, dealing with immediate needs, like arranging a funeral, as well as long-term processes such as account cancellations, estate administration and benefit claims. These tasks leave people overburdened, unprepared, and struggling to cope.
As we envision the future of long-term care and our service to the elders and their families in our community, consider how families and our community can be lifted up by our teams after a loss.”
Managing expectations for residents and families before, during and after experiences with our long-term care communities, is key to compassionate collaborative care. Patient and family-centered care, includes overarching values including empathy, sharing, respect, and partnership. As the industry emerges from the pandemic, enterprise risk management needs to include communication, shared decision-making, and goal setting as processes for achieving quality care at end-of-life. Resident and family satisfaction, enhanced teamwork, decreased staff burnout, and organizational satisfaction are exemplars of outcomes that suggest high quality collaboration.
Empathy became available to the public on April 6, 2021 and senior living providers can consider partnering with Empathy to offer additional support for families along the continuum of care and beyond. Check it out at www.empathy.com
