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5/27/11 GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTEERS Of McLean County Nursing Home I. Right to Privacy: 1. Medical and personal care are private. Volunteers must respect the privacy of a resident at all times. 2. Volunteers must knock before entering a resident’s room. 3. The facility may not give information about a resident or his/her care to unauthorized persons without the resident’s or their Power of Attorney’s permission, unless the resident is being transferred to a hospital or another heath care facility. 4. A resident has the right to have private visits at any reasonable hour. The only exception is if his/her doctor has ordered limited visits for medical reasons. 5. A resident may ask a visitor to leave their personal living area. 6. A resident has the right to make and receive phone calls in private. 7. The facility must deliver a resident’s personal mail and send mail out for the resident. The facility may not open a resident’s personal mail. II. Confidentiality: As a volunteer, you will have direct contact with many of the residents residing in the McLean County Nursing Home. Depending on your involvement, it is likely you will come to know a significant amount of confidential information about a few, or possibly several, of our residents. This can range from family relationships or their medical history. This information is strictly confidential and should not be discussed with others outside the facility. III. Disaster Preparedness: If you are present at a time of a disaster, locate and ask a staff member (preferably a department head or charge nurse) where your help may be needed. ---PAGE BREAK--- 5/27/11 IV. Emergency Response Procedures: A. Elopement: The facility has policies and procedures to monitor residents who are at risk for elopement (high risk of leaving the facility without authorization). There is a list of high risk residents at each nurse’s station and the front desk. Anyone taking a resident outside the facility, MUST have: 1. Family authorization to do so, 2. Nurse’s authorization to do so, 3. Notified the nurse and the front desk that they are leaving the building (even to sit on the patio or walk around the building). B. Emergency While Acting As a Medical Escort: 1. Transportation is often arranged by the Volunteer Services Coordinator using the BNTS Special Services bus, the YWCA Medivan, Liberty Transport, or There ‘n Back. If a volunteer is with a resident on any of these modes of transportation and there is an emergency, ask the driver to radio for help if needed. 2. If a resident falls outside the Nursing Home, contact the facility immediately so it can be determined if there is a need for them to be taken to an emergency room. C. Falls: 1. If a resident falls while in the building, encourage the resident to remain in current position and notify staff. Verbally call (YELL) for a staff member. Stay with the resident and wait for a staff member. Do not attempt to move the resident. Encourage the resident to remain in current position. 2. Never attempt to move a resident without staff assistance. V. Food and Residents: Do not give a resident food or drink, regardless whether or not they ask for something specific, without asking the resident’s nurse first. VI. Infection Control A. Use proper hand washing and sanitizing techniques at all time. This is as much a protection for you as it is for our residents. B. Hand sanitizer is available throughout the nursing home. Feel comfortable using it, and use it often. C. Gloves are available on all residential units for your use. VII. Resident Care A. At no time is a volunteer to remove a restraint from a resident. ---PAGE BREAK--- 5/27/11 B. At no time is a volunteer to move, reposition, or take a resident to the bathroom. C. Nursing must be notified to assist the resident with any personal care. A volunteer must call for assistance from nursing staff for any and all resident care.