The Comfortzeit® approach
Our concept of ‘Comfortzeit®’ describes the state of being it aims to achieve for residents, an overall sense of comfort at this stage in their lives. It is a key concept in the overall delivery of the care home’s services.
“‘Zeit” is the German word for time, and Comfortzeit® is the name of our care model. The name describes the focus of all our activities. That includes care and services, staffing model, operational model and the environment.
This concept is essentially a shift in focus from the medical, which usually involves determining what is best for the resident, into a more social and humanistic view putting the emphasis on making the resident comfortable.
This model of care was developed in conjunction with our redevelopment plans for a new care home. We have not been able to fully implement it yet, because we are still in our existing building. It is a shift from how we used to do things to how we want to do things.
The staffing model in a traditional care home includes departments that provide a specific service. In the Comfortzeit® model, a multi-skilled staff works much more as one team, providing a number of different services to residents.
This is made possible by a different environment, where residents live in households with a small number of resident rooms, a kitchen, laundry facilities, and staff in the houses providing services. It’s different from the traditional model, where you have a centralized operation. We’re moving the staff into the households, closer to the residents.
The German-Canadian Care Home has always had a desire to innovate, since its beginnings in 1969. The care home constantly looks for opportunities to put new learnings into action, and has been moving towards a social model of care. A staff team has been set up that works towards identifying institutional barriers to care. A deliberate and methodical approach to doing things separates the German-Canadian Care Home from many other care providers.