- Provided by Stacey Brekke, Director of Corporate Communications, The Knolls of Oxford 

The Knolls of Oxford honored with Leading Age Ohio Excellence in Innovation award

The video above was created for the acceptance of the Excellence in Innovation award. On Tuesday, September 18 Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Tom Browning (featured in the video) visited The Knolls of Oxford to watch the video with Knolls residents.

Pictured: Miami Scripps Gerontology researcher Dr. Katy Abbott, The Knolls of Oxford Activities Director Suzanne House, Miami Graduate Student Morgan Liddic and The Knolls Director of Communications Stacey Brekke with Knolls resident Myrna Strohmier. 

The Knolls of Oxford, a continuing care retirement community in Oxford, is pleased to announce that their affiliation with Miami University has brought another innovative program to their residents. Preferences for Activities and Leisure (PAL) cards earned The Knolls of Oxford the 2018 LeadingAge Excellence in Innovation Award.

Suzanne House, The Knolls of Oxford Activities Director has been an integral part of growing the relationship The Knolls has with Miami University. Suzanne has partnered with Miami University's Scripps Gerontology Center staff on many projects and programs. Most recently she has been working with the Preference-Based Living (PBL) team since the fall of 2016 on a program called Preference for Everyday Living Inventory (PELI). PELI is used by the Ohio Department of Medicaid as one of the five pay for performance indicators. Suzanne and her staff were completing the PELI interviews with each Knoll’s resident when she realized the challenges of using PELI to communicate resident important preferences across care team members and shifts. She expressed her concern to the PBL Team and the idea for the PAL Cards was born.

In Ohio, skilled care facilities are incentivized to provide person-centered care through assessing resident preferences via the PELI and to integrate preferences into the care planning process. Activities Director Suzanne House and her staff conduct the PELI interviews with each resident. Through conducting these interviews Suzanne came up with the idea of displaying residents’ important preferences on what is now called the PAL cards. Suzanne worked with the Miami University Scripps Gerontology Center researcher Dr. Katy Abbott and graduate student Morgan Liddic to create the idea of what information should be displayed on the PAL cards. The PAL cards are attached to residents’ wheelchairs, walkers or hung on their room door. The PAL cards provide important preferences of residents such as their family, what music and books they like, if they like pets, what sports and sports teams they like, and any hobbies they enjoy. The PAL cards serve as conversation starters between staff, volunteers and residents. Knolls’ residents first started using PAL cards in the fall of 2016, when Morgan would interview residents to gain the information to place on PAL cards. Residents appreciate their PAL cards; they feel they bring them joy and that the PAL cards accurately reflect their important preferences.

For more information on The Knolls of Oxford or The LeadingAge Ohio Excellence in Innovation Award please call 513.524.7990. For more information about the Preference Based Living Team go to PreferenceBasedLiving.com.

Pictured: Michele Engelbach, Chair of LeadingAge Awards Committee, The Knolls of Oxford team Suzanne House, Stacey Brekke, Tim McGowan, Scarllett Kilgore and Laura Lacy along with another member from the LeadingAge Committee.