The South Bend Zoo is an interesting Analogous Immersion to nursing homes. Both possess diverse populations of individuals that have very unique needs and temperaments. Both resident populations are cared for by professionals with years of education and experience. Zoos and nursing homes also have very specific daily routines that the residents and caretakers follow. It is also often common for both Zoos and nursing homes to be short on funding. This means that the organizations must choose how to prioritize spending carefully.
Potawatomi Zoo:
- Over 400 animals
- Over 200,000 visitors per year
- <50 employees
- Part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
- Jobs include: Director, Keepers, a Dietician, General Curator, Veterinarian, Veterinary Technician, Educators, and more
Key Takeaways:
- Quality of employees is one of the most important things for a facility that is responsible for care giving. At the end of the day, the caregivers are the ones responsible for maintaining the health and well being of the residents. The importance of the caregiver indicates that any solution we pursue must either enhance or at the minimum not impede the experience of the caregiver (if it is patient/retiree focused).
- As was stated in our expert interviews at assisted living and nursing homes, it often comes down to the personal judgement and experience of caregivers to diagnose the degradation of, or issues with the residents’ health.
- Routine is key in properly maintaining the well being of such a large number of diverse residents. The organization must establish specific and nuanced schedules to ensure that each day’s activities go smoothly.
- Funding is often tight for smaller organizations of this nature, therefore the organization must frequently choose between spending on facility upgrades or hiring additional quality employees.
- Many smaller organizations do not or are not able to take advantage of new technologies that enable better resident care and health monitoring due to cost concerns. Cost will be a very important issue to monitor with any technology or service that we decide to pursue.