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>**“All people have a need to do something every day that gives a sense of value and purpose.”** 
UsAgainstAlzheimer’s

In the same way, we at Epoch Elder Care ensure that our residents engage in meaningful activities which add value to their lives. I started my career at Epoch as a Facility Nurse and learned the importance of such activities as I grew with the organization. During this journey I was responsible for resident engagement for all Epoch homes and I am proud to say that my growth has been steady and fruitful, as today I work as the Facility Manager in one of the homes.

Over these years, based on my experience, I have acknowledged the importance of activities and the difference it has brought in our residents’ lives. The term ‘engagement’ doesn’t just mean doing anything that keeps a person busy but needs more effort and planning. To successfully engage with a resident, it's vital that you know them well as a person, which we at Epoch do with the help of the “getting to know you form”, that captures all the necessary information about a resident's life. Learning about their interests and pasts gives us an insight into what that person was like in his/her youth. Based on that and their current capabilities, activities are planned for the residents. Planning an activity is just like cooking good food, you need to put all the necessary ingredients in proper proportions for it to taste good.

Music is one of the main ingredients, and adding it to a resident’s daily routine has brought more colour to their lives, especially old evergreen songs from their time, spiritual songs etc. We have seen them humming along, especially when their favourite songs are played. One of our resident’s speech is affected due to dementia, but she starts singing fluently when her favourite songs are played and enjoys dancing to them too. Music has shown a wonderful effect on residents who are feeling low or are agitated. It helps in creating a soothing environment and can be played in the background while conducting other activities as well.

An elderly person at times lacks companionship; a person to talk to. One needs to be a good listener to hear them out and to respond to them, sometimes just spending 10 minutes listening to them can bring more joy than doing anything else. I have experienced it myself, seeing the joy of being heard and the smile that blossoms on a person’s face when they have someone to speak to. Precious moments like these give me the satisfaction of being in this profession. This individual attention that we provide to our residents is called one on one engagement. By doing this we also try to encourage them to pursue individual hobbies and activities. Being able to revisit their old hobbies and helping them do those in an enjoyable way restores their self-confidence. For residents who have spent most of their lives as housewives, doing home-like chores like folding clothes, arranging cupboards etc. brings them comfort. 

We have varied festivals celebrated throughout the year and involving our residents in the celebration is another essential ingredient. Engaging them through decorating the home is a fun activity they enjoy doing and they often share small stories of their memories associated with each festival. Our residents love doing pooja and engage in all spiritual activities during the festive season, actively participating in them. We have residents from different parts of the country, with different cultures, all under one roof.  By celebrating all the festivals and involving them, we do our bit in letting them enjoy things they like to do. For some, celebration is a time to dress up for the occasion, while for others it's devouring the home-made sweets. Asking for their help when planning a party or any occasion gives them the sense of fulfillment of doing things in their own way.

Activities for residents are planned based on their likes and dislikes and capabilities, while keeping in mind how the activity will help them. There are numerous activities which we do to engage our residents and there are endless experiences to share, but I have focused on a few aspects that have always helped me bring out the bliss on my residents’ faces.

Engagement involves teamwork and it gives me immense pleasure to see that everyone in the team strives to reach the goal of caring for the resident in every way possible and one such way that I have described is through ‘caring by engaging’.



>**“Beautiful Young people are accidents of Nature. But Beautiful Old people are works of Art.”**
-Eleanor Roosevelt

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Caring by engaging

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There’s the music of sarod playing in the background while I write this, helps me write my memoirs!

When I was a child, I used to write diaries. What’s enticing to me at that point in time was the smell of new vintage-looking pages, and a unique feeling to ink it down. It all started then. Who knew the passion for writing would grow so strongly on me!

Hi, I’m Sneha, Business Assistant & Content Writer at Epoch. Yes, I own these words and wear them with pride. The journey to earn this was pretty savage, and I’ll like you to be a part of this! Hence, sharing a page from my memoir.

It was the dawn of the year 2020 when I promised myself to come out of the University with a Mass Communication and Journalism degree in one hand and a placement in other. Things started turning upside down when the covid wave came along and washed away all the aspirations I had of starting my career in a corporate world. Later that year, after graduating, I started freelancing.

Little did I know that the universe had something else up in its sleeves.  On 1st Feb, I started my journey at Epoch, and it’s already a year now! I’ll need pinches from myself to believe so. When I stepped out of my comfort zone, came to a new city, I met amazing people, especially women, who inspired me in the most unusual ways. It is my sheer luck and fortune that I landed in Epoch right after college. The journey of amazement and learning didn’t stop for me, I would say.

How often does it happen that a CEO of an organization holds your hand, mentors you, and walks you through your journey? Well, happened to me and to all those who started anew! Here, at Epoch, I saw myself under the guidance of domain experts. From each one of them, I learnt something, both applicable in personal and professional lives. My team pushed me one notch beyond my threshold, surprisingly that brought different colours to my work. To date, I am told to be the owner of not only my projects, but also my decisions, successes, and failures. I am learning.

Epoch has played a vast role in shaping me into Sneha 2.0. If you know me and don’t believe, let’s go out for a cup of coffee! A confident and radiant Sneha, you’ll see.

Epoch homes abode elderly those who need dementia care and assisted daily living support. When I started, I was briefed about dementia but the understanding of the daily life of a senior 75+, came to me when I was in their presence. Recently through one of the Epoch webinars, I heard a doctor/geriatrician say, and I quote, “there’s a person still behind the dementia patient”, and this made me realize how naïve are we to not notice this in our elderly loved ones!

Amidst the pandemic, there were fewer interactions with our elderly residents, regarding their own safety. But whenever I got the chance, covered in PPE kit, I would jump to know each one of them. With some I sang era old songs, with some I recited poems of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Dinkar, Nirala, with some I learnt the concept of perspective, with some I learnt fashion, some taught me to live life with a bang, and that’s what I am doing!

Epoch in a way turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I would like to stop the roller coaster of my emotions here by simply being grateful. One day, when I close my eyes, I would love the memories with Epoch to roll in the cassette of my life. 

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To Epoch, a cassette of my life

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I want to share my unique professional journey with you. Personally, I have been someone who is always up for trying new things.

In August 2014, after completing my training as a General Duty Assistant, I got placed at Epoch Elder Care as a care attendant.  Even though I had prior care training, being a care attendant in an assisted living home was new for me and there was much to learn, especially about dementia care. At Epoch, everyone is encouraged to ask questions whenever they do not understand, your colleagues and seniors will answer them patiently and help you understand your issues. I realised how tough life can be with dementia and at Epoch I was able to increase the quality of life of elders with dementia and this was very satisfactory for me. 

Given my inclination to try new roles, back in 2018, I was chosen for the role of Admin Assistant which was a huge change for me professionally as I was moving from  care to an administrative role. With much support of senior colleagues, I was able to manage this role with confidence. Here I learnt new skills like vendor management, maintenance planning, and working with multiple departments. Being an ex-care attendant, I was able to understand the importance of this role where I had to ensure the upkeep of Epoch homes and how crucial it was for our care attendants to take care of our residents. Iss dauran maine apni life ko bahut hadd tak personally, professionally and financially grow bhi kiya hai (During this time, I was able to grow personally, professionally and financially). 

Then in January 2020, I saw an opportunity to move to a new role within Epoch as a Human Resource (HR) assistant and I confidently took the leap. Given my prior experience as a care attendant, I was quickly able to connect to prospective candidates for Care Attendant role and understand who could be a good fit at Epoch, and I learnt the aspect of people management. Ab dedication and guidance of my manager and colleagues ke sath grow kar raha hun or hope aage bhi yun hi grow karta rahunga. (With the dedication and guidance of my manager and colleagues, I am learning & growing  ,and will continue doing so!)

Thanks to Epoch, I have been able to understand this industry well and grow myself professionally in many different perspectives by gaining many new skills.

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Trying new roles and gaining new skills at Epoch

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I want to share my journey so far with Epoch Elder Care. I started my journey as a care attendant with Epoch’s Monet house at Pune location on 15th May 2016 and sab kuch naya tha mere liye (everything was new to me). It was a great year well spent at Monet house; and bohot kuch sikhne ko mila (great learnings came along). Under the guidance of our Facility Managers and Facility Nurses and other care attendants, I was properly trained to look after our residents. Epoch work culture bohot welcoming and unique tha mere liye (Epoch culture was welcoming and unique for me) - where the team was great & they treated me like a family member. Not only this, the relationship and bond I developed with residents was an amazing feeling. The concept of dementia and its management was something jo mujhe dhire dhire samajh aya. (The concept of dementia and its management was something I learned over a period of time).

After the completion of one year, the management decided to transfer me to Epoch’s other home (Vermeer House) in Gurugram. I was happy with the decision for two reasons. Firstly, my learning was about to expand and secondly, my hometown was nearby. After working as a care attendant for a year and a half at the Vermeer House, the management decided to promote me to the role of Head Care Attendant. Finally, my dedication & honesty paid off. My responsibilities increased and I had to oversee all errands related to our residents, other care team members, and the house overall, which I enjoyed throughout.

Then again on 1st May 2019, I was offered a role change based on my skills and eagerness to work. This time the management decided to offer me the role of Admin Assistant, which I accepted confidently. It was challenging at first, but with the constant guidance of the then corporate team, I managed with quite ease.

Epoch has not only helped me professionally but also personally. It is here that I met Sarita (Care Attendant at Vermeer House), married her and started another chapter of my life. She is always there to support & motivate me. 

During the outbreak of COVID-19, around Feb 2020, I was handed over the role & responsibilities of an Office Assistant in the new Vermeer house at Gurgaon. Covid ke first wave me hume bohot kuch naya experience karne ko and samajhne ko mila. Ye time humare liye bohot difficult tha but hum sabne milkar Epoch and ek doosre ko sambhala. (New learnings came along whilst managing and experiencing the first wave of coronavirus. It was a difficult time, but we managed to pull through). I was presented with the COVID warrior award. Epoch ke saath ab itne memories jud gaye hain ki yahan har koi apna sa lagta hai. 

Epoch me hamesha kuch na kuch naya sikhne ko and samajhne ko milta hi hai and mere liye bohot unique experience banta raha hai.

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My journey of multiple roles at Epoch

In the same way, we at Epoch Elder Care ensure that our residents engage in meaningful activities which add value to their lives. I started my career at Epoch as a Facility Nurse and learned the importance of such activities as I grew with the organization. During this journey...

Caring by engaging

Saju Thomas , Facility Manager, Monet House

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