Welcome to the first of what will be many brief articles featuring talks with leading long-term care providers on the issues of the day for frontline staff. Frontline Tips: a brief guide to help you succeed.

It starts with mission at Vetter Senior Living: Dignity in Life. Those three words guide the organization from top to bottom, and for the purpose of this inaugural “Frontline Tips,” helps maintain order over what can be social media madness for skilled nursing and long-term care communities.  

The basics we cover here are how do facilities educate frontline staff on the accepted standards for taking photos of residents and/or sharing any of a resident’s life for a broader audience, including on social media.

Karl Bieber, senior director for marketing, communications and sales at Vetter Health Services and Vetter Senior Living, spoke to Park Place Live on the strict rules the company maintains to protest the privacy and yes, the dignity of its residents.

“The simple rule is that nobody can take pictures in the buildings,” he said. However, staff who are designated by the administrator and who have gone through training can on occasion take photos to showcase the great care Vetter provides, Bieber noted.

“The instruction on the taking of photos in the buildings is not a one off. It is not just one thing you mention during orientation, but instead is something we revisit periodically.”

Good Photo vs. Bad Photo

Bieber personally oversees all of Vetter’s social media and during visits to speak to staff at all-team meetings, he will remind them of what represents a good photo and what does not when an approved staff member or administrator snaps a photo.

“Are these snapshots your grandmother would not like to see? It’s interesting, it comes down to the mindset really. We’ve become so relaxed in the outside world about taking pictures and videos of everything on our phones, then sorting out what we took later on, that people just do it naturally,” he said.

But, Bieber tells staff, they are not just at work when in a Vetter building, they are in someone’s home and have to think about what they would want, how they would be portrayed, and not think about taking a picture and sharing it with the world.

“You can have written policies all you want, but if leadership is not modeling the expectations for staff, then you can really get into trouble,” he said.

As for written policies, Bieber said Vetter presents each new resident and their family a photo release form during the admission process, which residents can opt out of.

What About Phones in General?

On the question of whether frontline staff can carry phones with them, the answer is yes, but they are not allowed to have the phones out in patient care areas, like in rooms, spa spaces, or nursing stations. “If you have to use it, you have to find a private [non-resident] area and the use of the camera is not allowed,” Bieber said.

Even the pre-approved and monitored photos taken in a building require close attention. He relates how something innocent, like two team members taking a selfie of each other on a special occasion can be troublesome. Personal information of residents or care plans are often in plain view in nurse stations and if captured in the view of a camera are potential violations of HIPPA laws and privacy rules.

“The rule of thumb I use is that our founders, Jack and Eldora [Vetter], who are in their 90s and live our dignity in life mantra; if you have to wonder about a photo, ask yourself if you would put that picture in front of them, or a resident’s family,” Bieber said.

Questions or comments? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.