Frontline Initiative author LeAnn Bieber talks about how using tools such as a Health Care Person-Centered Profile and a one-page description can make a positive difference in how a medical appointment can go for everyone.

Read LeAnn's story: The Key to Successful Health Care Appointments through One-page Descriptions

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Frontline Initiative

Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota

National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP)

- Hi, my name is Chet Cheddar,

and I'll be your host for a closer look

where we'll explore the most current

and relevant topics covered

in Frontline Initiative,

which is a magazine produced

by the National Alliance

for Direct Support

Professionals in partnership

with the University of

Minnesota's Institute on

Community Integration.

If you're wondering what

Frontline Initiative is all about,

it's about the work that direct

support professionals do on

a day-to-Day basis as they

support people with intellectual

and developmental disabilities.

I'll be talking to authors

and taking a closer look

at current practices,

tools, and resources.

So buckle up and let's hear

what the authors have to say.

Today I am gonna be

talking to Leanne Bieber,

who wrote an article called The Key

to Successful Healthcare Appointments

through One Page Descriptions.

It was published in frontline

initiatives issue called

Direct Support Professionals Supporting

People's Health and Wellness.

Leanne's gonna talk about how tools such

as a healthcare person-centered profile,

and a one-page description can

make a medical appointment go

better for everybody.

So let's get started Today my

guest is Leanne Bieber from

Byron Minnesota.

We asked her to write

an article for Frontline

because of her experience

as a person-centered planning instructor,

who's also used the

COVID-19 Health Passport

with her own daughter Melissa.

Welcome, Leanne.

We're so happy to have you here today

for our very first podcast.

- Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

- Can you tell us a

little bit about yourself?

- I, like you said, I

have a daughter, Melissa,

who's 24 years old and has been

labeled with Down Syndrome.

She's my pride and joy.

She lives with us at home

and really that's, that's my

main job, is taking care of her

and, and helping her to

be all she wants to be.

I also am a person-centered

thinking trainer and planner,

and work with a lot of

person-centered processes

to help people better their lives or,

or get their communication

to other people,

what they're looking for.

I do a lot of my work through

my job at Olmsted County

and then work with providers

on a regular basis to see what

we can do to help the people

that they're supporting

help them as an agency

to support better

and just really get the

word out there about

person-centered practices.

- That sounds great. Leanne,

can you tell us about

the tools in the article

that you wrote and why they're so helpful

for everyone involved in

a medical appointment?

We know that medical appointments

can be extremely anxiety

driven and difficult for many people,

but why is it so important

for like your daughter

and others who might

need that extra support?

- Absolutely. First impressions

are always so important

with anybody and anywhere you are

the first impression that you give.

And many times when someone has a label

or a a diagnosis of some

sort, that is the first thing

that people hear about somebody,

and it really gives that

whole medical version of who

that person is, where you're missing,

who the person really is,

and you're missing really how a person

wants to be supported.

The one page description is a

great way to help get someone,

the informa, give someone the information

that they're looking for

to start that small talk

in any situation.

So for instance, a doctor wants

to make a person feel more

comfortable as they start talking

with them so that they

can get the information

that they need as quickly as

possible and move forward.

When you have somebody's gifts, strengths

and talents on there,

or what someone likes

what they do on a regular

basis, that's on a quick

two minute read, that

doctor has the ability

to start those conversations right away.

They, they know a little

bit about the person.

It's also a visual, so it helps people

to remember these things.

So down the road, when Melissa's in

for her next appointment,

the doctor's going

to remember those conversations even more

after all the people that they see it.

It helps 'em to really pull that out more.

Melissa's one page description

has her picture on it

and her smile is infectious,

and I could say it as mom,

but I've heard it so many times

that she has such an in infectious smile.

So that tool itself gives people

a very positive outlook the

minute they look at her face

and the minute they, they

start to read all of that,

and then the section

that talks about how best

to support her really gives

that more information of,

of the why, why does she

need the extra support,

and then how do you do it and,

and how do you work through it.

So because of those things,

that tool is one of my favorites.

It just really helps to, to

get good conversations started

and those critical

conversations that are needed.

- It sounds to me like it's

really a win-win situation

for the person who's going to the doctor,

but also for the doctor

or the health professional to

have a better understanding

of, you know, who they're

gonna be supporting,

who they're gonna be serving

and providing that expertise.

- Yes, and you think about

it, you can send this

to a doctor in an email

through a portal, through

however, so they can re

receive it ahead of time.

And again, looking at that

face is gonna put a smile on

their face and maybe hopefully

start their day in a very

positive outlook as well,

and then they're going to be

ready for that appointment.

Very important. In our training,

we do talk about a scenario

where someone had two

appointments in the same day

and sent a one page

description to both of them.

One had a chance to read it

and the other did not, where

the other, the one appointment

where they did not get

a chance to read it,

they ended up having to

reschedule the appointment

because it just didn't go

well, it wasn't successful

and the person really struggled.

So thinking about having

to reschedule appointments

that are hard to get

into in the first place

versus having a successful,

successful appointment

that sets everybody up

for a really good day

and for great treatment

options to go forward.

- Yeah. The other thing I was

thinking about, Leanne, was

how great it is a, it's

great for everybody,

but especially for people

who maybe don't use

words language, ver vocal

language to be able to interact

with the physician, that

it gives some conversation,

it gives them the physicians

something to talk about

because they know what that

individual is interested in.

What do you think about that?

- Yeah, I agree. It, it definitely does.

It gives a, I don't always

like the word empowerment,

but really an empowerment to that person.

If, when you look at Melissa's

one page description,

one thing that's in there is

that it says that she likes

to be independent, and it's hard for her

to be independent when

she does not use words

to speak when she relies

on me in a lot of ways.

So when a doctor can say, Melissa,

I I see you love the show Heartland,

and you love, love horses,

Melissa will get a smile on her face

and it will be something

that will help her

to at least be a little

more intently listening so

that she can be involved

in the conversation.

She may not give her,

give a lot of information,

but it does give her that

ability to be involved

and be as independent as

she can in that moment.

- Right. And I would think

that it also is just gonna

make her feel more comfortable

because that physician like took the time

and is interested in her

as a person, like really

sees who she is.

The other thing that I, I

learned from Melissa's one page

description was when you wrote about

if you think something's

gonna take a certain amount

of time, it's gonna take longer than that.

So give that space

and know that if you interrupt that time,

it starts again at zero.

How insightful for anybody

to have that information.

- Right. And, and honestly, a

lot of people need that space.

They need that time,

and not just necessarily

somebody with a disability,

but many people process in that way.

So being able to tell somebody that in,

in this way we're talking

about a medical doctor

or a dentist

or something like that,

I use these one page page

descriptions at work as

well for supervisors to have

that same ability to

know, you know, this is

how you best support the person,

and they need some time

to figure some things out

to move forward with the conversation.

So knowing that you can, that the little

pause is something that's very

helpful for someone to help

with that processing.

- Yeah, I, I love that you

brought up that it's a tool

that can be used at work as well and,

and really at home really in

so many different places in your life.

And how cool if DSPs as, as a group

of staff members we're able to do

a one page description for themselves

and then that share that with each other.

You would just learn so much,

so much about your coworkers

and how to, to better support them,

and they can better

understand you as well.

- Yeah. Melissa has a

few different respite

individuals that are in her life,

and one had started supporting her one day

and had taken her to Dairy

Queen, and she called me

and I hadn't had the opportunity to,

to share Melissa's one

page description, which

that was really on me.

I needed to, to get that

information to her right away.

But anyway, she called me at Dairy Queen

and she says, you know, we,

she was in such a great mood,

we were doing really well.

We got her ice cream,

and all of a sudden she got

very frustrated and upset and a

and just, now I, I can't seem

to figure out what to do.

And I, I asked her right away, I said,

are there any children around?

And she says, well, yeah,

as a matter of fact,

a birthday party just walked in the door

and young children running around and,

and causing, you know, they

were laughing and giggling

and having fun, but for some reason

that's a trigger for Melissa.

So I was able to tell her

that is that, you know, I,

I do have this one page

description to share with you.

This is a trigger.

They moved out on the deck

at the Dairy Queen and,

and it was, they had a,

a good time after that.

So again, another place where

that one page description would've been

so helpful for her right away.

- Right, right.

Are there any other

tools that are available

besides a one page description?

- There are many tools

that are available within

person-centered processes,

like a what's working

not, which gets into a lot

of different perspectives

and how you can really

determine conflicts like

where someone like maybe

A DSP is in conflict

with someone they're supporting,

but you can't figure out why

when it's really as simple

as this person D doesn't like

the way something's been done,

and the DSP has always done it that way.

Or maybe it's that a, a family

member does something one way

and A DSP does it differently

and that person is struggling

with the two differences.

So that's another great tool

to really look at conflict resolution.

It also is a really great

way to pull out goals.

So doing some goal setting

to where people want

to go go next with something.

That's one. There are so

many examples of, that's one

of the more popular ones,

but Melissa also has a

communication chart that she uses

because she doesn't

use many words to speak

or chooses when she uses those words.

Being able to understand those things,

like when there's a child running around

and she's getting upset

in somewhere, we have

that down on a chart that really

looks at her communication

and then what she wants us

to do when these things are happening.

Again, I could go on and on, but rituals

and routines is another one.

We all have different routines

and rituals that we do in our lives

and being able to write down

what those rule routines are,

so, so people understand

that, you know, I'm used

to showering in the morning,

but now you're having me shower at night

and I'm really struggling with this.

Or maybe I really like the

change, you know, I used

to shower in the morning, but

I like showering at night.

It really calms me during the day.

So really understanding differences, a lot

of tools in that respect.

There is also things,

something called charting the Life course

that really co charts a vision

to where somebody wants to go

with their life and then

how people can help keep someone

on track with that vision.

Many, many other things that are out there

that we use on a regular basis.

- Sounds like there

are a lot of good tools

that can really help.

One of the things you

said was planning for

what, what and how Melissa

wants you to interact

or to handle situations

I think was so important

and in such a key component

of a one page description

and what does the person want,

what's gonna be best for them?

It's so individualized,

so I would just like DSPs

to remember, you know,

one size does not fit all.

Everybody's different in, in

how they're gonna respond and,

and what, how they wanna be supported.

- Absolutely. Another thing

that is real important

is sometimes you can use

all these tools.

They're real quick and easy.

You don't even need a

piece of paper to use them.

Sometimes you need a

little more formal process

where you are writing down that

what's working, not working,

or a communication chart or whatever.

When you have that more formal

process, that is something

that there are facilitators

that will do that for a group.

Many times. Having that

unbiased person come in

and be able to really

gather all the information

and help the person to

really tell their story

really helps somebody to

get down a, a good vision of

where they want to go so that it is a,

that is an opportunity for people

with disabilities at

least to, you know, if,

if you want a person-centered plan,

there are people within Minnesota

that will do that for you.

- Where would you find something like that

or someone like that?

- A start would be to

contact the Department

of Human Services.

If you have a case manager,

a case manager can

typically find where those,

that those individuals are

- With there being so many

tools available, Leanne,

and it can definitely be

overwhelming, I think for a DSP

or frontline frontline

supervisor to know kind of

where to start.

What would you suggest they

do to kind of get started

- Reaching out to a person-centered

thinking trainer would

be a really great place to start.

If they're not a facilitator,

they can find a facilitator in

that area to find a

person-centered Thinking trainer.

You could go to the learning community.

They have a website that works

on person-centered practices,

and that website is tlc pct.org,

and then there's a place

where you can search

trainers in your area.

- Great. Thank you.

Leanne, do you have any

final words of encouragement

or wisdom that you'd

like to share with the,

the listeners about any of the stuff

that we talked about today?

- Well, I wanna thank you

all for, for those of you

that are DSPs and frontline

supervisors, that's a very self,

self selfless job

and we really appreciate your help.

Like I said, my daughter's

at home right now,

but when she's ready

to move on her own, I,

I really appreciate all

the work that you do

and we know it's, it's not always work

that you see people value, but we do.

We value it very, very much

and looking at person-centered

processes is gonna be a

win-win for you as well as

the people that you support.

So looking at those

processes, using the tools

that you can use is only gonna

make your your life a lot easier.

- Thank you, Leanne, for joining me today.

It was a pleasure talking with you

and learning more from you about how

to really implement person-centered

planning and thinking

and different tools

that you shared with us.

I also wanna thank the

listeners for tuning in today.

We appreciate you.

As Leanne said, the work

that you do is so important

and we really appreciate it.

You can find other

episodes of this podcast

and Health Matters for direct support,

another podcast produced by the University

of Minnesota's Institute on

community integration on your

favorite pod podcast streaming service.

Until next time, be kind

to yourself and others.