How To Ensure Sustainability And Compliance In Assisted Living Facilities

Modern assisted living should be sustainable by being more eco-friendly and should also be compliant with applicable laws and regulations where it operates. As the population ages and the demand for assisted living increases, now’s a good time to ensure that vulnerable people get the necessary support and care to improve their quality of life. This article lists best practices to ensure sustainability and compliance in assisted living facilities:

Develop A Sustainability Plan

A workable sustainability development plan is an ideal incentive for acting on assisted living's environmental, social, and economic goals. It informs on the expected assisted living basics and addresses the hows and whys of ensuring sustainability and compliance in assisted living facilities. It also boldly states the purpose of implementing projects to achieve this primary aim. The plan should include various workable and purpose-driven sustainability goals, as outlined below: 

• Reducing energy usage: Your sustainability plan should include action steps for ensuring energy efficiency in assisted living facilities. That includes maintaining and replacing electronic systems that excessively use up energy and using more green energy like solar power.  
• Minimizing water consumption: It helps to cut down on water consumption for sustainable living, including installing low-flow plumbing fixtures, regulating water pressure, and insulating piping.   
• Cutting down waste production: Waste reduction is part of promoting social responsibility in buildings, and it helps to have workable ways to cut it down. It may include setting and communicating waste management goals to stakeholders.  
• Promoting social responsibility: Everyone in assisted living has social values to uphold and a commitment toward sustainable living. Forums, discussions, and in-house seminars can help promote social responsibility among all stakeholders in assisted living buildings.   

It’s also ideal to ensure that every involved stakeholder in assisted living buildings complies with all sustainability laws and regulations as part of developing an actionable sustainability plan.   

Offer Staff Training On Sustainability And Compliance  

Your organization should also strive to comply with sustainability and laws regulating essential practices, for which you should conduct staff training. Suppose your organization works with healthcare providers and hospitals to cater to the needs of people under support and care. In that case, ensuring they receive the necessary training and acquaintance would be prudent.   

You can work with firms that ensure compliance and won’t have to do it alone. For example, hiring Techumen or other consulting firms to ensure compliance with privacy laws like HIPAA, building safety codes, and labor laws can be thoughtful. Moreover, you can outsource services from firms that offer staff training to equip everyone involved with the skills and knowledge on practices that ensure sustainability.   

Conduct Regular Audits  

Regular audits offer insight into the progress toward achieving your sustainability and compliance goals in assisted living buildings. It helps to review and evaluate the building’s performance and check whether it complies with environmental sustainability and various laws and regulations. 

Try defining the scope of the audit and the objectives of conducting it, and ensure that they comply with the missions and goals of the facilities. Your sustainability and compliance audit should also state clear performance indicators and determine whether or not your facilities satisfy them. You should also collect essential data, including energy bills, maintenance logs, recently implemented medical technologies, waste management reports, water consumption records, and regulatory compliance reports. 

This information will be handy in your audit to determine progress toward achieving your sustainability and compliance goals. 

Engage Residents  

Residents within your assisted living facilities are the primary stakeholders, and it helps to engage them in dialogue. Ensure they’re well onboard and understand your facilities’ sustainability and compliance goals. More importantly, educate them on sustainability's practicality and the best green living practices. It’ll also be helpful if you also acquaint them with the importance of being more complicated with various rules and regulations for simpler sailing. 

Collaborate With Industry Stakeholders   

Industry stakeholders include investors and regulatory bodies that influence and spearhead progress, measure activities, and contribute to assisted living facility management practices. It helps to involve them in critical decision-making processes about the sustainability and compliance practices your facility should conform to. Industry stakeholders who are financially invested in your assisted living facilities can support you to ensure sustainability and compliance.

Conclusion   

As assisted living becomes more modern and contemporary, incorporating sustainability practices can go a long way. Moreover, ensuring facilities comply with various laws and regulations influencing activities and progress can make assisted living practices more frictionless by avoiding going against them. Being more sustainable and compliant should be your assisted living organization’s primary aim for a healthier, safe, and supportive environment.