Health care organization structure and management

Healthcare

The Pilgrims Must Embark addresses specific issues associated with treating persons with AIDS (PWA). The film exhibits the importance of cultural sensitivity and communications in nursing. "Many hospitals are ill equipped to care for the chronically ill, and nursing homes are reluctant to admit PWA," (Adelman & Frey, n.d., p. 4). Creating an independent but assisted living community became the central challenge, focus, and goal of the Bonaventure House. The staff helps develop a family experience for the residents, bringing people together not just in the same physical space but also emotional and spiritual space. There is a common ground between the PWA residents at Bonaventure House, and the enormous diversity of age, gender, background, lifestyle, and ethnicity become sources of strength. Herein lies the secrets to how Bonaventure House model. Similar communications-related issues are at play at the La Communidad Habla (LCH), described in "Bridging the Health and Digital Divide in a Low-Income Latino/a Immigrant Community." The goal is to enhance communications at all levels of the organization.

When sustaining community relations, it is important to acknowledge the tensions that naturally exist when living in a group setting. There is a struggle between autonomy and privacy vs. collectivity, community events, and being in public. The residents also struggle with giving up a sense of personal possessiveness. Communication is crucial throughout the process of daily life, such as by communicating the rules of daily life. Rules are necessary, but rules can also constrain behavior. Duties are important in a collective environment, and some residents might use the disease as an excuse to not participate in the collective duties. The Bonaventure House elucidates the varied ways residents can communicate with each other and with staff to ensure a harmonious group living.

Socializing community members is a similar process. It takes patience, tolerance, and creativity to sustain community relations, socialize members who are from diverse backgrounds, and ease the tensions that inevitably arise. Group dynamics become smoother when the residents are empowered. I have worked in community living facilities that are both similar and different from the Bonaventure House. Like the Bonaventure House, the communities I have experienced promoted a strong structure, including religious groups. These religious meetings tended to provide a social as well as spiritual component. As the Bonaventure House experience reveals, the most significant challenge for residents is privacy. Residents need to understand how they can personally forge a private space within the community house. They need to be told what their roles are, so that they can carve out personal space. Communication is essential in this process, because people need directness and honesty. Otherwise, passive-aggressive behaviors start to emerge.