A lot of work has been done by the association on your behalf this fall on Workforce.
CNA Curriculum Revision
We convened the first meeting to revise the Kansas CNA Curriculum in November. The meeting was very successful, and the group identified a few policy issues that we can tackle separately to help train more CNAs who would like to work in long-term care. Our next steps are to conduct mini surveys of providers, students, new CNAs and instructors to gain feedback for our work. We are also comparing the state regulations with the federal regulations, so we can all move forward with a common understanding of expectations.
Wage Disparity Report from Kansas Health Institute
Kari Bruffett and team at the Kansas Health Institute recently conducted a study on wage disparity between acute and long-term care. The findings will provide needed data for us to use in our advocacy efforts around workforce. We found that long-term care pays higher wages for LPNs, Dietary staff (including Dieticians) and some therapies. They pay less for RNs and CNAs.
Educational Associate Membership
As we have traveled around the state talking to technical and community colleges, they are interested in becoming part of our association. They want to stay updated on issues facing aging services and connect with our members. To this end, we have created a special sub-category of our Associate Membership program for all educational entities. The cost is very reasonable and it’s a great way to foster relationships in this area. We launched it in mid-November and hope to see a decent return. Here is the flyer for more information. Special thank you to April Henry with the Kansas Board of Regents for helping me get connected with the technical and community colleges!
Satisfaction Survey for All LeadingAge Kansas Member Employees
We have contracted with Puente Marketing out of Kansas City to conduct a staff satisfaction survey across the membership. They will provide an online survey and conduct 3 focus groups across the state. It is our hope that they will be finished and present the findings at our Spring Conference in April. We will be calling on members to help us gain a huge response for more informative data.
Shadow Day for Careers in Aging Services
Shelby Shaw with Pine Village suggested in one of our Workforce Commission Meetings that we should consider having a Shadow Day for students to learn about careers in our field. We thought this was a great idea and will be hosting our first ever Shadow Day on April 11, 2017. The day will kick off with a simulcast from me to all the participating members to welcome them and provide a brief overview of opportunities in aging services. We will launch this in January of 2018 so members can prepare. A toolkit will be provided, and we will make a few videos to increase the hype. Once everything is nailed down, I will provide the toolkit and marketing plan to this group.
TeamSTEPPS Grant Proposal to KDADS
Dr. Monica Scheibmeir, Dean of Nursing at Washburn University and her team have been working with us to develop a proposal to the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services to provide TeamSTEPPS training to nursing homes and long-term care units of hospitals across the state. We will hold three 2-day train-the-trainer workshops and a percentage of attending providers will have the opportunity to get on-site technical assistance with implementation. TeamSTEPPS fosters communication and teamwork in a healthcare environment. Our goal is to utilize this platform to focus on and hopefully reduce the percentage of unnecessary antipsychotic medication prescribed to nursing home residents. Kansas ranks 51st in the country for antipsychotic use. We hope this grant will help providers with their individual percentages and foster an environment to support their current workforce.
8th Class of the Center for Leadership Launched
We are proud to announce that we launched our 8th class of the Center for Leadership, a year-long deep dive into leadership for emerging leaders in our field. We have tweaked our curriculum a bit this year to incorporate leading thorough change and leading in a short-stay culture. Mark Garriott is a graduate and facilitator of this program. We were blessed to have two major donors help us underwrite this program and provide much needed scholarships to individuals. Learn more about the class.
2018 Scholarship Winners Announced
We honored our 2018 LeadingAge Kansas Foundation Scholarship recipients at a special reception at our Fall Conference in October. Learn more about our deserving recipients. Mark Garriott serves as the Chair of our Foundation Board. He is a great servant leader for LeadingAge Kansas!
LeadingAge Kansas Employee Benefits, Inc. (EBI)
Our association-sponsored health plan is coming to fruition and will officially launch in March of 2018. Much work has gone into developing this program and we are thrilled to be nearing launch. This plan will provide affordable healthcare options for our members to offer to their employees. All of the plans are solid, and the rates are excellent. This program is headed up by our President and CEO Debra Zehr. This program definitely supports our workforce efforts for our members.
If you have Workforce questions contact Dana at dana@leadingagekansas.org
