Why Quality of Life Training is a Must for Direct Care Workforce

Posted by Pam Brandon on May 7, 2021 2:00:01 PM

Millions of older adults and people living with disabilities rely on the direct care workforce, and the numbers are growing at an enormous rate every single day.  Sadly, we have undervalued the importance of the direct care workforce and ill prepared the critical need to provide  quality of life and quality of care training.  It's time to change the paradigm.

Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Training, Dementia Live, Aging Service Provider, Quality of Life Training, aging, dementia training, older adults, Workforce, Direct Care Workforce Training, REVEAL Aging, staff

How Can We Better Support and Educate Family Caregivers?

Posted by Pam Brandon on Apr 14, 2021 11:10:17 AM

Family CaregiversAccording to estimates from the National Alliance for Caregiving, during the past year, 65.7 million Americans (or 29 percent of the adult U.S. adult population involving 31 percent of all U.S. households) served as family caregivers for an ill or disabled relative.   That is 65.7 million family caregivers who are desperately needing education, training, support and help with finding available resources.  We must do a better job as these numbers are increasing drastically with our aging population.

Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, aging services, Family Caregiver, Training, Family, Caregiver, caregivers, Aging Service Provider, caregiving, family caregivers, parents, aging, families, REVEAL Aging, staff, workforce training, home health

COVID Recovery: Developing the Next Generation Aging Services Workforce

Posted by Julie Boggess on Dec 7, 2020 10:29:13 AM
COVID recovery: Building the next generation of aging services professionals.
Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, aging services, Training, aging, Workforce, AGE-u-cate Training, staff, COVID, aging services workforce, education and training, Covid recovery

Quality of Life in Nursing Homes—What Matters Most?

Posted by Ann Catlin on Nov 8, 2019 4:26:41 PM
Individual preferences determine if one feels they have a high or low quality of life.
Read More

Topics: Senior Care Professionals, Family, Stress, Person centered care, staff, Nursing homes

Ten Reasons Why Touch Matters in Nursing Homes

Posted by Ann Catlin on Jul 11, 2019 10:00:22 AM
Comforting a nursing home resident with a compassionate touch.
Read More

Topics: Senior Care Professionals, care staff, compassionate touch, staff, Skilled Touch

Creating a Sustainable Culture of Compassion

Posted by Pam Brandon on Oct 26, 2018 10:00:15 AM

I have to be direct in asking - isn't this every elder care community's goal?  After all, we should be in the compassion business, and sustainability is the hot topic today.  Creating a sustainable culture of compassion - makes sense right?

Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, The Family Caregiver, Senior Care Professionals, compassionate touch, leadership, Hospital Professionals, Compassion, eldercare, elder care, sustainability, staff

Keep it Simple and Engage - Tips for Effective Dementia Training

Posted by Pam Brandon on Sep 28, 2018 11:54:11 AM

High staff turnover in long-term care is certainly not a recent phenomenon.  Going back to the 1970s studies pointed to average turnover rates for registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) ranging between 55% - 75%.  With growing demands for these professions as our aging population explodes, many providers are reporting upwards of 100% turnover.  Many factors need to be addressed - one being how we are preparing this workforce to work with the growing numbers of older adults with dementia? Leaders have many options for dementia training.  What do we hear most often?  Keep it simple and engage the learner!

Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Training, dementia, leadership, Hospital Professionals, Employees, turnover, dementia training, Workforce, staff

Unravelling the Mysteries of Challenging Behavior

Posted by Pam Brandon on Mar 6, 2018 6:10:02 AM

Challenging behavior is a catch-all term that, in the context of dementia, includes one or combinations of things like shouting, wandering, biting, throwing things, repetitive talking repetitive movements, destroying personal possessions and other objects without regard for whom it belongs, agitation and general anger, physical  or verbal attacks on others, waking others at night, making sexually inappropriate comments, disrobing inappropriately, and urinating or defecating in undesirable locations. This is not an all-inclusive list and I am sure you can think of many more examples that fit under the umbrella term of challenging behavior.

Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, The Family Caregiver, Senior Care Professionals, dementia, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, Hospital Professionals, behaviors, Person centered care, Behavioral Expression, staff, Challenging Behaviors

Why Competency-Based Training Improves Dementia Care

Posted by Pam Brandon on Feb 20, 2018 12:50:14 PM

There is an urgent need to equip caregivers to better respond to and care for persons living with dementia.  Traditional training models have focused on the number of classroom hours an individual must spend in training, assuming that a person who completes the required training hours is ready to work successfully with people living with dementia.  The shift to competency-based training improves dementia care by focusing on mastery of tasks and tools that are learned.

Read More

Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, care staff, dementia, caregivers, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, leadership, Hospital Professionals, dementia training, staff

Creating a Dementia Friendly Bank - Looking Through a New Lens

Posted by Pam Brandon on Oct 17, 2017 11:25:14 AM

As bankers and financial advisors we must develop systems, policies and facilities that meet the every changing needs of people living with dementia, allowing independence to access and manage their money without fear of financial abuse.  Creating a dementia friendly bank will require training, education - and looking at their world through a different lens.

Read More

Topics: Senior Care Professionals, Training, dementia, dementia friendly, money, staff

Subscribe to Our Blog

Lists by Topic

see all

Posts by Topic

See all

Recent Posts