All posts by Pam Brandon

Senior Care Professionals

Senior Care Staff – Developing Innovators

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senior careThe senior care work force of tomorrow should be at the top of discussion topics for eldercare leaders. Investing in development and retention of great workers, along with competitive wages and benefits is vital.  Many areas of the country are already facing critical shortages in front line staff and this trend will no doubt spread quickly as baby boomers need increasing aging services.

The eldercare sphere offers young workers growth in a dynamic field that will continue to open doors of opportunities for decades ahead.  Beyond that, it’s critically important that the altruisitc side of the “business” provides avenues to provide purpose in our lives.

Creating forward-thinking workers means creating ways for their voices and ideas to be heard;  tools that empower them to grow and flourish as team members in your organization; and lastly to guide them in their path of being the best they can be in the challenging work that they do each and every day.

In his article, The Senior Care Workforce-Raising the Floor of Job Quality, Steven Dawson tell us, “…stakeholders must recalculate their economic self-interest and begin to compete for those workers whom they have heretofore presumed – by making direct care jobs more attractive relative to competing occupations.  This can be achieved through higher pay and benefits, predictable hours, better training and greater support.”

Stop, look and listen to those who carry your business mission out every day;  build teams of idea makers, and recognize the accomplishments and miracles that take place each and every day by those that work and live alongside your residents, patients, clients or customers.

Invest first and leaders will follow.

Senior Care Professionals

Senior Care – Searching for Simplicity

seniorIt’s no wonder that we have an ever growing quest for simplicity.  Not just in our personal lives, but this phrase surrounds many conversations within the business community – especially with those of us in senior care.  There is a  recurring plea from senior care professionals today with regards to education.. keep it simple.  Teach us by showing, because we know that when we learn by doing, we’re going to retain that knowledge.

Why is that teaching those who care for those with dementia often is everything but simple?  Dementia (and other cognitive impairment) in older adults is anything but simple.  A complex web of identifying and managing symptoms is no easy task from any level within the care spectrum.  Yet much of what we teach direct care staff has little to do with these 2 basic needs: Understanding and Empowerment.

“We need tools.  We need solutions to behaviors.  We need simplicity”.  These are words that I hear almost daily as I speak to administrators, memory care directors, marketing staff and clinical professionals.

AGEucate provides such training programs.  We provide the tools to understand the plight of dementia, sensory loss, cognitive impairment.   Once you understand what an aging person’s life is really like, then here is a tool to empower you to provide better care.  To help ease agitation, engage that person with a caregiver or family member.  These programs are not complicated, but extremely powerful.  Evidenced based programs with the clinical research to back up the methodology and outcomes.

Bring back simple to your communities and see what extraordinary changes will take place in the lives of your residents, patients, staff, caregivers and families. We must all consider the far-reaching consequences of complex medicine in our society today.

Pam Brandon, founder AGEucate LLC, providers of the Virtual Dementia Tour and Compassionate Touch programs.

 

Senior Care Professionals

Honoring the Frontline Caregiver

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frontline caregiverOur team was priviledged to have recently been asked to present at the North Dakota Long Term Care Association.  Included in this event was a special one day Frontline Caregiver Conference.  In an industry faced with severe staff shortages, particularly in North Dakota, we certainly applaud the leaders that chose to honor frontline staff with a day to network with other professionals, enjoy some pampering from vendors (massages and mani’s to name a few!) and develop new skills to enhance their very demanding jobs.

After a busy week, it was nice to reflect on the events that took place during the flight back to Texas.  I have deep respect for those who choose the path of caring for elders.  While it can be a rewarding profession, it’s also one of the hardest jobs on the planet.  My heart and soul for the senior care sphere is embedded in years of personal caregiving for my own parents.  I learned quickly how heartwrenching it is to witness a parent’s declining health; to rely on someone else to love and nurture them when you can no longer do it all yourself; and to put one’s own needs aside to give wholly to someone, especially when they are struggling.

Through this, I witnessed multitudes of caregivers who were professionals in their field, having the unexplainable gift of serving, communicating and giving unconditionally.  This takes a special human being.  As a family member, these caregivers were our angels.

To the associations and providers who are stepping up to honor frontline staff, I applaud you and encourge others to add this to your agendas for your next conference, convention or symposium.  For elder care communities, this should be engrained in your culture.  One client we have the honor to work with actually flips the org chart every morning.  Those they serve come first, and guess whose next?  The frontline staff.  THAT is culture change.

The life blood of our industry lies in empowering, training and supporting our frontline staff.  We are privileged to help in this efforts.  We need to all move in the same direction with these core values and committment to changing our culture together.

Honoring our seniors means honoring those who care for them.

 

 

The Family Caregiver

Culture Change – It Runs Deep

Culture ChangeI use the term inside-out a LOT. It just seems to fit many descriptives for me. I also like transformative change. When you look at these together, I believe that so much of what we are doing as educators in the elder care field should be focused on helping organizations bring about inside-out changes that lead to transformation or deep culture change. I love the work being done through such organizations at Pioneer Network, Leading Age, Eden Alternative and so many others that have stepped up to create out of the box initiatives and thinking. It’s not an easy task, but I’m privileged to be a part of this movement and work alongside organizations across the country who are taking bold steps in person-centered care. It’s exciting, challenging, sometimes daunting – but the efforts of just one person can have exponential effects across an organization. Hats off to all of those who are blazing new trails!