Michael Jackson Had It Right

Michael Jackson turned 50 this year - a milestone many of us have already passed. I admit, I've tended to think of Jackson more as "Wacko Jacko" recently than as someone who changed the world, albeit in his own small sphere.

Maybe because of the milestone birthday, or simply the youngsters' desire to revitalize some of my generation's "oldies," but Michael Jackson's music has become popular again.

Twice this summer I saw dance performances set to his song, "Man in the Mirror," and it's gotten stuck in my head. The message in this Michael Jackson song got it exactly right:

If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.

In my small corner of the world, I'm working hard to make the world a better place for frail, dependent elders. I remind myself often that making the world a better place starts with what I do, every single day.

As a colleague and I were discussing yesterday, if we want to change the world of senior care, we've got to change the way we train the folks who actually deliver the hands' on care.

So today, join me in looking at the person in the mirror and making a decision to change the world.

e-Training Making a Difference in Senior Care

Last week we had a visit from a person who works in a state office on education. He's got a PhD, and specializes in distance education.

I admit it - I was nervous when I began showing him samples of our online courses, both on our website EasyCEU (for licensed nursing home and assisted living administrators, nurses, social workers and other licensed senior care professionals) and on our aQuire Training Solutions website. We showed him samples of all the ways we've built and designed courses to be delivered online.

Our newest course - the one we're most proud of - is the online nursing assistant course. We've just submitted it for approval, and hope to launch it in the state of Oregon within a month or so.

At the end of the presentation we sat back and waited to hear this expert's opinion. We're not distance learning experts, after all (at least we certainly weren't when we began this journey). We're just passionate about training the next generation of individuals who will care for seniors.

We're passionate in a professional way, meaning we've invested millions of hours and dollars into trying to discover the most effective, efficient ways to train new caregivers.

We're passionate in a personal way, too, since we realize that the people receiving the care are our parents, grandparents - one day (in the rapidly approaching future) ourselves.

We believe we're making a difference. We think, maybe a bit too boldly, that our newest nursing assistant course can contribute to a genuine culture change in the way care is provided in the state of Oregon.

There was a moment of silence, and then the expert commented, "I'm tremendously impressed. Your courses are visually interesting, highly interactive and rich in content. You're doing something that absolutely no one else is doing in this area right now. It will make a difference."

It's an incredibly gratifying way to end the week, believing that what you are doing DOES make a difference in senior care today, and will make a difference in the future, too.

It's exciting, too, because we've only just started out on this journey!

Honoring the PROFESSIONAL Caregiver

Yesterday I shared some of my memories on the last time the staffing shortage in senior care was truly a crisis. Looking ahead, the aging of our society – and all of us boomers approaching our senior years – means that the shortage of the early 90’s could be a fond memory of times that really weren’t all that bad.

The other area that, I believe, ties in directly with this issue is our need to elevate the caregiver perception in the eyes of the general public to that of a profession, not just a lowly minimum wage job.

In practical terms this means not only talking about the profession of caregiver in our daily conversations with other professionals, but it also means honoring those individuals with the kinds of perks – and requirements – associated with other professionals.

Training, for example. Physicians have CMEs; nurses, attorneys and teachers have professional continuing education requirements. Many states have continuing education requirements for caregivers, but some of those requirements are so loosely enforced that simply reading a posting and signing that you’ve read it counts. Other states don’t address continuing education at all. Initial caregiver certification varies widely from state to state as well, with many states requiring no certification or licensure at all.

When I talk with owners and operators I often mention the need to offer extra training opportunities for all staff, especially caregivers, to give them the tools to become the best at their profession that they can be.

After all, for the most dedicated among them this is not simply a job, it’s their profession. It’s our duty - and our privilege - to begin to raise the respect for these individuals to a new level.