ASA - American Society on Aging

We are no longer accepting applications for this award.

2005 Awards Programs
Recognizing Excellence in the Field of Aging

Award Winners

Each year ASA, in collaboration with the Brookdale Center on Aging of Hunter College, presents an award to one or more organizations or agencies conducting exemplary activities in staff recruitment, training or management.

2005 ASA BEST PRACTICES IN HUMAN RESOURCES AND AGING AWARD

Growing Strong Roots: Peer Mentoring of CNAs to Enhance Retention and Care

Albany, NY

The FLTC created "Growing Strong Roots: Peer Mentoring of CNAs to Enhance Retention and Care,” to assist long term care providers who are dealing with the estimated 71 percent national turnover rate for certified nurse aides (CNAs) and to enhance the quality of care new CNAs provide. With permission, it used selected elements of existing peer mentoring programs, revised them, and added new components including administrator training, supervisor training, booster sessions, newsletters and a multi-site evaluation. It has a strong focus on helping the new CNA become part of the “culture of caring” within each facility and helping the new CNA feel part of the facility.

By using the "Growing Strong Roots" system, elder care providers can:

Work with a facility team to create the management underpinnings for a successful peer mentoring program;
Implement this program and related trainings;
Reduce the turnover rate of new CNAs;
Assess this program in terms of CNA satisfaction; and,
Sustain the project in the facility over time.

"Growing Strong Roots" was evaluated in 11 diverse nursing homes. Research shows that, in the aggregate, nursing homes using the system increased their new CNA retention rates by 25 percent. A similar group of nursing homes not participating in the study showed an increase of only 10 percent. All nursing homes participating the in project improved their retention rates, some by as much as 41 percent.

“We call this project a peer mentoring system because it contains all the materials needed to start and maintain a program,” said Carol R. Hegeman, director of research for the Foundation for Long Term Care. It includes three comprehensive manuals and a CD-ROM supplying providers with all of the tools necessary to reduce turnover rates. The CD ROM includes all PowerPoint and overhead presentations, all handouts and all communications needed to develop, sustain and evaluate the project. ” The “Growing Strong Roots” peer mentoring training system, including all three volumes and the CD-ROM, is available for $175, including shipping and handling.

The FLTC also offers a comprehensive training package, which includes the training materials, a professional trainer to conduct all training sessions at an individual nursing home site and a four-hour preparation session for the project management team done either onsite or by telephone conference call. Contact Carol Hegeman (518-449-7873; chegeman@nyahsa.org ) for more details on this training or on the content of the manuals. For questions regarding the ordering of the manual, please contact Sandy . Kelley, 518-449-7873, skelley@nyahsa.org.

Funding to develop, implement, and evaluate this project was provided by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation from 2001- 2004

The Foundation for Long Term Care is a 501© 3, not-for-profit research entity affiliated with the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging with a mission to improve by research and education the way care for an aging society is delivered. More information on this and other FLTC recent products and research activities can be found at www.nyahsa/fltc .

Honorable Mention

The Caring Spirit

Atlanta, GA

"The Caring Spirit” is a unique training program that focuses on improving retention, job satisfaction and care of elders, by helping all professionals who care for elders recognize the spiritual aspects of their work. By infusing spiritual ethics and values into the training, professionals have the opportunity to experience themselves and their work in positive ways, acknowledging the connection between spirituality and caring.

“The Caring Spirit” teaches a different approach to coping with the challenges and stresses that accompany caring for elders. It emphasizes the importance of a mutual respect and cooperation between supervisors, administrators, direct care workers and elders. It encourages a compassionate atmosphere that supports diversity, the recognition of staff's different skill sets and talents, with the goal of creating a true “culture that cares.”

“The Caring Spirit” program fills a gap in the area of training, the “spiritual side” of work. Helping staff focus on their own spirits and the spirits of the residents helps to define their work differently. They are better able to view their work as valuable, sacred work and can more effectively see how they are contributing to helping elders feel valued as well.

“The Caring Spirit” training program identifies spirituality by including the following:

the recognition of how religion and culture impacts spirituality
how each individual personally connects to his/her spirit and soul
the recognition of how elders connect to their spiritual sides
the importance of adhering to the spiritual values of integrity, compassion, kindness, honesty in the workplace

“The Caring Spirit” has ten training modules for staff, each designed to be an hour and a half in length, and can be shortened to an hour. They are interactive and engaging and provide participants numerous opportunities to learn from one another and to develop new ways of valuing their work and themselves. There are handouts for each module along with a preface teaching guide. Lastly, there are quantitative and qualitative evaluations. The quantitative evaluations include a job satisfaction scale, morale scale and scale that evaluates how elders are perceived by staff. The qualitative evaluations are a short set of questions that cover the material in each module.

The content for each module covers a range of important issues and topics that offer new approaches to helping staff care for elders and that addresses the many challenges in the workplace. The training also provides a powerful backdrop to all other training because “The Caring Spirit” philosophy can be easily worked into any training program.

The training was first piloted at the William Breman Jewish Home in Atlanta, Georgia in 2001 with pre-post testing demonstrating positive results. Since then, “The Caring Spirit” has been conducted in a variety of long-term care settings such as, assisted living, nursing homes, hospices and home health agencies. This is a program that can be retrofitted to any group of professionals that work with elders. There is a train the trainer program available through the author. Plus, a book entitled, “The Caring Spirit Approach to Eldercare; A Training Guide for Professionals and Families” will be available March 2005 through either the author or the publisher, Health Professions Press.

“The Caring Spirit” training program can positively change the way professionals experience their work, work with one another and work with the elders with whom they care.

This program exemplifies the true spirit of ethical compassionate caring and provides the building blocks to accomplishing a culture that cares!