ProAging Information Network

Order the new edition of Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook for distribution to your clients and staff by calling 1-800-394-9990 ext. 1126 or click here

Read this issues cover story and watch video featuring the Castoro family, click here

From www.everyoneisaging.com  

Elderly people who have been hospitalized have an increased risk of cognitive decline. That’s the finding of U.S. researchers who analyzed data from 1994 through 2007 on 2,929 people, aged 65 and older, who did not have dementia at the start of the study. During an average follow-up of 6.1 years, 1,287 were hospitalized for a non-critical illness and 41 were hospitalized for a critical illness, while 1,601 of the participants were not hospitalized.

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A recent Washington Post article details that growing old in not entirely negative, stating "people well into their 80s going to yoga and Pilates classes, volunteering, having sex and taking college courses."

Read article

Introduction

One day, over a cup of coffee, Diane Doumas and Myron Radio were discussing the challenges of delivering consistent, quality customer service in the senior living industry as a whole.  The issue of recruiting, training, developing and retaining world-class Frontline Caregivers rose to the top of the list.  Diane wondered aloud if it was possible to profile the “gold standard”, top performing caregivers, then use the knowledge gained to help the industry overcome one of their most pressing issues.  In his practice, Myron utilizes a sophisticated method to perform such role profiles.

Diane Doumas is managing partner at Vantage Advisory Group, a leading senior living professional services firm delivering innovative and insightful solutions in today’s transforming senior services markets.  The Vantage team provides a range of advisory services across the senior living continuum including independent and assisted living, dementia care and skilled nursing.

Myron Radio is president of The R Group, LLC, a consortium of experienced executives, business advisors and coaches who specialize in Strategy Execution through Team Development, Change Management and Executive Development initiatives.  Their work in the area of Talent Management How to recruit, train, deploy, develop and retain world-class Frontline Caregivers (FLC).

Together Diane and Myron decided to fund a study to target Frontline Caregivers in the senior living industry.  For the purposes of this study, the term Frontline Caregiver (FLC) refers to paid direct care workers in a group senior living setting.  Sometimes referred to as paraprofessionals, Frontline Caregivers typically engage in low-tech, hands-on, non-medical support for seniors who have difficulty or cannot perform these tasks independently.  Task examples include bathing, dressing, eating, toileting and transferring, or what is known in health care terms as Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).

 

Overview

Based on the outcomes of this study, there is untapped opportunity to improve the high rate of turnover, long the norm in the FLC role in senior living.  Specifically, to recruit, train, deploy, develop and retain world-class Frontline Caregivers (FLC):

1. When the basic needs for the FLC are offered, i.e. adequate income and benefits, high performing FLCs can be recruited by targeting the identified Behaviors, Motivators and Attributes common to most “gold standard” employees in the role.

2. To retain these high performers, the work environment must be in alignment with their targeted Behaviors, Motivators and Attributes.

The feedback from the industry expert stakeholder participants on these outcomes includes the following:

• “This will lead to better hires, better retention and more focused training and development of our FLC resources”


• “This approach brings ‘science’ to the hiring, selection and deployment processes”


• “We now have a greater potential to hire the right people the first time and to train and develop them accordingly”


• “We are now able to ‘quantify’ this role and to gain better alignment between the FLC and the rest of the organization as a whole”

   For more information contact:

Diane Doumas, Managing Partner

Vantage Advisory Group

"Advancing Quality Senior Living Worldwide"

Cell: 703 888 9557  dianedoumas@vantageadvisorygroup.com

 

MARC E. AGRONIN, M.D. wrote a great article in the New York Times titled Old Age, From Youth’s Narrow Prism, he writes:

"All of us lapse into such mistaken impressions of old age from time to time. It stems in part from an age-centered perspective, in which we view our own age as the most normal of times, the way all life should be. At 18 the 50-year-olds may seem ancient, but at 50 we are apt to say the same about the 80-year-olds."

Read complete article

Diane Doumas of the Vantage Advisory Group shared this great article about a group of nursing home residents in Chicago that have teamed up with with a local motorcycle club and checked out a "biker bar".

Click here for story

From www.everyoneisaging.com

I don’t have a crystal ball reading on the future of social media, but I do see a tremendous benefit to a platform like Facebook in preserving each of our own personal histories. These personal histories can be invaluable to families and friends as we celebrate the passing of our loved ones in the future.

Facebook is still less than 10 years old; it offers us all an easy-to-use “journal” of ones thoughts, travels and life events. If you are a regular user of the platform, just imagine the “story” that 20, 30 or 40 years of entries could tell about you or someone you care about and could be passed on to future generations.

When you start thinking about it this way it’s easy to imagine a computer monitor at a funeral offering loved ones the opportunity to review and reflect on someone’s life through their Facebook entries, or perhaps a service that could summarize the entries into a biography

I found some interesting articles with a different take on how social media can enable a person’s memory to continue on even in their death

 

• Facebook Funerals/Memorials by Richard Smith
  
   


• Story about online memorials, from a person who lost their brother
  
   


• Death on Facebook, National Review
  
   


• Postmortum Facebook, The Daily Northwestern

ProAging @ Brightwood Center - Social Work Month

• Date: Friday March 19, 2010


• Time: 8:30 - 10ish

Location: Brightwood Center 515 Brightfield Rd.Lutherville, MD 21903



Description: FREE event! Join other senior-serving professionals for the best networking and education program in the Baltimore region! The March event will celebrate the good work social workers do to help elders and their families. All Social Workers will be recognized, all professions are encouraged to attend. 

• Contact: Please RSVP


• 410-581-6873


• rsvp@proaging.com


• www.proaging.com/rsvp

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ProAging @ Vinson Hall - Social Work Month Celebration

• Date: Thursday March 25, 2010


• Time: Noon - 2


• Location: Vinson Hall 6251 Old Dominion Drive Mclean, VA 22101
  
  
  
  Description: Join us for one of the best networking events of the year and an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful work social workers do! All Social Workers will be recognized with a special gift, all professionals are encouraged to attend. FREE event, lunch will be served. Speakers and program TBA soon!

Seating is limited, so RSVP to rsvp@proaging.com or www.proaging.com/rsvp

• Contact: Marlene Zaborsky and Steve Gurney


• 703-992-1102


• rsvp@proaging.com


• www.proaging.com/rsvp

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Administration on Aging have awarded Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) a three-year, $900,000 grant to create the nation’s only national resource center on LGBT aging.  The National Technical Assistance Resource Center for LGBT Elders will assist communities across the country in their efforts to provide services and supports for older LGBT people.  The Resource Center will provide training to aging service providers and LGBT agencies nationwide, and will offer critically important educational tools to LGBT older people.

“The creation of a National Technical Assistance Resource Center for LGBT Elders is a monumental step forward for the LGBT community,” said Michael Adams, Executive Director of SAGE. “SAGE is extremely gratified to be given this opportunity to create and oversee the Resource Center in close cooperation with the Administration on Aging,” continued Adams.  “We are confident that working with AoA and our partners – who represent an extraordinary collaboration between the aging services network and the LGBT community – we will make a difference in the lives of every LGBT older person in every community in this country.” 

 

“Agencies that provide services to older individuals may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the needs of this underserved population,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The Resource Center will provide information, assistance and resources for both mainstream aging organizations and LGBT organizations and will provide assistance to LGBT individuals as they plan for future long-term care needs.”

Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee explained: “AoA frequently turns to national organizations to support the Aging Network in their efforts to work with specific minority populations that are traditionally underserved.  In the past, AoA has funded national organizations to provide technical assistance on providing supports and services to African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and Native Americans.  With the full support of the current Administration, we now recognize that LGBT older adults also represent a community with unique needs that must be addressed.”