February 16-17, 2010 -- Charlottesville, VA 

Review

Sessions

Storyboard Presentation Overview  

Review

Sessions

Keynote 1: Arlene A. Carter, Ph.D., Tomorrow is a New Day: Inspiration for Caregivers

          See Handouts

Keynote 2: Rodney Kibler, Ph.D.: A Celebration of Caring: The Extraordinary Role of Direct Care Staff

Dementia Care 1: Basics

This session covers dementia care basics, using discussion, role-playing, and exercises.  The focus will be on practical problem-solving needed to care for a resident living with dementia. See Handouts

Dementia Care 2: Understanding Behaviors

Understanding both Alzheimer symptoms and the individual resident can make it easier to interact with and care for your residents living with dementia. This session will explain what you need to know about what an Alzheimers patient is experiencing.

Dementia Care 3: Communicating with Patients Living with Dementia

Better care through better communication enhances a resident’s sense of dignity and self-esteem, and creates more meaningful connections with family members. This session will focus on positive approaches to communicating with a patient living with dementia.

Dementia Care 4: Enhancing Mealtime and other Activities

This session will focus on how to help a resident with dementia eat and drink enough to stay as healthy as possible.  It will also explore ways to make mealtime and other activity times more meaningful and engaging.

Connections:  Making every Contact Meaningful

This session will focus on how direct care givers can integrate activities of daily living into the one-on-one care process in ways that make each contact feel more meaningful and less stressful.  Participants will practice techniques in the session.

Juggling Work, Life, and Stress

Having a hard time dealing with the stress of our job? Finding it spills over to the rest of your life and vice-versa?  This interactive session will teach you ways to manage stress on the job through mindfulness, and good physical self-care. It will also provide referral resources for further help. See Handouts

The Many Faces of Care, Part 1: Effective Communications, Problem-solving and Teamwork

Even when everyone is trying hard to fix a problem, difficulties can arise among professional team members, anxious family members, and advocates. This session will focus on how to better communicate across the team, and work together to solve problems.

The Many Faces of Care, Part 2: Skills for Resolving Conflict

It can be hard to respond in a calm way when someone is angry. In this session, you will learn how reflective listening can "cool the flames." Participants will practice listening skills, including reflections of content and feeling, summaries and other verbal skills that can help in tense moments.

Clean as a Whistle:  Oral Care

A clean, healthy mouth is critical to being able to chew solid food, key to proper nutrition at any age. A clean mouth can also prevent aspiration pneumonia, a leading direct cause of death among the elderly. In this session, you will learn approaches to caring for the mouths of dependent elderly patients, and have a chance to practice on the spot. See Handouts

“Together We Can” Prevent Pressure Ulcers

Turn, turn, turn! Pressure ulcers are far easier to prevent through regular repositioning than they are to treat once they occur.  In this session, we will show how a team approach to regular monitoring and movement can help stop pressure ulcers before they begin. See Handouts

Proud to be a CNA: Creating the Supportive Workplace We Deserve

This session will include a panel discussion on how to improve the workplace as an important step to improving nursing home care.  This panel is part of the Better Jobs, Better Care initiative. See Handouts

Dangers in the Workplace: How to Protect Yourself and Your Residents

Do you feel safe at work? This session will focus on how to prevent abuse and what to do if it occurs,whether the victim is you, another staff member, or a resident.  In addition, the session will look at elements of resident safety, including body mechanics, infection control, and fall prevention. See Handouts

"It IS my Job:  Changing the Way we Lead

"Not my job" is a sign of a rigid work setting in which leadership below the management level is stifled. This session will focus on how to achieve a mutually supportive team approach to getting the job done, one that rewards and recognizes leadership across care teams. See Handouts

Don't Hurt me or Yourself: A Former Nurse and Current Resident Discusses the Nuts and Bolts of ADL Care

In this special video presentation and discussion, retired nurse Jan St. John, currently a resident at the Cedars, will provide training on the best, least painful way to help a person with limited mobility do activities of daily living without pain.  Participants will have an opportunity to practice these skills in the session. See Handouts

"I'm in Pain, Can you tell?" Pain Awareness and Management with Nonverbal Patients

Do you always know when yourpatient is hurting? This session will explain how to tell when a nonverbal patient is in pain, and what to do about it.

Quality at the End of Life: How the Care Team best serves the Dying Patient

This session will focus on caring for patients at the end of life, focusing on quality of life, especially pain management. It will use two case studies to demonstrate possible approaches. See Handouts

Storyboard Presentation Overview

In the inaugural "Storyboard Event: Sharing Our Caregivers Success Stories, Innovations and Best Practices " we had seven wonderful presentations. From Birmingham Green, Cedars Family Council, the Legacy Volunteer Project, Trinity Mission Health and Rehabilitation, PUP (Pressure Ulcer Prevention) Working Group, Ombudsman Program of the Jefferson Area Board of Aging and Trinity Mission Family Council. The storyboards were all beautiful illustrations of hard work and successful programs in the area.

Start thinking now about what your organization can show off next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This program was made possible in part by Geriatric Training and Education (GTE) funds appropriated by the General Assembly of Virginia and administered by the Virginia Center on Aging at Virginia Commonwealth University.
 

 

 

 

 

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