February 16-17, 2010 -- Charlottesville, VA 

Register Now

Individuals should register by filling out the individual registration form. Institutions wishing to register their staff should also use this form.

Mail your payment and printed registration form to:

Overview

Sessions

Register Now

Poster Presentation Guidelines

Overview

An initiative of the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Community Partnership for Improved Long-term Care will host "Working Together: Third Annual Community Conference on Senior Care," February 16-17, 2010, focusing on certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and other direct care workers. The Partnership is organizing the conference with co-sponsors the Alzheimer's Association, Central and Western Virginia chapter, Blue Ridge Long-Term Care Associates, and the Jefferson Area Board on Aging (JABA). This conference builds on the two prior successful caregiver conferences organized by UVa Geriatrics and partners. It is being made possible with a grant from the Virginia Center on Aging.

The purpose of the conference is to encourage communication, the exchange of information, and adoption of best practices among all those involved in senior care. It will also recognize the challenges and celebrate the accomplishments of long-term care workers, in order to support the goals of enhancing professionalism, leadership, and teamwork, as well as the reduction of turnover. Finally, the conference will provide training in the following areas: 

•   Positive approaches to working and communicating with persons living with dementia

•   Better jobs for better care; reducing staff turnover

•   Caregivers as leaders: developing teams, teaching peers

•   Stress reduction and self-care as a component of successful care-giving

•   Pressure ulcer prevention and oral care

•   Elder mistreatment prevention, identification and reporting

•  Reducing dangers in the care setting for both staff and residents

General continuing education credits will be available to attendees as part of the registration fee.  I

The conference will take place at the Charlottesville University Area Holiday Inn. 

Sessions

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

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

"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.

Register Now

Individuals should register by filling out the individual registration form. Institutions wishing to register their staff should also use this form.

Poster Presentation Guidelines

 

 

 

[1] Conference Committee reserves the right to screen entries for appropriate content. 

 

---