Tompkins County Long Term Care Workforce Initiative

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Tompkins CountyLong Term Care WorkforceInitiativ
e
Community Health Foundation of Western Central
New York Promising Practices in the Care of
Elders May 4, 2010

• Lisa Holmes
• Tompkins County Office for the Aging
• [phone]
• lholmes_at_tompkins-co.org

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Key Issues in Tompkins County

• No central organization in Tompkins County
  provided aide certification training
• Many home care agencies transported candidates
  out-of-county for certification training
• Lack of regular training missed opportunities
  with potential workers
• Residential care facilities cited staff retention
  as their main concern.

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Tompkins Long Term Care Workforce Initiative

• Through Community Health Foundation of Western
  Central NY Fellows Action Network
• Goals
• Increase the ranks of long-term care workforce in
  Tompkins County
• Equip organizations and facilities with tools to
  improve the retention rates of direct care staff

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Community Collaboration

• All-Metro Home Care
• Beechtree Care Center
• Brookdale Senior Living
• Caregivers
• Cayuga Medical Center
• Cayuga Ridge Nursing Facility (formerly Lakeside)
• Central New York Area Health Education Center
• Classen Home Health Associates
• Community Foundation Womens Fund
• Community Health Foundation of WCNY
• Comfort Keepers
• Cornell Institute for Translational Research on
  Aging
• Family Childrens Service Home Care
• Finger Lakes Independence Center
• Health Planning Council of Tompkins County
• Hospicare and Palliative Care Services
• Ithaca College Gerontology Institute

• Ithaca Housing Authority Titus Towers
• Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency
• Kendal at Ithaca
• Lifelong
• Longview
• Oak Hill Manor
• Redmoon Caregivers
• Seneca Lake Terrace
• Stafkings
• Tompkins Community Action
• Tompkins-Cortland Community College
• Tompkins County DSS Long Term Care Services
• Tompkins County Health Department
• Tompkins County Office for the Aging
• Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES
• Visiting Nurse Service
• Womens Opportunity Center Registry Program
• Workforce NY

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Collaboration with Tompkins Workforce NY

• CHF Grant project assistant placed at Tompkins
  Workforce NY
• Assisted with recruiting and enrolling students
  into the aide trainings
• Served as a liaison between Workforce and long
  term care providers, as well as organizations
  such as CNYAHEC
• Educated Workforce staff on direct care positions.

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Training SUNY Consortium Grant

• A consortium made up of Workforce, Stafkings,
  Redmoon, Comfort Keepers, Bridges Cornell
  Heights, BOCES and Cayuga Ridge Extended Care
  applied for SUNY training funds
• A grant of 50,000 was awarded in July 2009
• Each agency agreed to cover 20 of the cost of
  the training for each potential student 80
  covered by SUNY grant

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Training Locations and Dates

• HHA training
• Location
• Comfort Keepers
• October 26 November 11, 2009
• January 4 20, 2010
• March 15 - 31, 2010
• May 17 June 2, 2010

• CNA training
• Location
• Cayuga Ridge Extended Care
• October 12- November 13, 2009
• January 4 February 6, 2010
• March 8 April 10, 2010
• May 10 June 12, 2010

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Retention

• Cornells Retention Specialist Program
• Utilizes existing staff from organizations
  trained and designated as retention specialist
• Intensive training involves a range of proven
  intervention strategies (peer mentoring, career
  ladders, communication training, recognition,
  supervision)
• Ongoing technical assistance provided through
  webinars
• Evidence-based effective at reducing turnover
• Local expertise

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Retention

• CITRA Retention Specialist Program
• Home health agency pilot participants
• CareGivers
• Comfort Keepers
• Hospicare
• Redmoon
• Tompkins County Health Department
• Visiting Nurse Service/Community Health Home
  Care

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Retention

• CITRA Retention Specialist Program
• Residential Care Facility participants
• Beechtree Care Center
• Bridges Cornell Heights
• Brookdale Senior Living
• Cayuga Ridge Extended Care
• Groton Nursing Facility
• Hospicare
• Kendal at Ithaca
• Longview

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Recruitment Efforts
Updated and distributed booklet on home health
careers at following venues

• Career fairs
• Central New York Area Health Education Center,
• All area high school career counseling offices
• Tompkins Workforce New York
• Finger Lakes Independence Center
• Challenge Industries

• Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES
• Womens Opportunity Center
• Tompkins County Department of Social Services
• Ithaca College
• Cornell University
• Tompkins-Cortland Community College
• Health Planning Council of Tompkins County

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Tompkins County Long Term Care Workforce
Initiative

• For more information contact
• Lisa Holmes, Director
• Tompkins County Office for the Aging
• lhomes_at_tompkins-co.org
• [phone]