Registered Apprenticeship Programs: Quality Training for Direct Care Workers
Vera Salter & Michelle Boschetto
Thursday, August 3
1:15pm-2:45pm

This session will explore how direct-care workers can advance in their professions through formal Department of Labor apprenticeship programs. The guides will describe apprenticeship programs in Kansas, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania, demonstrating outstanding approaches and related training that work well to support culture change initiatives across the country. Examples include training opportunties for Home Health Aides and Certified Nursing Assistants. Attendees will learn strategies and receive tools for accessing and implementing apprenticeship programs for their own workplaces.

Addressing Cultural Competency and Organizational Practices in the Workplace:
Research Results
Victoria Parker & Christine Bishop
Thursday, August 3
3:15pm-4:45pm

If you are looking for information on the impact of management practices on worker and resident satisfaction then this session is for you! Come learn about new applied research on this important topic--Guides will share the results of a case study that looked at organizational practices and their impact on direct care workers in 18 Massachusetts nursing homes as a part of the Better Jobs Better Care project. Data from a survey of certified nursing assistants and residents will be highlighted to demonstrate the impact of these practices on worker and resident satisfaction. The session will also feature a study of an organizational self-assessment in cultural competence and the development of site-specific cultural competency interventions that positively impacted job design, satisfaction and motivation of nursing assistants.

Tools for Take Away:
Better Jobs Better Care
Practice Management Projects
Karen Reever, Linda Bettinazzi, Lynda Crandall, & Natasha Bryant
Friday, August 4
2:00pm-3:30pm

The Better Jobs Better Care national demonstration project is nearing completion. This session will share some of the exciting work that has been underway in five states for the past two and a half years. Grantees have worked diligently to spread the diffusion of innovative management practices yielding many promising initiatives. Karen Reever will describe BJBC-PA’s statewide collaborative and its regional network of long term care providers efforts to increase worker retention. Linda Bettinazzi will give the inside view of her home health care agency’s journey in developing a work culture that respects, values and supports direct care workers. Lynda Crandall will describe experiences from the Oregon BJBC practice management innovations, and Natasha Bryant from the Institute for the Future of Aging Services will share innovations from other BJBC states, including Vermont's tool to help providers quantify the economic value of workforce initiatives.