Lifelong learning has seamlessly integrated into both my personal and professional life, serving as the driving force behind my belief that senior living communities should offer and ensure access to a wealth of opportunities for expanding the minds of their residents.

The quest for knowledge is a never-ending journey — that’s a belief that lies at the core of my mission. Since joining The Kensington at Walnut Creek, my primary goal has been to ensure that age never becomes a barrier to enriching one’s mind.

Lifelong learning is about so much more than keeping your mind intellectually sharp; it plays a vital role in maintaining a high quality of life. It’s the key to nurturing both a healthy mind and a healthy body, and it can significantly contribute to warding off cognitive conditions, such as dementia, while promoting social connection.

In senior living communities, recognizing the significance of offering a diverse array of social activities tailored to residents’ varying needs is paramount. Providing a multitude of opportunities that span across emotional, occupational, physical, social, intellectual, creative, nutritional and spiritual dimensions of wellness can foster an environment where growth and self-improvement remain continuous pursuits.

Encouraging residents to participate in activities aimed at cognitive enrichment is essential. Those activities may include hosting discussion groups, trivia nights, history lessons or an outing to the latest art exhibit. Empowering residents to influence their learning experiences by enabling them to suggest topics they are passionate about also can prove beneficial. Doing so offers them a meaningful way to keep their minds engaged and curious.

In the modern digital age, maintaining connectivity also is so important. Providing residents with access to technologic resources and the support to use them can help them enrich their online presence, facilitating increased engagement and connection in an increasingly digital world.

A dedication to lifelong learning is in harmony with a broader philosophy that prioritizes the well-being of residents. This philosophy offers a personalized approach to wellness, tailored to meet the unique needs and priorities of each resident. It includes offering programs that encompass various aspects of well-being, including daily fitness classes, cardio programs, nutritional consultations and opportunities for residents to give back to the community through philanthropic activities. Those carefully crafted programs should go beyond being mere offerings; they should be designed to be evolving experiences that adapt to the changing needs and desires of residents, ensuring that their well-being remains a central focus.

Lifelong learning begins with those who genuinely care about providing people of all ages with ongoing opportunities for growth. By fostering a lifelong pursuit of self-enrichment, we empower individuals to embark on journeys of self-discovery and intellectual expansion, regardless of their age. This commitment serves as a transformative force that shapes lives and nurtures an ever-curious and engaged community.

Joseph Villanueva is executive director at The Kensington at Walnut Creek, a Kisco Senior living community in Walnut Creek, CA.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living guest column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

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Resources that can help managers avoid the challenges they face may be untapped, said Marla DeVries, chief learning officer at Green House Project’s parent organization, the Center for Innovation.

Audience members homed in on several challenges in training new staff members. For instance, high staff turnover prevents consistent application of training, according to a poll of attendees taken during the webinar. Additionally, participants said that they often don’t have the time to observe whether training is done well. Because training often is conducted to meet compliance requirements, participants said they often are left with unclear expectations on how to apply what they learned.

The presenters identified several ways to strengthen the workforce and maximize the value that companies place in training staff members.

For instance, training must be an effort backed by the whole organization, not just an individual or two, they said. In a typical training scenario, learners attend training and get credit for attending, and then a leader moves on to the next priority, they said.

“What we see is that training impact is neither maximized nor known, and what we call this is the check-the-box approach,” said Ella Lawson, resource management specialist at the Green House Project. “It’s task-focused. It’s inefficient and doesn’t maximize what training can really really do.”

A third of the respondents to a poll during the webinar said that, at their organizations, the manager of the staff leads all training. Others said that staff members lead training sessions, that they are led by dedicated instructors or that teaching is a shared responsibility.

“Nobody said, ‘No, it’s the senior leader who is responsible for seeing that training is applied,’” DeVries noted.

Ideally, senior leaders both set the guidelines for education and conduct the training, according to the experts. They equated managers as liaisons between the instructors and the learners. Each person has his or her own role to play.

The webinar was part of a series conducted in conjunction with the EmpowerEd learning platform of the Green House Project and Pioneer Network.

LeadingAge has released a new tool for members that helps outline the myriad technology solutions aimed specifically at workforce needs for aging services providers. Cost implications are included.

The tool, named “Unlocking Workforce Technology Solutions,” is designed to help members with a “map” of the tech market, breaking down solutions by what aspect of staffing a particular tool is aimed at, such as scheduling or workforce training. 

With senior living and care operators dealing with ongoing staffing challenges, new technology within healthcare is frequently aimed at addressing workforce issues, either by making existing care more efficient or directly aiding the staff to ease administrative burdens. 

The LeadingAge report, which was released earlier this month, covers six categories, detailing how to find and implement various solutions under those umbrellas:

• Recruitment and retention
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
• Education and training
• Workflow efficiencies
• Robotics
• HR tools

The report also is designed to help providers address the cost of implementing certain technologies and how to find funding. Its primary authors were Scott Code, LeadingAge CAST vice president, and Jenna Kellerman, LeadingAge director for workforce strategy and development.

The latter has outlined a “ladders and lattices” approach to training and retaining long-term care employees, arguing that staff needs to be given tools to learn new skills, and opportunities for advancement within an organization. 

LeadingAge has been a vocal critic of national nursing home minimum staffing mandates proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. As part of a statement this month on the high cost of implementing such a rule, LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan called the proposal “impossible to implement” due to the lack of available workers. She added that “regulations and enforcement, even with the best intentions, just can’t change the math.” 

LeadingAge will be discussing the new tool at its annual meeting next month in Chicago.

The funds under the Primary Care and Health Workforce Act also could be used to expand the number of qualified preceptors at clinical rotation sites, provide direct support for students, support partnerships with health facilities for clinical training, purchase distance learning technology and simulation equipment, and other capital projects.

In all, proponents estimate that the measure would enable schools to train up to 60,000 additional nurses.

The proposed allocation is part of a broader $26 billion bill introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) that is meant to address the “major shortages of nurses, primary care doctors, and other important healthcare jobs across the country,” according to a press release from Sanders. The legislation is expected to be marked up on Thursday in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Within the next two years, the United States will need 200,000 to 450,000 additional nurses, according to recent estimates cited by Sanders.

“We believe this investment will save Medicaid and Medicare tens of billions of dollars and, more importantly, provide improved healthcare outcomes for all Americans,” Marshall said.

The proposed legislation also would provide funds to additional nurse educators into the field. The bill would set aside $28.5 million in annual discretionary appropriations in fiscal years 2024 through 2026, as well as $28.5 million per year for three years, through a one-time mandatory supplemental, to support approximately 1,000 new nurse faculty entering the workforce each year. After three years, more than 3,000 graduates with the intent to teach will have entered the workforce as a result of this provision if the bill becomes law, according to Sanders.

Fitch Ratings’ latest monthly labor dashboard for senior living and care noted that providers across the sector still are recovering from labor challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Staffing in continuing care retirement / life plan communities remains 7.4% below pre-pandemic levels, and the skilled nursing workforce is down 10% from pre-pandemic levels. Staffing in assisted living communities, by comparison, has rebounded to approximately 4% above pre-pandemic levels, Fitch said.

The agreement between the Pennsylvania Health Care Association and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology allows frontline caregivers to expand their educational backgrounds and certifications with discounted tuition at the university.

“This partnership delivers a new incentive for our members to offer their employees. With employers in other sectors having the luxury of promising employment bonuses and other added benefits, long-term care providers face limitations and often struggle to compete for employment interests,” PHCA President and Chair Zach Shamberg said in a statement. “Recognizing the value of our long-term care workforce, Harrisburg University has stepped in as a partner that wants to give back to caregivers and support our members.”

Shamberg said that PHCA member organizations “are ceaselessly working to recruit and retain workers to care for our most vulnerable populations.” The state affiliate of the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living advocates for providers in skilled nursing, assisted living and personal care.

Under the partnership, long-term care workers employed by PHCA members can qualify for tuition discounts of 10% to 25% for certain healthcare-related classes, programs and certificates, including graduate programs. The benefit also extends to immediate family members, who can receive tuition discounts of up to 10% on select on-campus graduate degree programs, certificates or specified training courses provided by Harrisburg University.

The university has campuses in Harrisburg, PA, which is the Keystone State capital, and Philadelphia, as well as an online education platform. Among its more than 40 degree offerings, the university offers various programs in registered nursing and healthcare.

Eric Darr, PhD, president of Harrisburg University, said that the partnership aligns with the university’s commitment to “growing our health sciences workforce and creating pathway opportunities for our healthcare professionals to continue their education and advance in their careers.”

PHCA and Harrisburg University previously have partnered to support caregivers. In 2020, the university’s advanced manufacturing program used 3D printers to produce medical face shields to support the health of caregivers and residents.

Read more state news here.

A first-of-its-kind professional certification program for finance and investment professionals is being launched to meet the expected increased demand for an industry on the cusp of accepting its largest older adult population in history.

The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care will welcome its first cohort into the Fundamentals of Underwriting Senior Housing and Care certificate program in mid-October. The online, self-paced program, offered through NIC Academy, is intended to provide a more efficient and comprehensive understanding of investments and finance in the industry, which traditionally delivers those lessons on the job, according to NIC President and CEO Ray Braun. 

The certificate program will be geared toward individuals who are newer to the industry or right out of college, or toward existing employees in need of upskilling or reskilling. Braun said that the program complements NIC Academy’s boot camps — eight-hour, immersive, in-person experiences on a specific topic — and online special topics courses for those already working in the industry.

The goal, over time, he said, is to have the certified senior housing investment professional, or CSHIP, designation seen as a credential of professional qualification. He told McKnight’s Senior Living that he’s “cautiously optimistic” about participation after much initial interest in the concept.

“Our boot camps we’ve been holding for three years? Every single one sells out,” Braun said. “That, to us, was a strong indicator of the demand for education and training.”

Participants in the first cohort — expected to be 30 to 60 individuals — will have 90 days to complete the six courses to achieve CSHIP designation. The courses will cover operations fundamentals, market analysis, capital markets and transactions. A capstone project will include a case study that will integrate insights and information culled from previous courses to encourage critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Led by ‘industry icons’

Instructors, Braun said, include “industry icons” who are highly regarded in the industry and are experts in seniors housing and care:

• Kurt Read, principal at private equity firm RSF Partners and NIC board member;
• Randy Richardson, former CEO and president, and now strategic adviser, for Vi Living;
• Kevin McMeen, co-founder of speciality finance firm MidCap Financial;
• Colleen H. Blumenthal, CEO and partner at healthcare and seniors housing valuation and advisory services firm HealthTrust;
• Allen Lynch, senior counsel for global law firm Nixon Peabody; and
• Ryan Chase, executive managing director and head of market strategy for brokerage firm Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors.

“What we wanted were people with experience in the industry to discuss practical issues that come up with students,” Braun said, emphasizing that the program is professional training, not academic.

The program, he added, is intended to have a “shelf life” of three years for the initial instructors and curriculum, with Levels 2 and 3 of the certificate program added over time to reflect beginner, intermediate and advanced certificate programs. NIC also plans to add special topics courses.

“We’ll be continuously developing curriculum over the next year,” Braun said. “As students finish up the first level certificate, we hope to have the second level ready to participate in.”

The goal is to launch four cohorts a year, with one group starting every 90 days. The first cohort, however, will remain open until March to allow NIC to receive extensive feedback and improve the product. The intent is to launch the second cohort on April 1.

A first-of-its-kind infection prevention course “uniquely tailored” to assisted living direct care workers is now available through a partnership between Argentum and epidemiology experts. 

The “Infection Prevention and Control Essentials for Assisted Living” course was developed by Argentum and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The course is comprised of four modules:

• Module 1 covers the basics of infection prevention and control, including hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, respiratory etiquette, sharps safety, environmental topics, cleaning and disinfection, and food safety.
• Module 2 addresses transmission-based precautions and covers an array of infections and conditions of concern in the assisted living environment.
• Module 3 addresses why residents are at increased risk for infection, and special care consideration.
• Module 4 is a compilation of the elements needed to build and lead an infection prevention and control program in assisted living.

“It’s critical as the industry continues to elevate measures to protect residents from infection,” Brad Williams, Argentum senior vice president of business operations, said in a statement. The comprehensive course is “uniquely tailored” to assisted living caregivers, he added.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of infection prevention and control training for caregiving staff members in senior living. The course aims to provide direct care workers with a greater understanding of how to prevent infectious diseases from spreading through a community.

The goals of the program are to help staff members identify infection risks as well as learn basic actions to take to prevent spread, understand the components of an effective infection prevention and control program, and learn how to engage residents and family members in adopting effective infection prevention and control practices.

The approximately 30,600 assisted living communities in the country serve more than 800,000 older adults. Almost 480,000 employees work in assisted living communities. 

Assisted living residents commonly are living with a variety of chronic conditions, including high blood pressure (48%), Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (42%), heart disease (31%), depression (29%) and diabetes (17%).

The course was developed by epidemiology experts and senior living operators.

The report, “Leveraging Career Pathway Programs: State Strategies to Combat Health Care Workforce Shortages,” describes programs across various stages of education designed to prepare individuals for the next level of employment, certification or educational level. Although focused on healthcare broadly, the report highlights a variety of initiatives relevant to the direct care workforce need of long-term care providers, such as career pathway programs designed to help certified nursing assistants and home care aides become licensed practical nurses.

“The demand for health workers is expected to continue rising faster than the supply and states are examining their role in bolstering and strengthening the health workforce,” the report noted. “Career pathway programs are designed to prepare individuals for the next level of employment, certification or educational level.”

By 2040, long-term care settings will have 20 million job openings — 3 million of those alone in senior living — escalating the need to recruit and retain workers, according to a report released by Argentum earlier this year.

Although some employers have developed their own in-house training programs, particularly for CNA certification, more can be done at the state level to prepare individuals for the next level of employment, certification or educational level, according to the report. Career pathway programs can actually be implemented at any stage of education, even in elementary school, the NCSL report said.

“These programs often consist of partnerships between education systems, public and private sector employers, and community-based organizations. While designs vary, most programs provide some support to students through career or academic mentorship, apprenticeships, financial support, training programs, scholarships, networking opportunities and more,” according to the report.

State legislatures can help create and develop successful career pathway programs through existing state offices or state education institutions, forging partnerships with key stakeholders to ensure that pathway programs align well with workforce needs, leveraging or pursuing federal funding to help build these programs and establishing grants that allocate funding to new or existing recruitment and retention programs, NCSL said.

Good Jobs Hawaii is one example of state-sponsored investment in the direct care workforce. Operated through the University of Hawaii Community Colleges, the program is designed to help local residents qualify for high-quality jobs and careers while helping employers meet their demands for skilled, local workforces. The initiative is building on Oahu Back to Work and Hana Career Pathways, which have provided free skills training for more than 4,000 local residents since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is primarily funded through a federal grant from the US Economic Development Administration and the city and county of Honolulu, among other sources.

And at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa, students can enroll in their state-approved “ladder program” in nursing, where they can start on the path to becoming LPNs or work toward climbing the “ladder” from LPN to earning an associate’s degree in nursing.

Career pathway programs can benefit nontraditional students who might be looking for a career change, the report noted.

“Creating pathway programs for nontraditional students may look a little differently than their traditional counterparts as these students face a unique set of challenges. They include  work/caregiving responsibilities during the day, lack of reliable transportation, no childcare, lack of educational literacy and cost,” NCSL said. 

Therefore, the authors said, states might want to include supports such as evening courses, accelerated courses, stipends for outside needs such as childcare or transportation, and scholarships.

“Legislators and state agencies play an important role in creating, crafting and funding career pathway programs to create a future pipeline of healthcare workers. States have great flexibility in choosing what professions to target and how they would like to target them,” NCSL concluded.

Healthcare workforce shortages are at crisis levels and need attention from policymakers, according to senior living advocates.

The US House of Representatives’ 21st Century Long-Term Care Caucus and LeadingAge co-hosted a congressional briefing Wednesday to highlight the long-term care sector’s challenges in recruiting staff, as well as legislative proposals to address workforce issues.

The briefing provided a glimpse into what workforce shortages mean for providers, who discussed their experiences from the affordable senior housing, home health and hospice, and skilled nursing perspectives, LeadingAge Director of Health Legislative Affairs Todd Adams said during the association’s member policy briefing on Wednesday.

Critical workforce issues within long-term care, according to LeadingAge, include offering a living wage, establishing a pipeline of foreign-born workers, expanding direct care workforce training and advancement opportunities through existing federal programs, and enacting “meaningful and equitable” financing.

In a congressional handout, LeadingAge listed several key workforce bills and policies that it supports to address those workforce challenges, including:

• The Supporting Our Direct Care Workforce Act, which would authorize $1 billion in federal funding to support increasing direct care workforce positions and recruit, train and retain workers.
• The Workforce for an Expanding Economy Act, which would establish a new nonimmigrant visa for temporary nonagricultural workers.
• The Better Care Better Jobs Act, which would establish programs and funding for state Medicaid programs to improve home- and community-based services, as well as additional funding for the direct care workforce and an enhanced federal medical assistance percentage to states to achieve certain benchmarks.
• The Expanding Service Coordinators Act, which would provide $100 million each year for five years for multifamily service coordinators at Housing and Urban Development-funded properties.

Tuesday, members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce also reintroduced the Direct Creation, Advancement and Retention of Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act of 2023. The legislation would invest more than $1.8 billion over five years in training and increasing opportunities for the direct care workforce.

“Our investments in this critical workforce have lagged far behind the rapidly growing need for their services,” Ranking Member Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) said in a statement. “It’s time to address the shortage of care workers and provide them with the resources and support they deserve.”

A policy adviser for Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH) told McKnight’s Senior Living that the long-term care caucus plans to host another workforce briefing this year to focus on a different perspective. 

Meanwhile, Argentum shared its perspective on the workforce challenges facing the industry in a letter to caucus members, sharing the association’s latest workforce report and pledging to work with the caucus to identify and pass bipartisan legislative solutions.

Policymakers have focused almost exclusively on nurse and physician shortages, ignoring the staffing challenges in long-term care, which have “eclipsed” all other healthcare sectors, Argentum President and CEO James Balda said.

Argentum is leading several efforts to address those issues, including the Healthcare Apprenticeship Expansion Program, a four-year US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Closing the Skills Gap grant program. Argentum and its partners plan to enroll and support more than 7,200 apprentices by February.

Last year, Congress included report language in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus bill, calling on the Labor Department and Health and Human Services Department to develop the aging services workforce through education, training grant programs and apprenticeship programs. Congress must now better target existing programs by building on that report language, Balda said.

Specifically, Argentum is calling on Congress to fund and re-direct federal workforce training programs, including Job Corps and American Job Centers within the Labor Department’s Employment & Training Administration, to offer specializations in senior living and care. Balda also called for an expansion of apprenticeship opportunities specifically for long-term care, and for the prevention of the expiration of the Closing the Skills Gap apprenticeship program next year.

“Given the scope of the workforce shortage in every segment of our healthcare system, it is my hope that the caucus will continue to further examine the crisis and policies to expand and retain our caregiving workforce so that all Americans can continue to access long-term care,” he wrote.