All Disciplines

Busy Doing Nothing? How to Foster Purpose and Meaning for Seniors in Long-Term Care
Speaker: Kathleen Weissberg
CEUs approved for: ALL

Are your residents busy doing nothing? Are they actively engaged? Research shows today’s seniors prefer continued engagement in meaningful and purposeful activities and occupations. Those who are occupationally active show positive therapeutic benefits, demonstrate fewer negative behaviors, need less help with self-care tasks, report positive moods and describe greater quality of life. This session will explore meaningful activities by focusing on the intersection of the individual, their occupations and the environment. Participants will be offered techniques for soliciting individual preferences, interests, roles and hobbies, and using these to encourage client choice and control over activities. As residents’ functional abilities change, participation and motivation may change as well. Following the Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) Model of Care, techniques for adapting activities and the environment to continue to meet the needs of changing medical conditions, those with dementia and the frailest residents will be suggested. The role of nursing and other facility team members will be discussed as key contributors to activity programs. Meaningful and purposeful activity is everyone’s job, not just the activities department

Caregiver Compassion: Become a Caring Influence in the Lives of Residents and Families
Speaker: Lynne Hoeksema
CEUs approved for: ALL

Even trained and experienced health care professionals can struggle with the awkwardness of dealing with someone’s grief or loss, a constant occurrence in most care facilities. This enlightening session will help participants become a caring influence in the lives of their residents and families. Discussion will center around a broad spectrum of compassion issues including what constitutes a loss, why society affects our ability to be an effective comforter, the importance of grief acknowledgement, what to say and do, what not to say and do, as well as practical tips and ideas to help cope with a loss.

Dealing with Difficult Situations and Emotional People
Speaker: Petra Marquart
CEUs approved for: ALL

Providing service is never more important than when people are having a difficult time or being emotional. Without the skills to handle these things, they can escalate, which makes them even more challenging. In this session, you will learn how to manage people’s feelings in order to help manage their behaviors. With these skills, you will deal with complaints before they turn into problems, and problems before they turn into situations, all while maintaining the person’s dignity and self-esteem.

The Case For Communication
Speakers: Krissa Mason
CEUs approved for: ALL

In this session we will explore why effective communication with families is critical from a legal and regulatory perspective and what you can say to whom when. Did you know people are less likely to sue you if they like you? Why is that? What exactly can you say and how has that been impacted by COVID-19? How can you best manage conflict with families with effective communication? Explore these questions and more with Krissa Mason, Vice President of Regulatory and Legal Affairs, Iowa Health Care Association.

Emergency Planning: How Did Your Plan Stack Up During a Pandemic?
Speaker: August “Dutch” Geisinger
CEUs approved for: ALL

This presentation will walk through the traditional emergency planning process and the shortfalls that your facility/organization may have faced during this on-going pandemic. This very informative session will review the must-have components of emergency planning and the importance of improvement planning and after-action reports. There will be a discussion on several key areas of concern including understanding the shortfalls of PPE, how to appropriately procure for a potential second wave, identification of potential providers of PPE and how to spot potential scams.

Ethical Considerations When Adults Refuse Care
Speaker: Paige Hector
CEUs approved for: ALL except ES

Residents and patients refuse care for a number of reasons, sometimes to the dismay and frustration of the interdisciplinary team. Balancing a person’s right to refuse care with facility responsibility can be tough. This presentation will address the regulations associated with refusal of care, the difference between refusing care and resisting care and why it matters, capacity determination and harm reduction strategies that emphasize motivational rewards. We will discuss concrete strategies that leadership can incorporate into facility clinical operations that support staff with these sometimes-difficult situations. Participants will learn a paradigm shift for thinking about refusal of care – and a different word to use – and suggestions to achieve person-centered care and defensible outcomes.

Ethics in Long-Term Care: Maintaining Boundaries in the World of Technology and Social Media
Speaker: Dr. Carla Cheatham
CEUs approved for: ALL
With all the benefits of social media and other virtual connections with those whom we serve, we often struggle with helping our wisdom catch up to our technology. In this presentation, we will review the personal boundaries that can help us as professionals to amplify the benefits and avoid the risks of these arenas for the safety and wellbeing of all involved.

Face Masks, Six Feet Distancing and Working from Home: Tips for Making the Changed Work Environment More Productive and Less Stressful
Speaker: Preethi Fernando
CEUs approved for: ALL

Smiling, facial expressions, clear speech and transparency have now become a lost art in the workplace, with mask wearing being enforced in a modified COVID-19 work environment. Building trust and having transparency are key. What are the tools of avoiding miscommunications while wearing a mask, alternative ways of communicating when a facemask is a hindrance and building trust with mask wearing? Six feet distancing can be impractical and not doable in certain health care situations. Some may take the six feet rule seriously while others might completely rebel against it. These situations can make or break the COVID-19 modified workplace, in either making someone feel safe or constantly on edge. This session will provide a review of best practices for maintaining boundaries and educating others about what behavior is acceptable and what has been changed in the modified COVID-19 workplace.

How to Practice Healthy Emotional Intelligence after COVID-19 Social Isolation
Speaker: Preethi Fernando
CEUs approved for: ALL

Practicing healthy emotional intelligence is more critical than ever before as you care for the most vulnerable population in the pandemic. COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of people, communities and countries. This enlightening session will show how using healthy emotional intelligence impacts the residents and patients in your care, drives organizational success and promotes personal career success. More importantly, discussion will highlight practical lessons and recommendations on how to augment your current efforts with health care-specific emotional intelligence tools and strategies.

Infection Control: Best Practices Under COVID-19
Speaker: Mary Madison
CEUs approved for: ALL

Infection prevention and control has taken center stage as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to plague the country. To keep your residents and tenants safe, all health care professionals need a total understanding of how to prevent the spread of infections and viruses. In this session, we will explore infection control practices to prevent the introduction of COVID-19, as well as mitigate and control the spread of this respiratory virus within long-term care facilities.

Meeting the Barriers to Better Dementia Care Head On
Speaker: Linda Farrar
CEUs approved for: ALL

We all desire to achieve the common goal of improving the care and quality of life for those who suffer from dementia. Person-centered dementia care is a focus on elders’ emotional needs and care preferences, consistent with their lifestyle. The emphasis is on relationships in the care rather than task-centered approaches that focus on physical health of elders. This session will review interdisciplinary programs designed to maximize the participation of the elders they serve in interventions that promote meaningful engagement and cognitive stimulation related to assessed strengths and cognitive challenges.

Preventing Resident-to-Resident Aggression in Elders with Dementia
Speaker: Linda Farrar
CEUs approved for: ALL

Residents who exhibit combative behavior in long-term care pose care challenges to facility staff and other residents. Resident-to-resident aggression is a serious issue that has a significant negative impact on all residents involved. A primary risk factor is cognitive impairment. Caregiver education and training can enhance knowledge in identification of certain behaviors, which may preclude an actual combative episode. Careful resident assessment, along with recognition of individual resident triggers and observation of extrinsic factors, should be carefully considered. This informative session will provide common sense approaches and tools to help prevent combative resident-to-resident behaviors in your facility.

Put Down the Drugs: Evidence-Based Interventions to Address Problematic Dementia Behaviors
Speaker: Kathleen Weissberg
CEUs approved for: ALL

Behaviors like catastrophic outbursts and agitation often result from inability to communicate, the need for emotional security, sensory issues like overstimulation, or staff responses that do not support purposeful and meaningful engagement. Behaviors in persons with dementia often go unaddressed because providers lack strategies to address these or use interventions not based on the evidence, and therefore not effective. In this session, evidence-based behavior management and intervention strategies related to pain management, communication, emotional/cognitive state, sensation, agitation and wandering are examined to help providers reduce unwanted behaviors without relying on medications. Using a person-centered approach, participants will learn how to adapt activities to match the client’s functional level, modify routines to enhance occupational performance, and environment-based interventions to promote a home-like atmosphere and foster active engagement at all stages of the disease process.

Recommended Practices for Communicating with Families With or Without a Pandemic (90 minute session)
Speaker: Paige Hector
CEUs approved for: ALL

Communication is one of the most basic skills that staff need in order to successfully collaborate with families to achieve the best possible outcomes for residents and patients. Unfortunately, there are many ways for communication to get derailed, especially in times of crisis like a pandemic. This 90-minute presentation incorporates principles of trauma-informed care and communication during a crisis. We’ll discuss the difference between essential and therapeutic communication, a different perspective on anger, and things staff should never say but more importantly, what to say and do instead.

Resilience in Times of Uncertainty and Exhaustion
Speaker: Paige Hector
CEUs approved for: ALL

Health care staff are experiencing unprecedented levels of pressure in these unimaginable and frightening circumstances of a pandemic. Staffs are stressed not only at work but also at home and in their communities. When our stress response is on full alert at all times, we are at risk of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion, or even collapse. This session is uniquely crafted as a visual experience, not a lecture with slides full of bullet-points. Participants will learn to identify their individual stress responses and learn techniques to shift to a place of calm, and to strengthen their resilience. Woven throughout the session are principles of trauma-informed care that staff can immediately apply to themselves, residents and families. These are powerful principles in helping individuals in times of vulnerability and in challenging circumstances.

Spring into Telehealth: The Benefits of Using Telehealth Services
Speaker: Mary Mahoney
CEUs approved for: ALL

Telehealth, as a mode of health care delivery in long-term care facilities, was gaining momentum prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic evolved and expanded during these past months, the use of telehealth has grown exponentially. This session will examine how long-term care facility telehealth programs can increase access to care and improve health care outcomes, and will explain current telehealth delivery methods, trends, advantages, disadvantages and opportunities.

Suicide and Self-Harm in the Elderly
Speaker: Kathleen Weissberg
CEUs approved for: ALL

Acts of suicide, ideation and self-harm in later life is a highly prevalent, but minimally researched and uncomfortably discussed topic in the U.S. Yet the older adult presents many or all of the primary risk factors: mental illness, medical illness, impaired coping skills, social disconnectedness and functional impairment. Further, life transitions experienced by the elderly including changes in housing of oneself or one’s spouse exacerbate the risk, making the transition to assisted living or long-term care a crucial point to deliver screening and intervention. How prepared are you and your staff to address the identification of depression in the elderly population, and what signs go beyond depression to reveal active suicidal or self-harm risk? This session will discuss prevalence of suicidality in residential care settings, the signs and behaviors which point to elevated risk, steps to improve the comfort and ability of staff to conduct effective risk assessments, hand-offs and additional tips.

Time Management in the Current Environment
Speaker: Sarah Ennis
CEUs approved for: ALL

Many times people seek help with time management, but really what they are struggling with is prioritization and efficiency. We all feel like things get added to our plates, but nothing ever seems to come off of it! And, as we have seen in the past few months, this becomes even more critical in the midst of a pandemic. This session will highlight the importance of time management and how it can be both the same and different during a pandemic. We will explore the impact that emotions have in time management, critical thinking and planning tools to aid in having a well-organized day, and recognize the increased importance of setting boundaries to increase productivity and effectiveness. As a health care professional, you have to use these skills each and every day. This session will help you communicate about priorities more effectively, allocate resources more efficiently and find solutions to very common time and prioritization problems.

The Champion Within: Ramping Up Your Self-Esteem
Speaker: Petra Marquart
CEUs approved for: ALL except N

If the tank is empty, the car will not run. And if self-esteem is low or empty, performance, innovation, risk-taking and conflict management will not work either. In order for high performance and engagement, people’s sense of self must be intact. When it is not, blaming, denying, barely functioning and anger undermine day-to-day performance. This enlightening session clarifies the role of self-esteem in customer service and defines each person’s responsibility to maintain one another’s sense of self.

Workforce Revitalization 2020
Speaker: Clint Maun
CEUs approved for: DH ADM, ALMC

Skilled nursing and assisted living centers have taken the needed action to fight a global pandemic and have established the required systems to contain and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The never-before-seen challenges we have experienced in 2020 have made it more vital than ever to have superior staff in all roles. We know health and housing teams can work together to achieve amazing success at workforce stabilization. Join this session to hear an overview of proven teaming strategies during this time of opportunity, which will detail the critical team actions necessary to produce immediate positive image and strength-based messaging that will attract quality applicants, secure referrals of good employees from local businesses and educational institutions, measurably improve the retention of new employees and identify the key systems that absolutely have to be place to sustain a strong workforce.