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Penn State DuBois Helps long-term care facilities train staff By Michele Moyer
John Piccolo is the new director of Continuing Education at Penn State DuBois.	Penn State DuBois and 11 local nursing homes are working together on an innovative educational outreach program to improve long-term care in the region.   Through the new Long-Term Care Consortium, organized by the DuBois campus and the care facilities, staff members at the nursing homes are receiving training to improve their job skills and enhance the quality of care their residents receive.   This is the first Long-Term Care Consortium in this part of the state designed to address the education and training needs of these facilities, according to John Blasdell, Continuing Education representative at Penn State DuBois. Through the consortium, member long-term care facilities have access to cost-effective training programs for frontline and professional staff, held at convenient locations, he explained.   “The consortium concept is an innovative program-delivery system,” Blasdell added. “Until now, these facilities have had to send staff all over the state for training, which is expensive and time consuming. Now, working as a group, the member facilities can decide what educational programs should be offered locally, when and where. It’s an excellent way to provide needed training to a greater number of staff, close to home.”   John Piccolo, director of Continuing Education at Penn State DuBois, said, “The Long-Term Care Consortium is an ideal way of increasing access to education and training while, at the same time, saving the long-term care facilities valuable time and money. We’re extremely pleased to be able to help identify and solve a critical problem in our region that benefits not only the long-term care employees, but also the people they serve.”   Members of the consortium come from across the campus’ service area and include: Christ the King Manor, DuBois; the DuBois Nursing Home; Elk Haven Nursing Home, St. Marys; Highland View Nursing Home, Brockway; the Lutheran Home at Kane; Mulberry Square, Punxsutawney; Pennsylvania Memorial Home, Brookville; Pinecrest Manor, St. Marys; Mountain Laurel Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Clearfield; Jefferson Manor, Brookville; and Bradford Nursing Pavilion.   The Penn State DuBois Continuing Education unit created the consortium in response to industry need.   “Nursing home administrators approached us and asked for our help in developing more educational opportunities geared toward long-term care facilities,” Blasdell said. “An assessment conducted by the University’s Outreach Office of Marketing Research revealed a lack of training programs in our region and determined there was substantial interest among the care providers in working together to fill this need.”   During fiscal year 2000–01, the consortium has scheduled five programs: Professional Responsibility in Long-Term Care, Geriatric Assessment, Effectively Dealing with Dementia Patients, Basic Supervision for Managers in Long-Term Care, and Signs of Abuse and Neglect. The first two classes — Professional Responsibility in Long-Term Care and Geriatric Assessment — provided training to 122 staff members from various consortium member agencies.   Greg Bauer, administrator at Pinecrest Manor in St. Marys, has praise for the new organization and estimates his facility will be sending between 75 and 100 employees to the five programs.   “We’re excited to be a part of this unique training opportunity,” Bauer said. “Continuing education is very important in the health care field, where there is constant change and new technology is being developed and introduced every day. It’s very important that our staff has access to this kind of up-to-date information locally. It will be reflected in a higher quality of care provided to our residents.”   Linda Barclay, nursing director at Christ the King Manor in DuBois, believes the knowledge base her staff is acquiring through the training will help them to more effectively meet patients’ needs.   “As we go through the programs, I hear our employees saying, ‘Gee, I didn’t know that,’ or ‘I didn’t realize that.’ This training helps them recognize and deal with patient situations before they escalate into problems,” Barclay said.   The consortium is also giving the care providers an opportunity to network in an industry that is traditionally very competitive, Barclay added.   “It’s nice to be able to positively relate to others as co-workers and not as competitors. It has helped us realize we are all dealing with the same issues and sharing the same experiences,” she noted.   Penn State DuBois believes the success of the program is a direct reflection of its members’ commitment to education.   “The size of the consortium in its first year speaks to the need that has existed for this type of program,” Blasdell said. “For us, the bottom line is that local people who need training now have access to it and, as a result, are improving their performance on the job. This benefits everyone: staff, management and the residents they serve.”