the cna solution

by meredith van valkenburgh, msafa, cgb, cpm

Have you ever worked late and realized dinner is your responsibility? As with most people, technology to the rescue. So, I start looking at my apps, and quickly pick chicken wings for dinner. Ordering is always the easy part. When it gets to the payment, there is a fee for this, a fee for that, plus the tip. My hesitation builds as the total order equals a steak dinner. Are chickens endangered or is the order too big and expensive? The answer is no to both. I need a better solution. My thought was to have the groceries for chicken wings dropped at the house, task the teenager with prep, and finish cooking when I get home. Once again, the price for one meal was higher than I was willing to commit. As I continue to work trying to make a decision about dinner, and looking back down at my computer monitors, the project that had my full attention was the free CNA training grant program. Now, I can just imagine assisted living providers experiencing the same issues with staff training.

Short on time, labor pressures, and higher costs of training.

The free CNA training grant program is designed for staff to advance their career while employed by taking one of the offered tracks and able challenging the CNA exam. The community only needs to commit to having a single mentor to answer any learner questions that might arise and communicate with the program staff to remove barriers. The tracks are approved by the communities for their staff. The grant program offers three different tracks; Teal, Coral or Blue, all including the Prometric Exam. For the Teal Path, the more experienced staff can take a 75-Hour Online Training Course. It includes a CNA overview, online coaching, test prep, practice written exams, and clinical skills Review. This is really for the experienced staff who know their craft but need the opportunity to review and challenge the exam. Newer staff may be interested in the Coral Path. Ranging between 2-7 weeks, the online course delivered in a Google classroom setting. Coral will have a deeper dive in subjects, online coaching, practice written exams and clinical skills review. The mentor will have a role answering any questions that may arise, relating questions to the learner’s experience and communicating with program staff to remove barriers. The Blue Path is a true apprenticeship program. If you were wondering about the steak dinner, this is it. We don’t have data for retention with the first two tracks just the 90% pass rate but with apprenticeships there is a 93% employment retention rate. Phase one is the online course portion for the CNA materials with an expectation of up to 12 weeks to complete. Phase two offers advance skills and on the job training (OJT). Phase Three is just OJT. Staff are given credit for qualified hours already worked up to 1040 hours. The Blue Path offers an opportunity to invest in your employees, improve employee retention, and instill a sense of ownership. Depending on your local Career Source, there may also be funding to offset the costs or salaries during training. More to come about that later. meredith van valkenburgh, msafa, cgb, cpm Project Director Florida Senior Living Institute

So, what is the catch? There is always a catch. The catch is Florida Senior Living Institute MUST enroll more than 300 CNAs for licensing, but we can’t do this without the help of our member communities. Here’s why we need your help… Prometric is limited on available testing centers and seats for taking the exam. If your community has a space for 10 learners to challenge the CNA exam along with a space for the Clinical Skills test, we can work with you to get your community and spaces qualified as an alternate site. This keeps it local, allows ALF CNA exam challengers to test, and only ties up the space for a day. Our goal is to have at least one site in each of the Career Source Regions if not each county. Feel free to reach out to me to express interest and ask questions via email, text or call. Meredith@floridaseniorliving.org (850) 755-6583. Or visit our website:

flseniorlivinginstitute.org/cna-training

By the way, I ended up going through a drive-thru for dinner but now I want a steak.