Don’t Be A Turkey: Empower With Advanced Disease Education!
Kenyon HomeCare Consulting • March 15, 2021
Thanksgiving is upon us, and with it comes a chance to remember all this year’s blessings and the significance of this holiday. More specifically, turkeys and Pilgrims.
What do these two things – or Thanksgiving in general – have to do with homecare? When you are in the thick of running your agency, it’s easy to ignore certain areas crucial to your success, such as advanced disease education.
But doing so is a mistake. One might even say this mistake makes you “akin” to a turkey. Embracing advanced disease education, on the other hand, reveals in you all the strong qualities for which we admire the Pilgrims.
Turkeys Don’t Participate in Advanced Disease Education
Turkeys are pretty impressive animals. They can move their necks enough to achieve a 360-degree field of vision, their sense of hearing is significantly sharp, and the wild ones can fly.
But, there are a few distinct disadvantages to being a turkey, which can be compared to a home care organization that avoids advanced disease education.
Lack of Depth – Despite their wide sight range, turkeys can’t accurately judge depth due to the location of their eyes. As a homecare leader, it’s not enough to see the objects around you. You must also be able to acknowledge the depth of your actions and decisions. Choosing to invest in chronic disease education, has lasting positive effects for your organization, clients and staff.
Inability to Soar – Sadly, as turkeys have been domesticated over time, they have lost their ability to fly. This is due to the fact that they’re bred to have larger breast muscles, which make them better for human consumption. Like the turkey that desires to fly, but has been “tamed,” a homecare agency without advanced education for aides is held back from reaching its full potential.
Short-Lived Destiny – Turkeys serve one main purpose today: to be eaten by well-meaning humans and destined to become Thanksgiving dinner. Similarly, when you choose to ignore the need for advanced education in your homecare organization, you open yourself up to being devoured by the competition.
Advanced Disease Education Resembles Characteristics of the Pilgrims
Times were hard and survival for the Pilgrims was much different than today. Every year at Thanksgiving, we remember and celebrate the Pilgrim’s spirit, tenacity and endurance to forge life in a new country despite overwhelming odds. These same persistent qualities are found in homecare organizations that embrace advanced education as a means to succeed despite often ever changing odds.
Charting a new course – The Pilgrims were the first group to celebrate Thanksgiving. They broke away from the status quo and started a new tradition, in a new land. The same is true of homecare agencies providing advanced education to improve client care.
Being brave and determined – When things got tough, the Pilgrims became more determined. They remained brave and unwavering in making their new life. Setbacks, changes and challenges are the norm in the homecare industry. Advanced education provides the knowledge your staff needs to be ready to face any new test coming their way.
Building relationships – When it was time to celebrate at the first Thanksgiving dinner, the Pilgrims invited their neighbors to join them. As a result, new relationships were formed. By educating your aides, your community knows your first priority is providing the best client care possible. In turn, this allows you to build mutually beneficial relationships with families, referral sources, and other medical professionals.
Show Gratitude with Advanced Disease Education
This Thanksgiving, show your aides how thankful you are for the care they deliver daily. Give them the gift of advanced disease education providing the knowledge to increase work satisfaction, bolster their care confidence and advance their careers. The benefits are numerous, not only to them, but to your organization.
At Kenyon HomeCare Consulting’s Aide University, your employees receive everything needed to reach new levels of agency success – ability to provide specialized care, rehospitalization prevention, and increasing your bottom line. To learn more about advanced disease education, schedule a consultation today!
This Thanksgiving, will you resemble a turkey or a Pilgrim?
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Today, this article will look at little different than out typical articles. We all know the costs of losing employees and trying to hire and train new ones. It is exhausting and expensive. So, we think about our wages and benefit packages all the time. What can we do differently that makes people stay? We can’t change the job and we don’t want to keep people that don’t like the work itself. So, how do we acknowledge employees in a way that is valuable to them and that our businesses can afford to do? 5 Things To Consider About Employee Recognition At Your Christmas Party: 1. Years of Service: These can be based on milestone work anniversaries (5, 10, 15 yrs, etc.). If a person has been at your agency 11 years, you pull them up and acknowledge them in the group of employees who have been there at least 10 years up until the time they hit the 15 years landmark. This way longevity is recognized yearly. 2. Special Employee awards: Now, this may be difficult if your staff is very small, but acknowledge the employee who has gone the extra mile in the job they do. Tell the story. The employee needs to know when the employer is proud of the work that has been done. Consider a plaque or certificate. Don’t minimize the value of the employee having them to display. 3. Acknowledge all employees in the mix: Because we are a clinical industry, the administrative staff is often overlooked on day-to-day operations. Ultimately, don’t miss the chance to acknowledge the employee who was able to catch billing errors or collect on a large account. Staff doesn’t like to hear about money, but those types of collections keep Christmas bonuses in place! So, make sure the other staff knows the accomplishments of the finance department or the office manager that every caller loves to speak to. Don't ever forget the IT staff that is on call more than any clinical person in your agency! 4. Letters from the administration: Add a personal note to your staff either collectively or individually depending on the size of your agency. If you are larger, there are employees you don’t often see or get to talk to on a regular basis, so take the time so send a note with that Christmas bonus. 5. Consider the Christmas bonus: Listen, some of you can afford to do substantial monetary bonuses and that is fantastic. However, if you are not in that position, consider something in its place. Maybe small gas cards go with the letter from administration. With the cost of groceries, consider something that helps with the costs of daily living for employees. Big box gift cards in your area will always be used. You may do a lot of these things on a yearly basis to employees. All this being said, it doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons for acknowledgement throughout the year. However, your annual Christmas party is a good way to do it collectively. Between your annual party, write the individual cards to employees when you hear a patient interaction worthy of praise. Or, maybe you buy a gas card for the employee who has picked up extra shifts and always shows up on time. Ultimately, employees will feel valued. You will not regret the time, effort, and energy put into these efforts. Merry Christmas! If you want help with recruitment and retention strategies for your agency, please call Kenyon Homecare Consulting at 206-721-5091 or contact us online today.