Nashville, Tenn. – More than 200 assisted living professionals attended the 16th Annual NCAL Day today, a day-long educational event preceding the 73rd American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) Convention & Expo at Music City Center. This year’s event featured the association’s leadership addressing attendees about the latest issues in Washington, D.C. and session speakers highlighting various workforce aspects and strategies.
“Assisted living providers – in fact, all long term care providers – are experiencing an unparalleled workforce crisis right now,” said NCAL Chair Gerald Hamilton. “Focusing on this crucial issue at NCAL Day allows us to come together as a profession to learn, share, and implement new strategies that will strengthen our communities and support our efforts to provide the highest quality care.”
This year’s opening keynote – CEO of Breakthrough to Millions LLC, leadership coach, and bestselling author Natalie Fikes – inspired attendees to unleash their inner winner. Assisted living professionals attended education sessions to learn about drama free teams in health care, leadership in a transformative culture, apprenticeship partnerships, and promoting positive working relationships. Additionally, NCAL Day honored the 2022 recipients of the NCAL Awards Program and the Jan Thayer Pioneer Award at a special ceremony. The closing keynote speaker was Linda M. Cohen, MA, who focused on becoming a kind leader.
“Our assisted living communities are working hard to care for residents every day, but issues like a workforce shortage make their noble work much more challenging,” said NCAL Executive Director LaShuan Bethea. “I truly hope attendees get something out of NCAL Day that they can take back to their communities to inspire and lead staff. NCAL continues to find new ways to support all our providers.”
While workforce continues to be a priority for NCAL, it is also focused on developing resources for assisted living providers in other critical areas. In September, NCAL released its 2022 State Regulatory Review, a report summarizing key selected state requirements for assisted living licensure or certification. For every state and the District of Columbia, this report provides information on topics such as which state agency licenses assisted living, recent legislative and regulatory updates affecting assisted living, and requirements for resident agreements, admission and discharge, units serving people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, staffing, and training.
This first day of the AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo held additional day-long educational programming for therapy providers, updates on the revised guidance for surveyors on the skilled nursing Requirements of Participation, a workforce recruitment and retention intensive, as well as workshops on the AHCA/NCAL Quality Awards Program.
The AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo continues through Wednesday, October 12. For more information, please visit www.ahcaconvention.org.