Program

Keynote: Let Humor Work

Presented by Lon Kieffer

Defenders of Caregiving

HUMOR is a Healthy Understanding of Moments Others Recognize (or Reject) and this phenomenon is critical in creating community through shared experiences. Attendees will learn about Cognitive Distortions that are natural yet damaging for those under chronic stress to adopt, as well as how to break this cycle and progress upwards on the Emotional Scale.

 

Dementia Programming: Back to the Future!

Presented by Tia Hovatter

Health Consultants Plus, Inc

“Great Scott! Wait a minute Doc, are you telling me you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?” In this interactive session, we invite you to embark on a captivating journey back to the past with dementia residents. Learn innovative approaches to better understand how life experiences can build a dementia friendly person-centered activity program.

 

Hiring for Safety

Presented by Shamus Harmon

ERNWest

This class will help those in charge of hiring walkthrough the process and cover ways to attract and retain employees that will safely perform. We will help cut through the buzz and determine what your culture is, how to gauge it, and how to affect it in meaningful, positive ways. Through discussion and example, trainees will learn how their culture affects the safety of their staff, and how they can use it to ensure their staff are safer.

 

Roads to Community Living: Washington’s Money Follows the Person Program

Presented by Julie Cope

ALTSA

This informational exchange session will enable Home and Community Services to share which services are currently available, which services will be rolling out in the near future and learn more about transition barriers nursing facilities are currently experiencing to inform future service development.

 

Rock Solid Person-Centered Service Planning

Presented Rebecca Evans

Consulting Resources

In this session we will learn how being person-centered improves care and makes things easier for everyone. Attendees will also learn methods to engage and invest staff in the service planning process, who should be involved in service planning, regulatory requirements for service plans, as well as common pitfalls in service planning and how to avoid them.

 

Resident Council: Meeting Madness!

Presented by Tia Hovatter

Health Consultants Plus, Inc

Which one reflects your resident council meetings: effective meeting, compliant session or complete meeting madness? This session provides a step-by-step approach to conducting effective resident council meetings with techniques for how to stay on track. We will also review all the steps for meeting documentation and follow-up documentation.

 

WHCA Update and Listening Session

Presented by Carma Matti-Jackson

WHCA President/CEO

Join WHCA CEO Carma Matti-Jackson to share your experience and perspectives about the challenges and opportunities you face as a leader in Washington’s long term care sector. This session will help inform WHCA legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts—and association professional development programs.

 

Surrogate Decision Making

Presented by Sascha Schilbach

Lane Powell

 

The Med Pass: Promoting Quality in Medication Management

Presented by Vicki McNealley & Kelli Carr

WHCA and Consonus Healthcare

In this session, will see firsthand what a terrible medication pass can look like to emphasize the importance of consistent quality improvement methods.  From three-way audits to new-admit medication reconciliation…from training medication staff to ensuring continued competency in skills and knowledge…this session will bring to light what is needed to promote safe medication delivery for each resident, every time.

 

Safe Home: Embracing Diversity, Shaping Inclusive Futures for Older Adults in Washington

Presented by Charles P Hoy-Ellis

UW

Sexual and gender minority older adults often report incompetent care and discrimination in long-term care environments. Responding to the need, this Safe Home training is committed to improving person-centered care for a diverse range of residents. Through tangible strategies, the training fosters inclusivity and hospitality within long-term care settings, broadening the capabilities of workers across different environments.

 

Best Kept Secret – A Potential Solution for the Turnover/Burnout Problem in Health Care

Presented by Matt Flemming

Sunshine Health Facilities, Inc.

Reduce your turnover dramatically and improve your financial results by implementing one key practice. Join us as we walk through how you can prevent burnout and improve employee satisfaction at your company/facility.

 

Reasonable Accommodations and Ergonomics

Presented by Shamus Harmon

ERNWest

This class will lead managers, supervisors, and other safety leaders through the foundations of ergonomics and reasonable accommodations, why they matter in long term care, and explore some specific ways in which they can help prevent injury to both employees and residents through the appropriate application of ergonomic principles.

 

Behavioral Health Management in Nursing Facilities and Substance Abuse  

Presented by David Rodriguez

Comagine

In this presentation we will discuss resident behavioral health management—what it is, the benefits of this approach, how it differs from other methods, and some key strategies for success to improve resident care.

 

Supporting Your Neurodivergent (I/DD) Residents

Presented by Heather Bartholomew

During this session, we will discuss supporting your residents who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. The presentation will dig into the variance in care demands, extol the advantages of creating a nurturing environment for the neurodivergent, and address the inherent opportunities and challenges associated with diverse parental/guardian dynamics.

 

Expecting the Unexpected: DOSH Compliance Inspections

Presented by Shamus Harmon

ERNWest

Long term care is currently under an emphasis program with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) for 2024 – and possibly beyond. This class will cover what triggers a DOSH inspection, the steps of an inspection, the documentation you must have, how DOSH calculates penalties, and five tips to be better prepared.

 

Documentation Basics and Tracking Behaviors

Presented by Krystle Malo

RCSBHT

Do you have staff that struggle with documentation? This training can help! We will develop strategies to address the “downside” of documentation. We will work together to compare high quality documentation versus low quality documentation. We will then develop efficient documentation skills. We will then discover the value of using documentation to track behaviors.

 

Understanding Lewy Body Dementia

Presented by Lori Dierolf

Most long-term care professionals receive an abundance of training in Alzheimer’s care, but not as many are familiar with the second most-commonly diagnosed type of dementia-related disease in older adults – Lewy Body Dementia. This session reviews what LBD is, its two sub-types and symptoms, and the ways the diseases of LBD differ from Alzheimer’s disease.

EBS and Behavioral Programs

Presented by Dr. Kristina Kovacs

BHS

The purpose of Expanded Behavior Supports (EBS) in skilled nursing facilities is to serve individuals with both complex skilled and behavioral support needs. The purpose of EBS Plus is to serve individuals who need a level of behavior support services that include dedicated staffing and availability of daily behavior support, consultation, and training in a skilled nursing environment.

 

Deciphering The Code: Understanding New Requirements for Flow, Doors, Dampers, and the Like

Presented by Kimberly Bloor

WSP

Misunderstandings on new or newish code requirements can be frustrating. How to figure out what exactly the new requirements are. This session will cover the dreaded forward flow, fire door and fire wall inspections, fire/smoke dampers, and many others.

 

Treatment of Hard-to-Heal Wounds

Presented by Pamela Scarborough

United Wound Healing

This session covers key interventions for challenging hard-to-heal wounds, including appropriate debridement types for nursing, topical interventions and products for biofilm and wound infection management, and more. This session is suitable for both new and experienced wound nurses, Directors and Assistant Directors of Nursing Services, as well as providers and other clinicians engaged in wound care.

 

Find, Verify, and Get Paid for Your Med B Supplies: A Live Demonstration

Presented by Eric Hansen

Burst Medical Billing

This session will teach you to find billable supplies fast, estimate your current Med B losses, create a formulary you can use immediately, and discover hidden Med B-related compliance issues. Attendees will watch your presenter scrub for supplies live, estimate their losses in real-time, brainstorm a list of supplies to share with central supply, and build a workflow to prevent potential tags.

 

What’s in Your QAPI Plan?

Presented by Nina Sanderson & Shannon Finegood

Comagine

Attendees will be walked through the process of conducting a thorough Root Cause Analysis, developing an AIM statement, and designing and implementing a manageable plan for change. We will delve into how to gather data to evaluate both desirable and unintended outcomes quickly, as well as adjusting your plan as needed to focus on the desired outcome. We will explore how to scale up change to incorporate your entire organization, and how to sustain desired changes over time.

 

Preparing For the Future – Emergency Preparedness & Infection Prevention and Control in Long Term Care

Presented by Linda Dunn

DSHS/RCS

During this 60-minute presentation, you will meet the RCS IPC/EP Team members, learn about their roles, and how the team provides support for RCS staff, long-term care providers, and stakeholders. Together, we can prepare for future emergencies and disasters to decrease potential impacts on the long-term care residents we serve.

 

Crisis Response and De-escalation

Presented by Krystle Malo

RCSBHT

Attendees will learn about De-escalation and identify verbal de-escalation techniques. We will also discuss how to maintain safety and ways to be aware of your surroundings. We will also talk about how validation can help de-escalation and the 6 levels of validation. Last, we will discuss situations that may occur and what to do.

 

Best Practices for Hiring, Firing, and On-boarding

Presented by Barbara Kohnen Adriance, MPP

The Malden Collective

 

Referrals and Reimbursement: Understanding the Correlation Between Key SNF Success Factors

Presented by Sarah Scott

Simple

Referrals are a key factor in the success of any skilled nursing facility. An effective referral strategy can mean the difference between success or failure, and also play a crucial role in PDPM reimbursement. In this session, we will explore critical factors influencing hospital-to-SNF referrals and how referrals impact PDPM. Gain the knowledge to confidently enhance this vital aspect of your SNF’s success.

 

Bridging the Gap: Workforce Development from Gen X to Gen Z

Presented by Jennifer Brown

Caldera Care

During this session we will discuss practical ways to retain staff regardless of where they are in life. Topics of discussion will include general attitudes towards work and work life balance among nursing of various generations, stages of leadership development, common mistakes among new leaders, and conflict resolution.

 

Huntington’s Disease: Following the Genetic Links

Presented by Lori Dierolf

This session explores the mood and behavior changes that are hallmarks of Huntington’s disease, as well as the stage-specific symptoms and available treatment options for those who are living with it.

 

Grow Your Occupancy!

Presented by Dresden Cincurak

This session will identify the three sales conversions that have the greatest impact on sales results and what to do to improve each conversion. We will also examine two case studies that show the impact of focus on skills that improve sales conversions has on your bottom line.

 

State Staffing Requirements and Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) – Impacts and Insights

Presented by Nathan Anderson

Simple

CMS requires skilled nursing facilities to report staffing levels quarterly through Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) reporting. It is essential to learn the key differences in federal and state reporting requirements. Gain insights on the continuing evolution of staffing reporting requirements, best strategies for preparing for PBJ audits, and how to refine your own reporting to improve results.

 

Director of Nursing 101: Fundamentals of Clinical System Management

Presented by Jennifer Brown

Caldera Care

This presentation will present the building blocks for time management, clinical system review, and survey preparedness for the novice or struggling Director of Nursing. In addition, the presentation will cover how to build a team that supports your vision as a new Director of Nursing