
Elder Care & Aging Issues
Sensitivity Programs
25%
of American families are currently dealing with elder/parent
care issues and facing new life challenges. This percentage
is expected to increase to as much as 60% in the next decade
or so.
Becoming
a parent to a parent is, what I call,
a new role on the stage of life for which no one can ever
rehearse.
Emotions,
because they can't be 'seen' or 'felt' by anyone else, are
the most difficult element in elder care scenarios. Because
they are so elusive -- yet have such a tremendous impact --
they must be fully understood and dealt with appropriately
in order to achieve win-win situations.
Carol
Abaya Associates has developed unique
audience interactive programs that provide an unusual
perspective of the emotions involved in aging,
elder/parent care, and role reversal and that help develop
techniques and build skills to achieve positive
caregiving objectives. The interactive audience exercises
help bring out key issues of aging and role reversal.
Our
programs are specially geared to: |
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Family
caregivers |
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Geriatric
and health care professionals |
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Ccorporate
management and executives |
They
are designed to: |
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increase
the understanding of the aging process and
dynamics, and the emotions of both elders and caregivers. |
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strengthen
caregving skills and
develop new ones for all caregivers, both family and professionals. |
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provide
TIPS for making caregiving
more effective and less stressful. |
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enable
caregivers to more sensitively help elders maintain independence
and a higher quality of life. |
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help
reduce employee turnover,
and the inherent high costs involved, in corporations
and health care facilities. |
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enable
corporations to maintain productivity and service, and
at the same time be sensitive to employee needs. |
Family
Caregivers:
Family
members make up the vast majority of elder caregivers. They
are the unpaid heroes of the 21st century. The vast
majority of caregivers are women. 70% work full-time
outside the home. Almost 20% of working women have
either reduced the number of hours they work, taken advantage
of flex-time, or quit working to stay home and care for an
elder.
Caregivers
are struggling to balance all multi-generational
responsibilities and still maintain, what I call, their "I
Self."
Consequently,
any informational help given to individual caregivers snowballs
positively to the overall society.
Reaching
this audience, as well as the seniors themselves, provides
tremendous community outreach and marketing opportunities for
any organization involved with elder care and/or family
issues.
The
Professional Health Care Arena:
According to Provider magazine, the average annual
turnover rate for certified health aides (the mainstay of
nursing homes) is 71% and for RNs 50%.
Replacement
costs are more than $2,500 for health care aides and as much
as $7,000 for a nurse. With a tighter labor market, increased
competition, and increased elder care needs, health care facilities
(whether SNFs, ALFs, CCRCs, or other alternative living arrangement)
must address important aging and caregiving issues.
Staff
retention is the key to consistent quality care, customer
satisfaction, and a positive bottom line. It is also
critical given today's state and federal regulations for
licensing and accreditation.
Our
interactive programs: |
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provide
a new perspective on the emotional issues of
aging and caregivers and elders' psyche. |
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strengthen
staff caregiving skills
and develop new ones. |
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focus
on developing techniques to enhance
resident/family--staff relations. |
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enable
staff to more sensitively meet customer (both
resident and family) needs. |
The
Corporate Arena:
As more Americans live well into their 80s and
90s, elder care will affect most employees at some point in
their work careers.
Employers
simply cannot afford to lose the irreplaceable expertise and
knowledge of many of their most experienced and dedicated
employees -- particularly when the labor force is expanding
more slowly than in previous years. (Elder Care and the Work
Force by Andrew E. Scharlach, Ph.D.)
And
according to The New York Business Group on Health, Inc.,
"The problems and needs of employee caregivers may be
more widespread than they appear from the survey findings."
The
statistics tell the story: |
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In
reality, more productivity is lost from employees having
to fulfill elder/parent care responsibilities than for
child care ones. |
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More
than $30 billion a year is lost in productivity. |
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Some
studies indicate lost productivity and additional health
costs amount to $25,000 per caregiver employee. |
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An
Abaya extrapolation indicates a more costly formula --
for every 34 employees a company has, it loses the equivalent
of one full year's worth of productivity. |
Divide
the number of employees by 34, and multiply that number
by the average salary and benefits package cost. You then
get bottom line dollar loss impact.
Special
multi-level LifeLine programs are geared to: |
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Employee
caregivers |
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Managers
& Supervisors |
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Upper
Level Management and Executives |
Efficient
productivity of prime employees and retention of
knowledgeable and experienced staff are critical to
maintaining a competitive edge and positive bottom
line. |
Program
Specifics:
Program
#1: The Emotions of Aging -- THE Most Critical Element
Emotions, because they can't be 'seen' or 'felt' by anyone
else are the most difficult element in elder care scenarios.
Participants will actually experience what the elder is experiencing
in this unique skill building session.
Program
#2: Alzheimer's & Dementia - How to Deal With Unreality
With millions of older Americans experiencing Alzheimer's
or some other dementia, learning how to cope with the progress
of such illnesses and the stresses involved is critical. Participants
learn techniques to help elders retain their own dignity and
to reduce caregiver stress.
Program
#3: Corporate Specials
Corporate
programs combine Program #1 or #2 with the development of
a better understanding of what elder care responsibilities
means to productivity loss and corporate bottom line. Also,
TIPS on how to more effectively deal with caregiving employees.
Program
#4: Protecting Assets: What NOT to Do (NEW)
This
is a one-of-a-kind program geared to both seniors themselves
and sandwich generationers involved with the finances of their
aging parents. All too often families unwittingly put
seniors assets/money at risk. Avoiding risks is
critical. Information provided here is not available
anywhere else.
Program
Length: The length of a program depends on the
audience and sponsor objectives and ranges from 1 1/2 hours
to all day. The basic family caregiver program is 1 1/2 hours. Professional geriatric and corporate programs
are a minimum of two hours.
Program
Costs: Our fee depends on the audience and length
of the program. Out-of-pocket and travel expenses are billed
separately at cost.
Geographic
Coverage: There are no restrictions as to the location
of a program. We are located in New Jersey, USA. National
and international presentations are welcomed. (Have suitcase;
will travel, and will put Saya, my four-legged loved one,
in a 'hotel.')
Technology
is also available for long-distance and multi-site telecast
programs. Cost is dependent on your objectives, the audience,
and your budget.
For More Information or to
Schedule a Program
Call Me (Carol
Abaya) Personally
At 732-536-6215.
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here to go to the home page
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