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Motivational speaker Earl Suttle, PhD, convinced some 75 long-term care (LTC) nurses from throughout Mississippi that they can “become the greatest” through excelling at what they do and enjoying it in the process.

At the 5th Annual LTC Nursing Symposium, hosted by the Mississippi Health Care Association (MHCA) on March 4 at the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum in Jackson, the front-line caregivers for nursing homes also learned new ways to help residents through prevention, early identification, and appropriate intervention of syndromes specifically important to older adults. They also heard particularly important information about the definition, stages, and healing of pressure ulcers, localized injury to the skin and/or underlying tissue.

Virginia Cora of the University of Mississippi Medical Center taught the geriatric competencies, assessments, and intervention session, while Myra Varnado from Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division covered wound healing.

Symposium participants also heard from Mark Rodgers, chairman and CEO of Samarion, Inc., the LTC industry’s technology partner based in Ridgeland. Rodgers presented the SamarionSolutionSM, an innovative quality improvement system that provides unprecedented restraint-free fall prevention; wandering and elopement prevention; resident, staff and visitor safety and security management; unparalleled staff management and facility monitoring; and an all-encompassing family-and-friends communications system.

“The Mississippi Health Care Association’s nursing summit provided the opportunity to meet the true heroes of the nursing home industry,” said Rodgers, whose healthcare technology firm will have the system in place at several nursing homes around the country later this year. “These nurses have a commitment and dedication to the elderly they serve that is awe-inspiring. In conversations following my presentation, they also reiterated their need for new technologies like the SamarionSolution, which will free them up to do what they do best: provide care for their residents. I also applaud the Mississippi Health Care Association for hosting this important meeting and for being an advocate of long term care in Mississippi.”

As the symposium’s keynote speaker, Suttle talked about the content and message of one of his books, Earl’s Pearls On Enjoying Excellence.

“When you work harder on yourself than you do on your job, you’ll become more productive on your job and in your personal life,” he asserted.

As founder and CEO of Three E Corporation, an international training company based in Atlanta, Suttle delivers nearly 100 presentations a year in the United States and South Africa. He urged each nurse to develop a personal growth plan, to cultivate self-confidence, strive to reach dreams, and never give up.

Four directors of nursing homes in Brandon, Gautier, Magee, and Picayune described how their facilities’ development of the “culture change” concept is helping them and, more importantly, their residents.

Mississippi LTC professionals concentrated focus throughout 2007 on that concept of change, especially relating to the individuals who reside in nursing homes and assisted living centers and their right to more choices in their home environment, care options, and social activities.

MHCA executive director Vanessa Phipps Henderson described the culture change that’s already well underway statewide: “Long term care facilities and assisted living centers resemble nothing remotely conceived 30, 20, even 10 years ago. The staffs are different — representing a wider array of health specialists, including social workers, activity therapists, and chaplains — and better trained than ever before. Nurses and certified nursing assistants, particularly, are much better educated and bring more skills to the workplace.

“Residents are very different, too,” compared Henderson. “Today’s long term care resident requires skilled nursing care. At the same time, their desires for dignity, choice, and comfort have driven their service providers to change the way they conduct business. Facility owners and staff want their residents to be safe, optimally healthy, and happy.”

Nursing directors who spoke to symposium participants shared specific examples:
• JaCinda Shaw of Covenant Health & Rehab in Picayune pointed out that adding a pool table to the facility has been especially welcomed by men. “You know, men are not very good at just visiting or sitting idly while their families visit,” she said, “so we gave them something they would like to do.”
• Renee Kennedy of River Chase Village in Gautier worked for several years as a hospital nurse before trying LTC. “Every night I go to bed thinking, What can I do tomorrow to make the day better for somebody? So now I sleep with a pen and pad in my hand,” she joked. “If I wake up at 3 a.m. with an idea, I jot it down to make a difference in others’ lives the next day.”
• Kay Brannon of Hillcrest Nursing Center in Magee talked about family style dining, which allows bonding, gives residents choices, and puts the person in control; resident outings, thanks to a grant-funded facility bus; kitchenettes for those who like late night snacks; and providing games for therapy and exercise. “They love to play each other and with the staff, too,” she pointed out.
• Janet Butts of Brandon Nursing & Rehab Center in Brandon said: “Culture change begins when a job candidate applies for the position. When a new employee comes in, every one gets a 3-day orientation. Our residents range from 36 to 100-plus years in age. That’s a huge span, and we do everything we can think of to make each one comfortable, part of the home’s life, and important as individuals.”

Gwen Causey, MHCA director of LTC quality and regulatory services, said their stories resonate because they’re real.

“Listen, I’ve worked in long term care, starting on the floor as a licensed practical nurse and then — after going back to school to earn my BS degree — as a registered nurse supervisor,” Causey said. “With the aging of Baby Boomers — The Age Wave — the number of people who will require long term care will grow bigger every year. This huge aging population promises problems, opportunities, challenges, and a whole new way of thinking about daily living to assure a safety net for our country’s most vulnerable population of seniors and disabled citizens.

“That’s a major reason for long term care nurses to take ourselves and the work we do to the next level, to organize ourselves and become visible and vocal for the people in whose homes and for whom we work. That’s what will give added value to the (new) LTC Nursing Coalition of Mississippi.”

Sponsors for the MHCA-presented Nurses Make a Difference-themed symposium were Wilkins, Stephens, & Tipton, PA; Tara Cares; HealthPoint; Golden Living Centers; Omnicare; American HealthTech; Professional Medical, Inc.; Providence Hospice; Nutrition Systems, Inc.; The Summit Health & Rehabilitation Services; Community Hospices of America; Gulf South Medical Supply; Uni-Care; Lefleur Transportation; and Covenant Pharmacy.



April 2008

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