 Saint Antoine Residence:
TEAMhealth2 provides ‘your path to a future in healthcare’
 |
| “To serve is our mission, to love is our tradition” is expressed in the faces of both CNA caregiver and Saint Antoine resident. | Not many job training programs – especially those targeting under-employed and under-skilled persons – can boast a placement rate of 100% and a retention rate of 92%.
Yet those are the impressive outcomes of TEAMhealth2 (Training, Employ, Advance, Mentor), a certified nursing assistant (CNA) training and career laddering program offered by Saint Antoine Residence in North Smithfield.
The program is much more than extraordinary statistics. It’s people like Maria,* a single mother of five from Puerto Rico who, while working full-time in a supermarket, registered for the first TEAMhealth class in 2007. Unfortunately, Maria did not pass a required test of adult basic education. But she was not easily deterred.
“She really hounded us,” recalls Tammy Summiel, RN, BSN, program director, laughing. “She was gangbusters. She was working a job and studying at night. She (later) passed the entry level test, took the CNA training and passed with a high average, got her state license, and we hired her.”
That achievement was not enough for Maria, who took advantage of the TEAMhealth career laddering component and furthered her training to become a CNA Level II. She now mentors other CNAs at Saint Antoine. “She’s a mother figure to the younger CNAs. She’s a very dynamic woman,” Tammy conveys.
CNA training began at Saint Antoine in 1995 out of necessity; they simply couldn’t find as many CNAs as the 260-bed skilled nursing facility needed to help fulfill its mission “to meet the physical, social, emotional, and religious needs of older adults and their families by providing excellent care by compassionate professionals.”
The training became more formal in 2007 when Saint Antoine received funding from a Community Impact grant, an initiative led by the United Way of Rhode Island. Through St. Antoine’s initial three-year grant, TEAMhealth trained, licensed, and hired 167 individuals as CNAs. An additional 45 individuals completed training for, or are in school to become, certified medication technicians, licensed practical nurses, and/or registered nurses.
In 2010, through a new United Way Skill Up grant, TEAMhealth2 graduated an additional 54 CNAs, 16 CNA Level IIs, four CMTs, three LPNs, and currently has 36 individuals on the career ladder. Skill Up grants require matching funds, and The Rhode Island Foundation has supported the Saint Antoine jobs training program with grants made in each of the past two years.
 |
| CNA Level II graduates express their appreciation to nursing home residents who came to their 2010 graduation ceremony. The CNAs shown above are these residents’ primary caregivers at Saint Antoine Residence. | Bob Christensen, director of development and communications at Saint Antoine, believes three elements of the 10-week training program are key to its success:
- A strong assessment process of CNA candidates that includes the test of adult basic education and personal interviews to allow Saint Antoine staff to learn about candidates’ needs and potential barriers to success;
- A strong case management component that is handled by Saint Antoine’s primary program partner, Family Resources Community Action; and
- Career advisement that provides individuals with information on both further education and on employment.
“For the assessment process, I grill them,” says Rosa Brito, assessment coordinator/case manager, smiling. “We have to see that this is going to be a career for them and not just a job.”
Support services are available to all program participants to help assure their success both in training and later on the job. “We find out things about students’ personal lives during class,” explains Rachel Brin, RN, CNA training instructor. She asks, “If their outside life isn’t settled, how are they going to learn?”
“The case management and career advising components that Foundation funding supports are critical elements of the program, providing recruitment, assessment, and support throughout the training and afterwards,” states Adrian Bonéy, grant programs officer for community and economic development (CED) at the Foundation, who notes that the program aligns well with the focus in the CED sector on job training and readiness that address workforce needs of employers and employees in a key industry sector, healthcare.
To further address workforce needs, TEAMhealth staff in 2010 also developed and piloted a pre-CNA skills building class to assist lower-skilled candidates and expanded the CNA training to include a work readiness component and a two-week clinical rotation to better prepare candidates for immediate placement.
 |
| CNA Level II students at their graduation ceremony in June 2010. They now are mentors to incoming CNAs who graduate from the TEAMhealth2 program. | “When they graduate, we feel they’re ready to work in any nursing home,” says Bob proudly.
“Our employers like that,” Tammy agrees, noting that the program’s many partners include eight nursing homes who hire TEAMhealth graduates.
“The big part is placing them in the right fit where they’re going to last,” says Kathy Kane, program specialist for career advancement. She has told CNAs about job openings only to have them reply, “I will not leave my residents at Saint Antoine.”
Rachel, a 33 year employee, understands. “I’ve grown up at Saint Antoine, starting in dietary when I was 16. The people here (residents) are our loved ones. It’s for the care of the residents that we’re here. Saint Antoine is a huge family.”
It’s a good fit indeed.
* Employee name has been changed to protect her privacy.
|