Happy New Year!! 

Here’s hoping that 2009 is a year of greatness - however that is defined!  When staff approached me about blogging something “informative and entertaining” for members my first thought was why?  My second thought was who will care?  I have no preconceived notion that my thoughts will be either well read - or well written!  However, after reviewing other blog postings from executives/CEOs, I did note that there is a place and often a purpose for writing messages that are not technically news stories.  From my perspective, my blog postings will give me an opportunity to throw out ideas or topics that require additional thought, discussion, and incubation before possible development into a program/service or initiative.  It is also an opportunity for members who are too busy to actively participate in Association committees to have a new means of connection to YOUR Association.

With that background, let me share with you a topic that has been going through my head these past few weeks.  With each media story on alleged nursing home abuse and survey ratings that has surfaced, there are many thoughts, and emotions that emerge from everyone who reads the story or watches the news.  After the barrage of stories in December, one of the primary concerns that has risen to my list is how to acknowledge and support the 99% of the staff that do such kind, thoughtful, and difficult work every day.  It can’t be easy to speak with pride about your profession when the media stories seem to only highlight the few that shouldn’t be working with vulnerable adults to start with.  The recognition work we do already - scholarships and awards - are quickly forgotten with a series of media stories that ripple through all levels of community discussions.  How can we do a better job to consistently highlight the positive stories on a year-round basis?  A couple of ideas are swirling in my head; feel free to comment: 

• I know some of our members have “shining star” type of awards/recognition for their employees and I strongly encourage those programs.  Should we expand on these programs and as an Association, regularly feature a caring caregiver?  We could highlight these individuals in our newsletter, on our website, and even in media releases.

• One of the greatest untapped assets we have is family support and the messages that could be “harnessed” from families with long term care experience.  Maybe we should be doing a better job in gathering family statements of support, “rewarding” family involvement maybe with a new award category, and highlighting the customer satisfaction data we already collect.  

• I also know that the media will be more likely to cover stories that are controversial and emotion-driven.  So, it seems like we will need to work twice as hard to repeat stories such as the positive media story (that was aired by the Fox affiliate earlier in 2008) that was developed as a direct result of upset staff at New Brighton Care Center.  The main reason the station decided to cover this story was because of the heart-felt message from the facility staff.  How can we empower staff to reach out to the media to tell their positive stories—even if all they do is respond to news stories with their reader response blog?