Erica Thrash-Sall said she learned a lot about her frontline workforce when she had to fill in as a cook at her assisted living community during the pandemic.
“It’s one thing to have conversations with your staff members, but it’s another thing to work alongside them in their area of expertise,” said the executive director of McFarlan Villages and McFarlan Charitable Corp. “I got a deep understanding of the level of commitment they have for their work.”
That insight — and the workforce challenges affecting the senior living and care industry — prompted her organization to take another look at how it invests in its workforce.
“Working alongside them taught me that for them, helping others and knowing what they do matters, that was just priceless,” Thrash-Sall said Wednesday during a LeadingAge membership call.
The lesson she learned, she said, was to give workers a seat at the decision-making table and support them. Investing in the current workforce, Thrash-Sall added, will have a direct effect on people joining the field.
As a result, McFarlan Charitable Corp. was approved for a one-time $600,000 allocation in the form of a federal earmark for its workforce development program. The program targets high school juniors by recruiting those interested in healthcare careers to a work and training program.
During their senior years, students are “educated in the art of caregiving.” Students are paid for 10 hours of work per week to learn about the field and work with a mentor. By the end of their senior year, students graduate from high school with a certified nursing assistant license.
Thrash-Sall said the goal is for 100% of participants to have a job offer before they graduate. Employers who hire program participants receive $4,500 in intuition reimbursement to support those students through college programs for licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, physical therapy technicians and social workers.
“The key is working, getting experience providing care in aging services, and working toward a degree with a goal of growing their career in aging services,” Thrash-Sall said.
