New program focuses on team member training
At Hope Residence, residents receive physical care. Equally as important, we strive to provide spiritual, intellectual and emotional care. This wouldn’t be possible without our caring, compassionate team members. Our team members are highly valued and Hope leaders have found several ways to care for them including a new preceptor program to focus on training new direct support team members.
“We are improving our training methods and ensuring all team members receive the same introductory training, said Debra Wilbright, Director of Disability Services. “Our preceptors are looked at as leaders. They always have positive attitudes, are willing to help and answer questions whenever need.”
For many Direct Support Professionals (DSP), working at Hope is their first job in the health care field and no previous training is required. The goal of the program is to ensure all team members receive a solid training and establish a good start. To begin the program, current DSP’s were interviewed and promoted to the leadership positions.
Hope currently employs two preceptors, Becca Lambrecht and Savannah Kirsch-Swanson , who have helped to develop the specific training procedures.
“We increased training from three to four days,” explained Savannah. “We have a checklist for each day to make sure that most situations are seen. For example, observing a transfer with a gait belt or Hoyer lift and performing those lifts.”