The National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA) Executive Director Larry Curley talks about the goals of our NICOA Compass website, the service delivery systems available in Indian Country, and how to establish long-term services and supports in your community.

Find out how to best improve your program and serve your community! Watch our “Navigating LTSS: Effective Program Management” webinar to receive guidance on budgeting, staff, infrastructure, sustainability, leadership styles, conflict resolution and how to coordinate funding. This webinar is ideal for Title VI and elder program administrators, as well as anyone in the field of Continuum of Care (CoC) services.

Learn the best problem-solving approaches to program management in the long-term care industry, both internally and externally. Speakers Jeff Kiely and Larry Curley will reflect on a range and variety of experiences in program management.

Kiely has 40 years of experience in the fields of education, public health, regional and community planning, grantsmanship, intercultural communications, program development and administration. He owns a consulting company specializing in strategic planning and development for organizations, businesses and communities.

National Indian Council on Aging Executive Director Curley is a member of the Navajo Nation with over 40 years of experience working in the aging and healthcare fields. He has served as a nursing home administrator of a tribal, long-term care facility, as a hospital administrator in northern Nevada.

Check out our “Navigating LTSS: Home Health Care” webinar about the home health aspect of long-term services and supports. Home health is a way to receive medical care without having to leave your home.

Home health was part of the law that was implemented with Medicare to help cover the healthcare needs of elders. To receive home health services, individuals must have difficulty leaving home, need skilled care, have a physician certify and review the plan of care and have a Medicare-certified agency delivering the services.

Cheryl Engram, a registered nurse (RN BSN) with 38 years of professional experience — 35 of which have been solely focused on the home health industry — will teach you what home health is, who pays for it and what is covered under this benefit. Discover what is needed to set up home health as well as the differences between setting up an agency or utilizing an already existing agency.

For years nursing homes have often been seen as a distasteful living arrangement for loved ones, especially elders. They were far too regimented, based on a medical model of care and offered very little privacy, dignity or opportunity for residents to thrive.

In response, creative minds during the 1980’s and 1990’s brought forth a paradigm shift; a new concept of living and of service to elders. This new approach focused on a residential model with freedom to manage one’s own affairs, medications and personal schedule.

The goal was to be like a home not an institution and counter the plagues of nursing home confinement: Loneliness, Helplessness, Boredom. A new concept was born — “Assisted Living.”

In this webinar you’ll learn about the components and services that make up assisted living, as well as its history and evolution. Discover the different levels of assisted living, how to qualify, and what it takes to develop and operate an assisted living facility. Don’t miss the National Indian Council on Aging’s “Assisted Living: The Nursing Home Alternative” webinar.

David Wildgen is an experienced CEO of Life Plan/Continuing Care Communities including assisted living and post-acute/rehab skilled nursing facilities with over 40 years as a healthcare executive with not-for-profit, faith-driven corporations. He is a multi-state licensed nursing home administrator. Over the past eight years he’s engaged in consulting and interim CEO/executive director/administrator positions. He finds it rewarding to use his many years of experience to help elder service providers.

This webinar from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shares information about the National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA) Tribal Continuum of Care (CoC) services National Resource Center, www.nicoacompass.org, which seeks to make CoC programs a reality for Native elders.

Laverne Wyaco (Navajo) of New Mexico talks about her upbringing, traditions, hobbies and family. She shares her story of being a caregiver to her mother, husband and son, her struggle to obtain health services and home care in a rural area, and her worries about their future as well as her own. She wishes there was a daycare program for elders and disabled family members where caregivers could drop them off to socialize while they run errands.