A new online training program is designed to improve worker safety.
A new online caregiving certificate aims to improve the safety of the nation’s more than 4.5 million long-term-care workers and 2.5 million domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program, which became available April 1, represents a partnership between LeadingAge; the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a domestic worker advocacy group; and NextStep, a Seattle-based digital training startup. The initiative was described in a recent blog published by the American Society of Aging.
“The training has been developed to help staff and employers who need to make sure that their frontline staff know how to address the COVID challenge and protect the people they care for, and themselves,” explained Robyn Stone, co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston.
The National COVID-Ready Caregiver Certificate features cell phone-accessible video-based skills trainings, which are broken into bite-sized pieces for easy access. Trainings include:
- How to protect yourself from the virus.
- A caregiver skills refresher.
- Instructions for how to don and remove protective equipment, and take temperatures.
- Tools for managing stress and anxiety, including guided meditation.
Development of the tool began soon after the first surge of COVID-19 cases hit Seattle in late February.
“It became very clear right away that number one, the frontline workers in nursing homes were at serious risk, and number two, they are the front line in all of our settings, whether residential or home care settings,” said Stone. “They are essential workers.”