Welcome to AAHSA Chicago. It was gorgeous here today, 64 degrees as I write this after dinner. I'm here this week with a group of eight and traveled today with our Director of Nursing and Director of Wellness. The great weather and our wonderful families led us to get a late start from the Fort, so I can't comment much on today's opening speakers. I spotted Mr. Minnix outside of the Marriott but did not have the opportunity to hear his comments this afternoon, which was very disappointing for me. I consider him a bit of a celeb in my world and regretted not stopping him and saying hello and thanks when I saw him tonight.
For the afternoon session I attended (85-A) "Effective Event Reporting in a Risky Environment." This session highlighted the cost benefits of successful risk management in the long term care environment. Speakers made interesting points on unavoidable statements (compare your unavoidable statement verbiage to CMS interpretive guideline language) and the legal benefits of the family notification process. They really did stress the importance of family notification at the time of an incident and talked about methods for educating families on both community policies and the aging process in general. Education in risk management techniques is encouraged now at all levels of the organization, in many different forms. By educating staff on risk management policies, caregivers should not feel as threatened by a facility's investigation procedures and their own involvement.
I hate to mention the shuttles, but coming and going may be a bit difficult this week! The city traffic and unbalanced ebb and flow of conference traffic extended some shuttle waits to 45+ minutes tonight. Fighting a disappointed Bears crowd, thousands of sunny-day bikers and runners, and a reported crowd of 9,000+ (unverified), the buses just had some difficulty pushing all of these type A personalities from McCormick to the hotels and back.
This hotel charges $14.95 a day for internet. Shameful. Good night.
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