Trainee Rehabilitation Associate role in home and community support services

This workforce innovation being demonstrated by Lavender Blue Nursing and Home Care Agency in Palmerston North, supported by MidCentral DHB, is training home and community support workers to provide strength building exercises for their clients.

The initiative provides additional dedicated support for clients while increasing the level of skills and competence of the support worker to trainee rehabilitation associate.

Many support workers have achieved the National Certificate in Community Support Services Level 2 or 3 and gain great satisfaction in supporting service users to achieve greater independence, community participation and wellbeing. However, Lavender Blue found that many home and community support workers experience down time in the afternoon when the only tasks required are housework.

Over a period of six months starting in January 2011, ten staff are supplementing their morning support worker activities with two to four hours each afternoon as a trainee rehabilitation associate. A physiotherapist is training and delegating strength building exercises to trainees and providing them with supervision in their new role.

Staff will be made a higher hourly rate for their rehabilitation work in a role which aims to be more rewarding and productive. A final evaluation report is due in September 2011.

Objectives

• Develop and implement a training package for Trainee Rehabilitation Associates that meets NZQA requirements for unit standards
• Demonstrate safety and effectiveness of service provided to eligible Lavender Blue service users by Trainee Rehabilitation Associates
• Demonstrate better use of skills and increased job satisfaction of Lavender Blue support workers to become Trainee Rehabilitation Associates