Elderly care an enticing job option

Warm weather in Las Vegas and the equally kind hospitality of its residents are what make the city attractive to seniors seeking retirement. Relatively low tax rates and a wealth of entertainment options also are big draws.

As new seniors move to the city and longtime residents age, the need for elderly care increases.

It is because of this that the number of health care facilities for seniors has grown in the city, and the demand for this service is likely to grow even more, industry professionals say.

"There is a tremendous amount of demand in adult care needed in Las Vegas," said Ian Amaranto, Nevada CareNet deputy director. "Those numbers will increase within the year due to clients wanting to live in their own home rather than a nursing facility."

Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Center President and CEO Christopher Vito said that not enough elderly services are available to Las Vegas residents.

"Most of the time, their families cannot care for them, so they are institutionalized in a nursing home," he added.

But nursing homes are no longer the only recourse for Las Vegas families who feel burdened with the task of elderly care.

A wide variety of services are available, ranging from one-on-one personal care to an adult day care, which is a setting not unlike a classroom in which a preplanned activities for seniors are done throughout the day.

In Las Vegas, the cost of adult care is usually paid by Nevada Medicaid and Clark County Social Services. Some centers also accept grants from several organizations as payment for short-term attendance. Private insurance and other forms of payment are added options, making this service even more accessible to more and more families.

As demand for elder care service grows and more facilities strive to fill the demand, job opportunities in the field start flourishing as well.

A job as a personal care assistant is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start a career in the health care industry because a license is not required. Personal care assistants, or PCA, is the term given to staff level caregivers that usually take care of elders in the home or center setting.

Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Centers

An option that is becoming popular for elders is adult day care centers that provide personalized programs for those who do not want to be institutionalized in nursing homes. Its clients are those who expect personalized day programs composed of health, social and other activities.

One such facility is the Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Centers. At these centers, located throughout the valley, activities and services have "the purpose of restoring an individual to their best possible functional level with maximum reduction of mental or physical disability."

A typical day at NADHC starts with breakfast and is followed by activities that "exercise, socialize, stimulate and educate participants," the company website says. These activities include music therapy sessions in which participants share their talents and witness others' as well. Such activities are meant to expose participants to the healing benefits of music.

Social and recreational activities, meanwhile, allow participants to cultivate friendships and maintain an active lifestyle.

All activities are led and supervised by NADHC staff; there is one staff member for every six participants.

The seniors take a break for lunch and activities continue until 6 p.m., when all participants go home. Transportation services to and from the center are available for participants.

"In order for us to accomplish our mission, we need a certain level of collaboration so that your loved one is truly a participant and not just an observant," the company says on its website.

As Vito noted, there are a lot of senior residents in the city who need this kind of facility and these kinds of services.

Other services offered at the center include speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. Health education classes are offered to make participants knowledgeable in self care that is appropriate to their age and condition. Dental and podiatry services are also offered, as are doctor consultations with the medical director.

Finally, nursing services are offered on a daily basis at the center, where a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse monitors vital signs of participants.

It was eight years ago when NADHC was set up by a hospital executive seeking to address a growing need among Las Vegas residents.

"While I was working as hospital CEO for HealthSouth, I realized no one wanted to care for the poor elderly and disabled. I decided to research this and found a niche and created Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Centers," Vito said.

The 20-year veteran of managing large hospitals left the corporate world, decided to be an entrepreneur and ventured into the business of elderly care.

"After eight years, we have five centers throughout the Las Vegas Valley and we operate over 20 vans and busses," he said.

One center is located downtown, two are in the Henderson area and two are on Jones Boulevard.

Nevada CareNet

Almost a decade ago, an entrepreneur in Alaska started a center offering similar services for seniors in that state. Consumer Care Network Alaska offers one-on-one personal care assistance to elders. The owner, Steve Ulofoshio, decided to take a chance in the Las Vegas market and opened Nevada CareNet in 2010, according to Amaranto.

Unlike a nursing home or an adult day care facility, Nevada CareNet offers a client - an elderly or disabled individual - assistance in activities of daily living inside that person's own home.

"A typical day for a PCA would consist of grooming the patient, bathing, providing mobility and ambulation (exercises)," Amaranto said. "Meal preparation, spoon-feeding the client, light housekeeping, laundry, medication reminders, and assistance in using the bathroom are the other activities in a typical day."

Worth noting is the flexibility given to a client to choose his or her personal care assistant.

"You recruit and hire and fire a personal care assistant of your choice. You decide the best person to provide your personal care service" CareNet's website noted. "You may want a family member, neighbor, friend or someone else to work as your personal care assistant."

Amaranto clarified that a client can hire anybody who does not belong to the "legally responsible guardian or spouse" category, in compliance with Medicaid rules.

"So a wife may not take care of her husband and get paid through Medicaid," he explained.

Similarly, a parent may not take care of his or her child if that child is under 18 years old. When an individual is over 18, that person becomes excluded from the restrictions since he or she no longer requires a legal guardian.

With the assistance of the company, Nevada CareNet clients are given the freedom to personally direct the training and education of the care provider to satisfy their requirements. The company also acts as the fiscal agent to provide administrative support, such as payroll and Medicaid billing.

"Our goal is to provide our clients with the ability to exercise their choice and control in managing their personal care services," according to the company.

It promises clients that its staff will assist them or their representatives to take responsibility for personal care assistant services in the privacy and comfort of their home and community.

Career in caregiving

Nevada CareNet is always hiring personal care assistants. In fact, it utilizes community newspapers and Nevada Job Connect to periodically advertise for job vacancies.

An intensive federal and state background check is required of job applicants, as is medical tests such as a tuberculosis skin test or chest X-ray, Amaranto noted. Applicants for PCA positions are also required to undergo a 16-hour personal caregiver assistant training as well as basic training courses for first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The same 16-hour training, which is a federal requirement, is also imposed by NADHC to its staff level caregiver applicants. Aside from caregivers, other positions available at NADHC are for licensed health care professionals such as registered nurses and licensed practical nurses.

Vito noted that being bilingual is an advantage when applying for a position in his company given the background of clients in its different centers.

Its Jones Boulevard and Henderson centers are multiethnic, while the downtown center is 99 percent Hispanic.

Vito said his company's employees enjoy medical, dental and vision insurance. A $15,000 life insurance with an option for buy up also is offered, as is supplemental coverage for accidental death and dismemberment, cancer and critical care hospitalization.

Nevada CareNet offers its staff incentives that include an annual holiday bonus and holiday party. Flexibility with scheduling is another benefit that employees find attractive, Amaranto noted.

Culture of Care

At both Nevada CareNet and Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Centers, a very high level of compassionate care is expected from its employees at all times.

"(Employees) are expected to meet Nevada CareNet's expectations at all times," Amaranto said.

"Nevada Adult Day Healthcare Centers have a culture of caring for our clients, their caregivers and our employees," Vito said.

Both companies are helmed by Filipinos, an Asian subgroup that has a reputation for compassion.

It is this innate trait - stemming from a society where people take care of the sick and elderly in their families - that sets Filipino health professionals apart from the rest. In fact, health-care-related companies make up almost half of the 200,000 Filipino-owned businesses in the United States, according to records from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bureau's 2007 Survey of Business Owners showed that Filipinos make up the largest minority group whose businesses in the United States are in the health care field.

While Vito credits his education and mentorship under successful hospital executives for his business knowledge and acumen, he concedes that his passion for care stems from his upbringing.

"I've learned my passion to care for our clients from my father who is a physician and compassion from my mother who is a Catholic," said Vito, who was born in the Philippines and educated in the United States.

Vito's wife, Christina, who is NADHC's director of nursing, is a registered nurse who is also Philippine-born and was educated in the United States.

Amaranto acknowledges that his family helped mold him to be caring.

"Growing up coming from a Filipino family, I learned to bring my caring hands into the company," he said. "I have empathy for the clients and their family because I too have a mother and father who are elders who also received home health care during the time they were living at home."

"Overall, from personal experience and the upbringing of traditional family values help me understand where my clients are coming from and how they are feeling," he added.