Provider Magazine features an article (PDF) about how an assisted living facility in Nebraska has made good use of the Nebraska Health Care Association’s Learning Center. This is an innovative program.

From Provider: PDF

Attracting and retaining well-trained long term care professionals can be particularly difficult for nursing facilities in rural settings, but that hasn’t kept Good Samaritan at Pineview from luring staff to its remote community of Valentine, Neb.—just nine miles from the South Dakota border and nearly 300 miles from Lincoln.
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The learning center was created in 2003 by the Long Term Care Workforce Institute in an effort to attract better candidates and offer standardized education for Nebraska long term care professionals.

One of the driving forces behind the center was Nebraska Health Care Association (NHCA) Executive Director Pat Snyder, who worked with September Stone, RN, to get the center off the ground.
“Ms. Snyder identified a significant need for educational excellence in long term care and believes standardized high-level education can have a major impact on the residents served in long term care,” says Stone, who is administrator of the learning center.

The goal of the learning center, which is now considered a post-secondary career school licensed and accredited by the state’s department of education, is to promote growth and leadership through education for the long term care setting. In addition to offering classes in Lincoln, the center contracts
with nursing facilities and assisted living communities throughout the state so they can hire instructors and offer courses. With seven training sites across Nebraska offering classes periodically, the center has graduated more than 800 students to work in long term care.

From the LTCWIN site:

Mission Statement
The goal of the Nebraska Health Care Learning Center is to promote growth and leadership through education for the long term care setting. Nebraska Health Care Association/Nebraska Assisted Living Association (NHCA /NALA) and Long Term Care Workforce Institute of Nebraska (LTCWIN) work closely together to provide essential educational opportunities throughout Nebraska in long term care fields.

Of specific interest to Nebraska CNA’s:

Basic Nursing Assistant
6.5 Quarter credit hours
This program is designed to train the beginning nursing assistant (NA) to provide safe, effective, and caring services to the patients of any health care setting. It is designed to meet the training requirements of both federal and Nebraska laws for nursing assistants working in a licensed nursing facility. The skills and knowledge contained in this material can be adapted for any health care or residential setting.
Employment settings: nursing facilities; assisted living, home health, hospitals, ICF-MR.

And:

Medication Aide
4.0 Quarter credit hours
This program is designed to prepare the participant to meet the requirements of the Medication Aide Act and to assume the role and responsibilities of a Medication Aide. The training is intended for the Medication Aide in an assisted living facility, nursing facility, or intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded. It may also be used to train Medication Aides in other settings.

Excellent! Now if we could only have such programs available in ALL states.