The aging services field’s workforce crisis is severe, and much of the attention paid to the problem involves recruiting and retaining direct caregivers and filling other jobs such as dining, housekeeping, and more. But nonprofit aging services providers also recognize the ongoing need to recruit future management-level leaders to the field. The majority of students in health care administration graduate programs do not know enough about the variety of professional opportunities available in aging services.

Postgraduate fellowships, which are an important bridge between students’ academic and professional careers, can provide insights about the wealth of opportunities in aging services to students considering where to take their talents, according to Christy Kramer, LeadingAge vice president for student engagement and workforce relationships. While these fellowships are popular in the acute care world, they’re less common in our sector. “We want to change that,” says Kramer.

A current effort by LeadingAge and a few members is designed to promote year-long postgraduate fellowships among aging services providers. Kramer believes that making such fellowships the norm nationwide will introduce talented young professionals to a field they might not otherwise have considered.

Fellowships allow participants the opportunity to interact directly with executive leaders, work in many different segments of an organization to familiarize themselves with all areas of operations, and be involved in—and sometimes lead—special projects, as described in this article from Healthcare Executive.

A Successful Fellowship

One LeadingAge member that has demonstrated the value of such a fellowship is LiveWell, Plantsville, CT. Formerly the Alzheimer’s Resource Center, LiveWell is focused exclusively on caring for individuals at all stages of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia/cognitive impairment.

Maley Hunt, COO at Livewell, was the preceptor for Kellie Hinton, a Master’s student in Health Administration at George Washington University. Hinton’s one-year fellowship ran from July 2021 to July 2022.

“The first six weeks of her fellowship, she did rounds in different departments, getting to know the team,” says Hunt. “We gave her [freedom] to attend meetings with me, our CEO, our director of nursing, our director of HR, along with the dining and maintenance departments. Like most nonprofit standalone providers like LiveWell, we try to accomplish a really big mission with a unique and tight team. Kellie, with the attributes of her master’s level education, brought such depth to the team, and really was able to dive in on projects.”

Hinton was introduced to the nuts and bolts of challenging projects; examples included:

• Researching and helping complete LiveWell’s certificate of need (CON) application for a major construction project. She gathered occupancy data and other statistics from other Connecticut providers and synthesized the information into a presentation for the CON appeal hearing, which was successful.
• Helping select and launch a new customer relations management tool, including vetting providers.
• With the director of maintenance, overhauling LiveWell’s emergency preparedness procedures, which included instituting a “plain language” approach to the policies and procedures manual.

“I think a lot of [students] just think of ‘nursing home administrator’ as the only option, but there are a lot of other high-level opportunities,” says Hinton. “So aging services is definitely something I’m considering for the future, once I get a few more years of experience in the health care field. I loved getting to know residents in that setting, and also just how important and needed nursing home administrators are, especially as we continue to have an aging population. During my fellowship, I [also] got to tour some assisted living facilities and really loved those as well.”

Why Securing New Talent is Crucial

Seven years ago, Hunt had her own fellowship with Hartford Healthcare, and says the experience gave her a sense that the aging services field was right for her. “I know students are interested in this field but we’re losing them because we don’t have these experiences required for them to graduate and continue to pursue this.”

Anne McCarty, director of human resources at LiveWell, says Hinton’s was the first fellowship LiveWell has sponsored, though it has had unpaid interns, for instance social work students from the University of Connecticut. Hinton received a salary, but paid for her own transportation and apartment. Upon starting her fellowship, Hinton was oriented like any other employee, including training in resident interaction and in working with people living with dementia, and she received the same benefits plan as other full time employees.

Hunt believes that if a nationwide program can be scaled up over time, all parties will benefit from the networks created. Fellows can partner with each other across organizations, and preceptors can learn from each other as well.

“The second piece that’s really important to me,” says Hunt, “is highlighting what types of positions these folks can be hired into afterwards, because I can host a fellow every year but I can’t hire them every year. But they want to work in this field. So even if providers aren’t interested in hosting someone, knowing that they went through a fellowship program at these organizations means they are ready to handle this type of position.”

“If, as providers, we don’t offer these experiences, people are going to get them somewhere else, whether it’s at a hospital or at large physician practices,” Hunt concludes.

Postgraduate fellowships in aging services are being explored by a handful of LeadingAge providers. Members interested in learning more about creating fellowships should contact Christy Kramer at ckramer@leadingage.org.

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