News Release

North Carolina’s WIN A STEP UP Program Finalist for 2007 Rosalynn Carter Caregiving Award

November 8, 2007

North Carolina’s WIN A STEP UP program, a partnership between the NC Department of Health and Human Services and the University of North Carolina’s Institute on Aging, was selected as one of two finalists for the 2007 Rosalynn Carter Caregiving award. The award recognizes leadership in implementing innovative and creative partnerships between community organizations and caregiving researchers.

WIN A STEP UP educates and supports career nurses aides and frontline supervisors working in nursing homes throughout the state. Nurse aide turnover is a significant issue in North Carolina, interrupting caregiver-resident relationships, increasing staffing shortages and costs, and negatively affecting the quality of care to nursing home residents. In 2004, the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services identified WIN A STEP UP as one of three programs nationwide proven to be effective in reducing nursing aide turnover.

“I congratulate everyone involved with WIN A STEP UP and am very pleased that this excellent program is receiving the recognition it deserves,” said Jackie Sheppard, DHHS Assistant Secretary for Long Term Care and Family Services. “It is essential that we find ways to support and recognize the value of direct care workers in long term care settings, and training programs such as WIN A STEP UP are one way to do this.”

Evaluation of the program indicates that it improves morale, retention, and quality of care delivered by frontline caregivers, while lowering organizational turnover. WIN A STEP UP synergizes financial, educational, and human resources to support caregivers combining funds from Civil Monetary Penalties (federal fines from nursing homes) with the instructional resources of the University. Nurses aides agree to continue working for their employer after finishing a 30-hour curriculum, while employers use their staff development coordinators and reward nurse aides with a bonus or raise. Over the last 6 years, WIN A STEP UP has trained 1,043 nursing assistants and 350 frontline supervisors in 78 different nursing homes in 47 of the state’s 100 counties.

Bob Konrad, UNC Institute on Aging Senior Research Scientist and Project Director of WIN A STEP UP, commented, "We are extremely gratified and proud to receive this national recognition. First of all, this award acknowledges the importance of the day-to-day efforts of direct care workers in North Carolina's long term care settings. In addition, it strengthens the case for combining the university's research and evaluation capacity and North Carolina state government's reach and resources. This project has used that synergy to provide the evidence to support our front line workers' careers while improving the quality of care they provide to North Carolina's most vulnerable elders.”

The program was also featured last month in a special issue of the Journal Gerontology and Geriatrics Education which focused on research based solutions to the challenges facing the direct care workforce in long term care settings. The evaluation of the WIN A STEP UP program was sponsored by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies under the Better Jobs Better Care initiative.

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About the UNC Institute on Aging
The UNC Institute on Aging (IOA) is an inter-institutional program of the University of North Carolina with a mission to enhance the well-being of older people by fostering statewide collaboration in research, education and service. Its areas of research focus include the aging workforce and retirement, healthy aging, the long term care workforce, and diversity and aging issues. To learn more about the IOA, please visit: www.aging.unc.edu.

About the NC Department of Health and Human Services
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is one of the largest agencies in state government, responsible for ensuring the health, safety and well being of all North Carolinians, providing the human service needs for fragile populations like the mentally ill, deaf, blind and developmentally disabled, and helping poor North Carolinians achieve economic independence. DHHS touches the lives of virtually every North Carolinian from birth to old age--prenatal programs, child development programs, and rest home regulations, are all part of DHHS charge.

UNC Institute on Aging contact: Bob Konrad, (919) 966 2501, or konrad@schsr.unc.edu

NC Department of Health and Human Services contact: Jan Moxley, (919) 855-4429, or jan.moxley@ncmail.net