Caring Senior Service develops national training program to improve quality of care

The home care company’s GreatCare® certification provides caregivers, staff and franchise owners with the tools they need to elevate their skills.

SAN ANTONIO — Caring Senior Service, a non-medical home care services franchise, is now offering caregivers, office staff and franchise owners an opportunity to advance their educational and professional development and delivery of services through the company’s GreatCare® certification program.

The GreatCare® certification program challenges owners and staff to achieve milestones that prepare them to address the three most important areas of concern in senior care: quality caregivers, care solutions and active involvement.

“Proper education and training creates the foundation for an employee’s understanding and performance of their job duties,” said Caring Senior Service founder and CEO Jeff Salter. “By developing this catalog of tools, training and processes that support our GreatCare® methodology, we hope to encourage owners and staff to better understand their roles, improve their leadership abilities and provide the GreatCare® that Caring Senior Service has developed over the past 30 years.”

Salter said the program is of particular value to the caregivers who make up the majority of Caring Senior Service’s team.

“Caregivers are often under-appreciated or taken for granted in the industry,” he said. “With our GreatCare® certification program, Caring hopes to show its commitment and loyalty to our caregivers by providing them the tools they need to succeed.”

The program has separate tracks for the franchise agency director, the care manager and the homecare consultant. To achieve the GreatCare® Master Certification, participants must complete a progressive program that starts at the certified level, moves to the advanced level and then culminates with the master level.

Team members who have more than two years’ experience can also achieve a master certification through an accelerated program path in their local office.

Caring Senior Service rolled out the initiative as part of the company’s overall GreatCare® mission to give franchise owners the tools to measure how well their teams understand their roles. Staff members who complete the program are given recognition that they are experts in their field, allowed to receive merit raises and are invited to attend the national GreatCare® Master conference.

“Ultimately, the goal is to provide our clients with the best care possible,” Salter said. “We could not achieve the success we’ve had in the home care industry without our clients’ support. It’s for them that we strive to create these best practices in home care.”