Skill development, education and promotion create opportunities at Willows
Opportunities provide excellent career choices for nurses
Monday April 14, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
A nursing career at Willows Estate offers caregivers opportunities to work steady shifts and develop skills in geriatric care while building strong relationships with residents and their families, says Rosemary Ferraro, director of care (DOC) at the Aurora long-term care home.

These factors, coupled with OMNI’s dedication to educational opportunities for team members and internal promotion, make nursing in long-term care an excellent career choice for caregivers, she adds.

Nursing careers at Willows Estate, Ferraro notes, offer health-care professionals many opportunities to learn skills and develop talents unique to the long-term care sector.

“You can engross yourself in geriatric medication and palliative care — there are lots of different branches that you can get into,” says Ferraro. “There is an opportunity to practise your nursing interventions for a number of different chronic illnesses, (including) diabetes, heart disease and stroke.”

Another bonus of working at Willows Estate is that, like with OMNI’s 16 other homes, team members can expect to be empowered in their jobs and practise managerial skills.

OMNI places a strong emphasis on education and internal promotion — aspects of working at OMNI that a lot of nurses may not know about, says Ferraro.

Many of the various educational programs OMNI offers are aimed at providing a springboard for health-care professionals within the organization to further their careers within the company.

This means that team members who begin their careers as nurses often become administrators, DOCs or clinical care co-ordinators (CCCs) in OMNI homes.

A career at Willows Estate also provides team members with opportunities to work alongside and learn from various other health-care professionals, including doctors, pharmacists and physiotherapists.

“You get to know these people on a very personal basis,” says Ferraro.

Jackie Rose, Willows Estate’s CCC, says she decided on a nursing career in long-term care because she enjoys working with the senior population. A value-added benefit to working in long-term care is that caregivers can see the difference you make in the lives of others.

“You build a relationship with residents, and with that relationship they trust you and it makes their transition into long-term care a lot easier,” says Rose.

If you have a story you would like to share about the benefit of working in an OMNI long-term care home, please contact deron(at)axiomnews.ca.

If you have feedback on this story, please call the newsroom at (800) 294-0051 or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.ca.