Credentialing of Leaders of Volunteers Revisited

Tracey, Thank you very much for your feedback, as this helps me as well clarify my own thinking on this topic. First, let me explain my statement, “…getting your CVA is a step in the right direction.” By saying this, I meant that in order to raise the credibility of one’s professional stature in the eyes of employers, the paid staff, the volunteers they manage and the public for that matter, getting one’s CVA, in my opinion, is necessary. I recently completed a study of 52 nursing homes in the U.S. Midwest. Of the 52 nursing homes, 8 had full-time dedicated managers of volunteers, 3 of which had completed some formal training in volunteer management. The remaining 44 nursing home volunteer programs were managed by people who were hired as recreation therapists and activities directors who reported spending two hours or less each week on the volunteer program. Of that group, 11 said they had completed some formal training in volunteer management. The purpose of the study was to explore what if any relationships exist between volunteer programming and quality measures. The results showed significant relationships between individualized activities involving volunteers combing hair, doing nails, helping with meals and the reduction of psychotropic medication usage, incident rates for urinary tract infections, and depression. With all this said, while the volunteers are not providing clinical care, they are having a significant impact on the quality measures by which nursing homes are evaluated. My argument then, in light of what is coming, i.e., the age wave, let’s ramp up the volunteer workforce and let’s hire a professional, a CVA to lead them. Using professional care staff to get someone dressed or comb their hair, in my opinion, again, is a misuse of resources. Trained volunteers can do these tasks and actually change it from a “daily routine” to a relational nonroutine event. In addition, the volunteers become recruiters and maybe even future paid staff. Employers need to see quantitative data that shows empirically how the volunteers are impacting the organization. The heart-warming stories are great, but, in my opinion, they want to see the numbers. How are volunteers impacting our operations? How are they impacting our outcomes? How are they impacting our budget? So, in my world, it’s connecting volunteer activities with quality measures. I look for exemplar programs and highlight them on my blog. Baycrest Health is at the top of my list. I do work for Baycrest and they are not benefitting me in any way. I spent four days there and just had my socks knocked off. The Baycrest volunteer workforce is fully integrated into the workforce. The volunteers are assisting paid workers in nearly every department. Volunteers are involved in the program develop, developing individualized activities, collecting data, and interviewing and training new volunteers. There are other great efforts as well. In addition to knocking on the doors of leadership and policymakers, I’ve created a new course that I’ll be teaching this coming spring for a Midwest university, “Volunteer Management and Aging Services.” I’m hoping this could be the first step towards a degree in gerontology with a concentration in volunteer management. Finally, tenacity is a crucial ingredient for shifting paradigms. I kid around but I think there is some truth to it, over the past 25 years, I’ve become like Worf, the Klingon character from Star Trek. I’ve grown this boney plate across my forehead that comes in handy for breaking down walls. Paul