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Charlotte Eliopoulos, Executive Director of the new AALTCN, explains the mission of the new association and discusses how regulatory compliances and the recession are effecting LTC nursing.

One of today’s strongest advocates for long-term-care nursing is Charlotte Eliopoulos, RN, MPH, ND, PhD. The author of a highly influential work on geriatric care and founder of the American Association of Long Term Care Nursing (AALTCN), she lobbies for funding, resources and recognition for long-term care. “We’re working to improve the status of nursing homes nationwide,” she says. “We give statements before Congress about Medicare cuts and what that would mean for nursing care.”

The AALTCN works to correct widespread misunderstandings of LTC nursing. “It’s not recognized as a specialty,” Eliopoulos says. “People just don’t understand the scope of responsibility that comes with it and what a complex and challenging field it is. I want to define the unique body of knowledge that is involved.” Thus, the organization has a focus on educating its members. Membership is offered to an entire nursing staff from a facility for a single fee, which results in a wide range of nursing staff among the members. The AALTCN offers certification classes; topics are divided into modules for each level of staff.

The most important goal of the AALTCN is to reverse the general impression of the way LTC is viewed. “I want to change the negative image, defy the media,” she says emphatically. “Long-term-care nursing staff are touching lives, giving people a quality of life with comfort and dignity.”

Most LTC nurses are middle-aged married women. Eliopoulos, and her organization would like to expand those demographics. “With our ‘image’ campaign,” she says, “we’d like to attract some younger people interested in making a commitment to long-term care….It doesn’t seem sexy or snazzy. It has none of the ER glamour.” To counter that, she says, “we’re asking, ‘Why did you go into nursing in the first place? Was it to work with machines…or was it to make heart-to-heart connections and lasting relationships?’ ”

Staying within regulatory compliance is an ongoing challenge, Eliopoulos says. “The rules change every year….There’s a desire to embrace the culture change, but a lack of resources to really do so.” Recruitment is another ever-present issue.

Eliopoulos, although concerned about the impact of the nation’s economic recession on the resources allotted to LTC facilities, maintains a positive outlook. “The recession can help us by challenging us to demonstrate why we need the budgets we need,” she says. “Policymakers don’t understand the complex care involved. They think we see, bathe and babysit these old people, but quality care needs time, hands, bodies…. [lawmakers] want champagne care on a beer budget.”

Her take on the impending election focuses on the issue of funds and resources as well. So far, Eliopoulos is not convinced either party’s victory would be more beneficial to LTC than the other’s. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” she says. “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

For more information

www.aaltcn.org