As the former Executive Director of the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, now Consumer Voice (CV), Sarah Burger has a broad background in implementing initiatives that have national implications for long-term care practice research and education. Sarah’s work focused Congressional attention on consumer issues: reducing physical and chemical restraint use, malnutrition and dehydration and increasing nurse staffing. Sarah brought the CV Consumer Minimum Nurse Staffing Standard to a consensus meeting at the Harford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (HIGN), New York University College of Nursing in 1997. This minimum standard has been confirmed by CMS research and the 2004 IOM report, “Keeping Patients Safe.”
Since 2001, Sarah has been the Coordinator of the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations (CGNO) until she retired on September 8, 2015. If you wish to contact CGNO in the future please email Tara A. Cortes at tc13@nyu.edu. EWA wishes Sarah well in her retirement.
Why is the training of the health care workforce to care for older adults so important?
The demographics are overwhelming with 10,000 boomers retiring each day. Each of them has at least one chronic condition and it is already a challenge to find enough people with the knowledge and skills to care for them. This presents an employment opportunity in the health field, but only if accompanied by thoughtful training, mentoring and supervision of these elder care workers.
What is the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations’ (CGNO) mission?
The mission of the CGNO is to leverage our collective strengths to create a health care environment for older adults that is accessible and reflects person-centered care, quality outcomes, and evidence based practice across all settings.
How did you decide to work in the aging field?
The children were starting school and I couldn’t decide whether to use my degree in political science or my RN. A community newspaper appeared on our doorstep weekly and one included an advertisement for an RN in a nursing home a few blocks away. I soon had a job. Since I was rusty, they gave me one resident that first day, but warned me that she could be cantankerous. I walked in timidly and she brandished a cane to protect herself. While giving care, we chatted and near the end of the day, I asked her, “How did you end up here? She said, “Horses ran over my ankles when leaving the White House Thursday Tea.” I was hooked. What could be better than this, to get paid for getting a history lesson every day?
What services does the CGNO provide to address this need?
Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations (CGNO) members include over 28,700 nurses who provide care to older adults and chronically ill individuals in a variety of settings, including nursing homes, assisted living, home care, and hospitals. CGNO nurses are practitioners, administrators, educators, RNs or licensed practical/vocational nurses (LP/VNs), and researchers, including those who have PhDs or are advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). All nurses, especially geriatric nurses, educate, inform, and advocate every day with colleagues, as supervisors, with clients, their families, as the public’s most trusted member of the health care team.
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CGNO Participating Organizations |
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American Academy of Nursing (AAN) |
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American Assisted Living Nurses Association (AALNA) |
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American Association for Long Term Care Nursing (AALTCN) |
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American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordination (AANAC) |
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Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA) |
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Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (HIGN) |
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National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long Term Care (NADONA/LTC) |
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National Gerontological Nursing Association (NGNA) |
What do you see as the future of the elder care workforce?
From a nursing perspective, many of the elements of the Affordable Care Act such as care coordination, reaching underserved populations including elders in their care, and avoiding hospitalizations depend on a nursing workforce educated in geriatric principles of care and working with interdisciplinary teams. This is a very exciting time in nursing and health care. Hospitals or acute care have had a central role in the past, but current and future nurses must be better equipped to care for elders needing chronic care in communities, including facility based long term care settings such as nursing homes and assisted living.