For an updated program download the PDF file below.

        ACAA Congress Program

Workshop A: IT Acquisition
Session: 9.30am to 11.30am
Audience: All aged care providers
Cost: $110 per participant
Designed to assist aged care providers make the right decisions about IT applications and purchases. Simply buying a computer usually does not solve a problem. Statistics tell us that over 80% of IT implementations don’t realise their stated objectives and the cost of re-installing is 5 to 8 times the original planned investment.
This workshop will help providers to understand the processes involved in software selection, implementation and reduce the risks involved in IT projects. It will also give you the key steps for making planned investments, evaluating and documenting your information needs, how to evaluate products, how to manage the acquisition process so that you get what you need and not what a vendor thinks you need.
Presenters: Mark Barnett, Director, Aged Care Direct; Helen Jones, Director, Aged Care Direct
Workshop Topics:
- Developing the convincing business case
- Planning – the key to success
- Selecting the right product for you
- Avoiding project disaster – project management rigour
- Delivering the promise / Realising the benefits: was it worth it and how can we tell
- Understanding where you are now
- Specifying what you really need
- Keeping the vendor honest – contract management
- Developing an implementation plan
- Training strategies

WORKSHOP B: Achieving Optimum Financial Outcomes from the Aged Care System
Session: 9.00am - 1.00pm
Audience: Managers, CEOs, Proprietors
Cost: $110 per participant
James Underwood, a recognised industry expert on aged care funding, will help participants understand the best ways to maximise their income within the existing scheme. Learn how to maximise your subsidy. How will you be affected by the ACFI? Are you using innovative strategies to enhance your capital creation options? James will highlight a range of options and innovative strategies which you want to consider. If you want to improve your organisations bottom line, then this workshop is an event you should not miss.

Workshop C: Reducing Concerning Behaviour from a Person with Dementia
Session: 9.15am (for 9.30am start) to 11.30am
Audience: Care staff who care for people with dementia
Cost: $40 per participant
To Register: contact Jo Molsher, Alzheimer’s Australia SA - (08) 8372 2135
Providing care for a person with dementia can be a challenging experience, particularly when there are behaviours of concern, from repeating the same question over and over, refusing to shower to verbal or physical aggression.
Participants will hear about best practice principles involved in managing behaviours of concern, and research findings that support particular intervention processes. They will be guided through a problem-solving approach to reduce the behaviour using the Reducing Behaviours of Concern (Re BOC) Guide, developed by the National Dementia Behaviour Advisory Service (NDBAS). Behaviour Consultants will be available to answer questions, and issues related to providing care for people with dementia will be explored. A complimentary guide will also be provided to each participant.
Seating will be limited to 40 participants.

Workshop D: Handling the Media
Session: 9.30am to 12.30pm
Audience: Industry Senior Management, Directors of Nursing, Managers of Aged Care Facilities, Carers – trained and untrained
Cost: $110 per participant
This workshop will cover how the media works, including what they want and why and requirements of different media. Practical advice from how to write a media release and have your positive stories run to preparing for media interviews. Donna will also cover how to ‘look’ on camera, getting your message across in a useable quote/grab, and delivering concise, convincing messages, demonstrating a mock interview including a playback analysis. The workshop will conclude with tips on developing relationships with the media, media policy, reports and incident management and ‘off the record’.
Presenter: Donna Cole is an experienced public relations consultant and former newspaper, radio and TV news and current affairs journalist – with more than 20 years experience in general news, politics and legal affairs. She has been teaching senior executives for the past 10 years about how to handle the media and is well known for her ‘nuts and bolts’ approach to pitching a positive message.

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