National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network Newsletter

The past 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic have exacted an enormous toll on the nearly 1 million certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who care for and protect our nation’s nursing home residents. These dedicated workers have put in long hours; experienced stress, anxiety, and loss; and risked getting the virus themselves. Never has it been more fitting to honor and celebrate CNAs—which makes National CNA Week this year (June 17 through June 24) uniquely special. We at the AHRQ ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network are grateful and appreciate the critical service that CNAs around the country perform. This issue highlights a special resource, a toolkit developed by the National Association for Health Care Assistants (NAHCA) to help celebrate CNA Week. In addition, Chris Laxton, Executive Director of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, shares his thoughts on how medical directors who work at nursing homes can help address the concerns that many CNAs have about the COVID-19 vaccines. As always, we are eager to hear your feedback. Please send any questions, comments, photos, lessons learned, or story ideas you have to us at ProjectECHOComms@salud.unm.edu. And, once again, thank you for all you do to protect our nation’s nursing home residents and each other. Sincerely, David Meyers, MD, Acting Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Kedar Mate, MD, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Sanjeev Arora, MD, Founder and Director, Project ECHO