James M. Berklan

As a parent looking at options for a high school student about to enter college, I know why it seems like everyone talks about the high cost of education. Because it is high.

Inflation in the general world is nothing like that in higher education, where prices have far outstripped the cost of living for many years. As it’s put by the author of “Crazy U.,” which documents a man’s re-education during his son’s pursuit of college admission: Colleges are charging as much as they do because, well, they can.

Yet there might not be a bigger proponent of the saying, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance,” than me. Education, where my parents toiled and my sister still works, is a cornerstone to success and achievement in my world.

I think it’s a sentiment shared by many in long-term care. It seems there is always a healthy crowd of “students” lined up for our educational sessions.

That’s what makes McKnight’s 8th Online Expo such a good fit for providers. Once again at the end of March, we will bring you five national experts, delivering five one-hour sessions on diverse topics important to your job.

You don’t have to leave your desk or office to soak up the knowledge, print out their slide decks, or earn the continuing education credits that accompany them.

The latest on MDS 3.0? You get it, and from no less a guru on these things than the effervescent Leah Klusch, executive director of the Alliance Training Center.

Technological advances for senior care, from an unbiased leader in academia? That would be the forte of Greg Alexander, he of the Sinclair School of Nursing at the University of Missouri.

There’s no question you should have your medical director join you and other staffers for a great listen on many facets of geriatrics and wound care that will come in the final session (at 1 p.m. Eastern) on March 26. Jeffrey M. Levine, M.D., CMD, AGSF, is one of the foremost long-term care wound-care experts in the country and is ready to tell physicians, administrators, directors of nursing and others what they need to know about palliative care, chronic conditions and the world of unavoidable pressure ulcers in his presentation.

Next, realize that somebody needs funding for something at your place virtually all the time. I don’t care how new or efficient you are. Charles W. Harry Jr., the director of research and analytics at the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and & Care Industry, will unlock market secrets and details about capital acquisition as no one else can.

And don’t forget the frontliners, either. Jo Walters, RN-C, CDOPNA, CP, is the wellness director at a place called Blanchard House in Kenton, OH. She is going to tell attendees how to set up a “war room” for when surveyors set siege on your facility, including for follow-up surveys.

It’s a battle out there and the 8th Annual McKnight’s Online Expo speakers are ready to lead you into it.

The expo is a great source for education on your profession. There are also the clever vendor booths, contests and other resources posted in the online exhibition hall. 

Unlike the colleges and universities near where you live, it’s all free. That’s right: F-R-E-E.

You just have to sign up and show up. Then, let the enrichment begin.

Some might wonder: Why bother with any of this? The answer is simple:

Because your job matters.

To register or learn more about the 8th Annual McKnight’s Online Expo, March 26-27, click here.


James M. Berklan is Editor at McKnights.com. Follow him @LTCEditors’ Desk.