Dear Members:

I wanted to make sure that you were aware of two recent staff changes at WHCA/WiCAL:

The first pertains to Jim Stoa, Vice President – Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs.  Jim departed for a new position on June 14, 2024.  Jim’s devotion and competence will be difficult to replace.  More importantly, he is a wonderful human being and a pleasure to know and to work with.

We have developed a job description for Jim’s position for your review and consideration.  Please direct all indications of interest and nominations to Rick Abrams’ attention, rick@whcawical.org, on or before Monday, July 22, 2024.

The second pertains to Kate Battiato, Vice President – Workforce Development.  As you may already know, effective May 1^st, WisCaregiver Careers’ financial and customer service operations transitioned to the Division of Medicaid Services.  As a result, Kate’s role with the program is now part-time. She will be providing program outreach and communications to our membership, while LeadingAge WI is responsible for their members.

We are excited to have Kate focus exclusively on our members and expect that her workforce support will be another of the many ways WHCA/WiCAL distinguishes ourselves in providing VIP service to our members.

Kate has filled the rest of her workweek with a consultant role for RembrandtAdvantage, a firm specializing in data driven assessment methods for staff selection, onboarding, engagement, development, and career management. She will be helping the firm develop services specific to the long-term care community to address workforce shortages, improve retention outcomes, and identify staff with high potential for upskilling.

We see a great opportunity for synergies between WHCA/WiCAL and RembrandtAdvantage and are in discussions to bring them onboard as our newest business partner.

Kate is looking to partner with four members to explore ways that RembrandtAdvantage services can layer on top of WisCaregiver Careers to leverage the program’s resources. This applies to facilities who have struggled to implement the program as well as those who are looking to expand their employer led training efforts to develop staffing pipelines for RNs, administrators, and other leadership roles.

I encourage you to contact Kate (kbattiato@whcawical.org, 608-260-5865) to see how she might bring your CNA recruitment and retention efforts to the next level with WisCaregiver Careers and beyond.

Both Jim and Kate have exciting careers ahead of them.  Please join me in offering our heartfelt congratulations!

Rick Abrams
CEO
516-241-2879
rick@whcawical.org