The Future Leaders Awards program is brought to you in partnership with PointClickCare. The program is designed to recognize up-and-coming industry members who are shaping the next decade of senior housing, skilled nursing, home health and hospice care. To see this year’s future leaders, visit https://futureleaders.agingmedia.com/.
TK King, vice president of operational development for EmpRes Healthcare Management, has been named a 2021 Future Leader by Skilled Nursing News.
To become a Future Leader, an individual is nominated by their peers. The candidate must be a high-performing employee who is 40 years old or younger, a passionate worker who knows how to put vision into action and an advocate for seniors and the committed professionals who ensure their well-being.
King sat down with Skilled Nursing News to talk about his start in health care and the future of the industry.
What drew you to the skilled nursing industry?
My aunt sought skilled nursing care around 17 years ago, she was in a major car accident … it required a lot of skilled nursing, restorative therapy. I visited her there and I got to know her roommate really well, and her roommate explained that she had lived there for several years at this point and had nothing but good things to say about staff and how it really has changed her ability to be independent, even though she still lived in a nursing home. That really sparked the flame in me. I wanted to do something in my future to help seniors.
What’s your biggest lesson learned since starting to work in this industry?
That it’s not as easy as it looks. A decade ago, being a clinician and the work that they do, it really seemed like a job that, for lack of a better term, looks sexier than it really is. I mean, you get to say you’re a nurse, you get to take care of people. You don’t see the downside to all of that unless you’re in it. You don’t see the heartache, you don’t see the exhaustion, blood, sweat and tears that the clinicians have. But they keep going.
If you could change one thing with an eye toward the future of skilled nursing, what would it be?
I think it’d be educating our government, whether it be local, state or federal, to really understand what it means to care for our industry, our patients and residents. You know, being one of the most heavily regulated industries, I think there’s something to be said about what that means for staffing, what it means to afford health care.
What do you foresee as being different about the skilled nursing industry looking ahead to 2022?
I believe it’s telehealth and technology; COVID is really to blame for that but in a good way. Our specific industry really never used telehealth like others, or as well as we could, and I think it’s pushed us ahead a good 10 years. I’m excited to see where next year brings us as far as, hopefully, recovering from COVID and starting to utilize technology a little bit more.
In a word, how would you describe the future of skilled nursing?
I would say determined. If you look at our current environment, we’ve got a workforce that’s almost non-existent, we’ve got … social media that doesn’t trust long-term care anymore. For the folks that have stuck around, they got their boxing gloves on and they’re determined to keep going. It doesn’t really matter what role you’re in, in our industry, everyone is just fighting to keep going to keep making sure we’re providing the care that our residents deserve, and helping dismiss any of those myths out there about long-term care.
To learn more about the Future Leaders program, visit https://futureleaders.agingmedia.com/.
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