Day Center Lead Personal Care Attendant
Jordan Valley Health (JVH) is a mission-driven organization dedicated to improving the health of individuals and families in underserved communities. We provide comprehensive healthcare services including primary medical, dental, vision, and behavioral health. Our mission is simple: Improve our community's health through access and relationships. By working collaboratively with partners and continually innovating, JVH strives to be a leader in providing essential healthcare for the underserved, ensuring everyone in our community has access to quality healthcare.
The Day Center Lead Personal Care Attendant (Lead PCA) is a senior frontline care position responsible for the smooth, safe, and person-centered operation of the PACE day center on a daily basis. The Lead PCA functions as the operational anchor of the day center floor coordinating care delivery, maintaining required participant-to-staff ratios, orienting and training new PCAs, and serving as a consistent, knowledgeable presence on the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT). The Day Center Lead PCA also assists the Quality & Compliance Manager in onboarding new employees and leading educational efforts across the organization.
Day-to-Day Day Center Operations
- Ensure participant-specific care needs are communicated to PCA staff at the start of each shift, including updated care plans, dietary modifications, fall precautions, behavioral considerations, and any overnight or weekend changes reported by family or field staff.
- Oversee and coordinate the daily schedule of day center activities in collaboration with the Recreational Therapist and Center Manager, including coordinating personal care tasks, meal service, and participant rest periods to ensure smooth, organized flow without gaps in supervision or care.
- Serve as the first-line operational problem-solver during the day center day adjusting assignments, managing unexpected participant needs, and ensuring no participant is left unattended or without required support.
- Maintain an organized, clean, safe, and welcoming day center environment throughout the day; coordinate with custodial and dietary staff on spills, environmental hazards, or supply needs.
- Monitor participant engagement throughout the day; identify participants who are withdrawn, agitated, or not participating and communicate concerns to the IDT social worker, activity staff, or nurse.
- Coordinate with the activity staff to ensure care tasks (bathing, personal care, treatments) are scheduled around the participant's activity programming without disrupting either unnecessarily.
- Complete and/or review daily participant care logs, incident reports, and attendance records; ensure documentation is accurate and submitted per organizational policy.
- Communicate any day center supply needs, equipment concerns, or environmental issues to the PACE Center Manager for follow-up.
- Maintain continuous situational awareness of the day center floor know where every participant is at all times and ensure no participant is left unsupervised in an unsafe situation.
- Ensure all PCA staff know and follow emergency response procedures, fire evacuation protocols, and missing participant procedures.
- Ensure participant fall precautions are communicated to all PCA staff and implemented consistently, including use of gait belts, appropriate footwear checks, and call device placement.
- Immediately report and document all incidents, falls, participant behavioral events, or safety concerns per PACE policy; complete incident report forms accurately and submit within required timeframes.
Staffing Ratios & Floor Coverage Management
- Maintain required participant-to-PCA staffing ratios throughout all day center hours in compliance with CMS PACE standards, organizational policy, and any state-specific Missouri DHSS requirements applicable to adult day services.
- Monitor real-time floor coverage at all times; immediately adjust PCA assignments when a staff absence, break, or unexpected participant need creates a potential ratio gap.
- Coordinate PCA break schedules to ensure ratio compliance is maintained continuously and no participant area is left understaffed at any point.
- Communicate staffing shortages, call-outs, or coverage concerns to the PACE Center Manager and Clinical Supervisor at the start of each shift so that contingency staffing can be arranged before a ratio deficiency occurs.
- Ensure that high-acuity participants (two-assist transfers, fall risk, elopement risk, behavioral needs) are assigned to the most experienced and competent PCA staff available on any given day.
- Ratio compliance is non-negotiable. The Lead PCA is accountable for ensuring the floor is never understaffed and for escalating immediately when staffing threatens participant safety.
PCA Training, Onboarding & Mentorship
- Serve as the primary day center trainer and mentor for all newly hired PCAs assigned to the day center, coordinating with the Clinical Supervisor and Center Manager to execute a structured onboarding experience.
- Provide new PCAs with a comprehensive day center orientation
- Maintain a New PCA Orientation Checklist for each trainee; document completion of each orientation element with date and trainer signature.
- Provide structured side-by-side supervised practice for all hands-on care skills before allowing new PCAs to practice independently with participants.
- Evaluate new PCA competency at 30, 60, and 90 days through direct observation; provide written feedback and communicate performance concerns to the Clinical Supervisor and Center Manager promptly.
- Serve as the ongoing mentor for newly oriented PCAs through their probationary period; be accessible to answer questions, model best practices, and provide real-time coaching.
- Identify training needs among existing day center PCA staff through ongoing observation of daily care practices; bring skill gaps to the attention of the Center Manager for follow-up.
- Assist the Clinical Supervisor and Quality team in delivering or coordinating in-service training sessions for day center PCAs, including competency refreshers, policy updates, and skills demonstrations.
- Model and reinforce best practices in person-centered care, dignified personal care, dementia communication strategies, and fall prevention in real time on the day center floor every day.
- Support annual PCA competency validation processes by assisting the Clinical Supervisor in conducting or observing skills return demonstrations.
Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) Participation
- Participate as an active IDT member in scheduled IDT care planning meetings.
- Prepare for each IDT meeting by reviewing relevant participants and compiling day center observations.
- Communicate day center care plan changes, new participant precautions, or updated care instructions received from IDT meetings to all day center PCA staff promptly; ensure implementation of care plan updates on the floor.
- Communicate any urgent participant changes identified during the day center day directly to the nurse for immediate clinical assessment; do not delay clinical escalation for the next IDT meeting.
- Complete required documentation in the EMR.
Organizational New Hire Education & Training
- Serve as a designated trainer and subject matter expert for the PACE organization's new hire orientation program
- Deliver or co-deliver the majority of the PACE new hire orientation
- Assist in the development and maintenance of the PACE new hire orientation
- Coordinate with the Quality & Compliance Manager and HR on the schedule, content updates, and documentation of new hire orientation training completions.
- Maintain or contribute to the New Hire Training Completion Log, documenting each trainee's attendance and completion of Lead PCA-delivered orientation modules.
- Provide new hires (clinical and non-clinical) with a day center shadowing experience as part of orientation so that all staff understand the day center environment and participant population they serve.
- Collect and provide feedback to the Quality & Compliance Manager and Center Manager on new hire orientation program effectiveness, gaps identified during training, and suggestions for improvement.
- Assist in the delivery of PACE-wide in-service training on topics related to direct care, participant dignity, dementia care, behavioral management, and person-centered approaches.
- Support annual mandatory training completion for all PACE staff by assisting in scheduling, reminding, and facilitating day center staff training sessions in coordination with the Quality team.
- Serve as a resource and informal mentor to employees across PACE departments who have questions about day center operations, participant behaviors, or care approaches.
- Participate in the development or review of training materials, handouts, or competency checklists related to direct care and day center operations when requested by Quality or leadership.
Direct Participant Care Responsibilities
- Provide direct personal care to PACE participants as a working lead, when necessary.
- Perform all personal care tasks in a manner that preserves participant dignity, respects cultural preferences, and honors the participant's voice and autonomy at every step.
- Complete required documentation of personal care tasks, observations, and participant responses in the EMR per organizational policy and within required timeframes.
