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Contact Dana Weaver at
785-233-7443 | [email protected]

LeadingAge Kansas Foundation Receives Grant from OSHA’s Susan Harwood Training Grant Program

The grant will provide COVID-19 Safety for Long-Term Care CNAs

TOPEKA, Kan – The LeadingAge Kansas Foundation has received a grant from the Susan Harwood Training Program through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to provide safety training for certified nurse aides in long-term care. The grant was awarded on September 18^th and will run through September of 2021.

The virtual training series will include COVID-19 virus knowledge and general protections, PPE knowledge and situation specific use, respiratory protection, employee rights and employer responsibility for safety, proven safety tools for teamwork, communication, and worker self-advocacy. 

“We are thrilled to receive this grant and the opportunity to develop a unique training specific to safety for CNAs in our region,” stated Dana Weaver, Executive Director. “This training series will focus on CNAs and provide crucial information to keep them safe and help reduce the spread of the virus. In many cases during the pandemic, hands-on caregiver safety has been overlooked by outside agencies. This acknowledgement of the needs of caregivers is vital to our field and gives these dedicated individuals the credit they deserve.”

Grants are awarded to provide training and education programs for employers and workers on the recognition, avoidance, and prevention of safety and health hazards in their workplaces and to inform workers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. The program is named in honor of the late Susan Harwood, a former director of the Office of Risk Assessment in OSHA's Health Standards Directorate, who died in 1996. During her 17-year tenure with the agency, Harwood helped develop OSHA standards to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogens, cotton dust, benzene, formaldehyde, asbestos and lead in construction.

The LeadingAge Kansas Foundation was formed in 1988 to conduct research, produce information and training to increase the understanding of aging, and to improve the quality of care and services for older Kansans. The organization has been the recipient of millions of dollars in grant funding from diverse agencies. It has provided cutting edge training to thousands of aging services professionals which have resulted in measurable improvement and change in long term care practice around the state.