Kelli Traylor is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) and Staff Development Specialist for Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care (KCH & PC), which provides expert care, peace of mind, comfort, guidance and hope to the people of the community.
A Kansas native and life-long resident of the Kansas City metro area, Kelli received her master's degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas.
Kelli's passion for end-of-life care and a career path in hospice was ignited when she started off as a paramedic with Johnson County Med-Act. In her current role as Staff Development Specialist, she handles employee onboarding, speaking presentations in the community, scheduling students, providing and coordinating educational events, chairing the KCH & PC Safety and Security Committee—basically, a little bit of everything. Kelli was previously a social worker in the field for KCH & PC, and has taught CPR for over 20 years.
In her spare time, she enjoys the Royals, the Chiefs, and KU basketball, and resides in Mission, Kansas with her partner and Ruby the dog.
What tips can you share for companies creating safety or emergency preparedness training?
Run the other way! Just kidding—I breathe, sleep, and eat emergency preparedness.
There is so much that goes into creating and delivering this training, and there is no one way to do it—it is ever evolving and ongoing. This is my baby at KCH & PC. If I were to say one thing, it would be: Don’t do this alone. There are so many resources available out there, including myself. I developed our entire Emergency Operations Plan, and it was a vast undertaking and time consuming. However, I could not have accomplished it alone!
Your training should be fun and creative. Use what is out there. One of my favorite teaching tools I use during winter weather is a YouTube Clip Walk like a Penguin. It’s fun, and it gets the point across.I am a big fan of doing the training throughout the year. For example, in the spring, I will do our Severe Weather education—thunderstorms, lightning, tornadoes, etc. It doesn’t make much sense to do this during the winter months. During the winter months, I will do topics like ice storms, driving in the snow, etc. For these topics, there is a huge advantage for this to be just-in-time training.
What inspires you in your role?
One of my biggest inspirations is my passion about end-of-life care! The word hospice is still so misunderstood. Let me tell you, if you want to get out of an awkward conversation, just start talking about death, dying, and hospice care. It makes people uncomfortable.
Both my brother and mother were under our hospice care. I don’t know what I would have done without our magnificent teams taking care of them. They provided so much comfort and support, thus my goal is to make sure everyone is not afraid of hospice.
Do you have tips for organizations creating (or facilitating) onboarding for employees?
Make it fun! Don’t just be a talking head. Be creative and incorporate different activities. Give frequent breaks. And it’s always great to feed them! Have a lunch with the new employees and their managers. It gives everyone a chance to sit down and break bread together. It’s amazing what you learn about someone during lunch.
Any final thoughts?
Recently I received the Kansas City Regional Home Care Association 2018 Richard Sanders Extra Mile Award. A few excerpts from this:
In the spirit and example of Richard Sanders, Kelli Traylor took her role as the new Emergency Preparedness Committee Chair position by storm! She is always prepared.
Kelli manages to make it both entertaining and educational at the same time…
Not only will you receive valuable information, you will leave with a smile on your face! Which of us doesn’t need that?!
There is no one way or right way to do training. Do what works for you, find something that works for you, and find your passion!
I did.
Topics: Interviews with Learning Leaders