September Student of the Month
Allow me to introduce you to our September Student of the Month, Morgan Dresser. Morgan recently graduated from both our Caregiver and Manager programs and is working towards receiving her Manager License with the NCIA Board. She’s driven and motivated to do great things in the world!
Can you tell us a bit about you and your story?
My name is Morgan and I’m a proud wife, mother of 2 beautiful children, and a Phoenix Firefighter Engineer. During my past 6 years as a first responder, I have run countless emergency calls to various assisted living facilities. I would always assess my surroundings, i.e. taking notes on home layouts, types of residents, caregivers, and also initiate conversations with managers. This year I decided to combine my business management degree with my desire to help those in need and start an assisted living home. I wanted to be knowledgeable from the ground up, so to me it was important to know and understand all roles of the business. I have a medical background with being an EMT, so the caregiving came natural to me. My business management degree also helped with understanding the concepts of the managers course. The Assisted Living Training School came highly recommended by my mentor and many other care home caregivers/managers. I currently co-own a 10 resident facility in North Phoenix and am opening a second 5 resident facility next month.
Sounds like you have lots of experience and it makes sense how that lead you to where you are now. How do you define success?
To me success is defined as having strong morals and values, a strong work ethic, resilient mindset, and a high level of perseverance.
Great definition! Do you have a quote or motto you live by?
“Inspiration is my drug of choice. Either giving or receiving.”
Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?
I am a lifelong learner, so I hope to expand my knowledge in the field of assisted living more specifically the technological advances. I aim to grow my portfolio, become a mentor, and pride myself on owning and managing successful, well operated, and genuinely loving assisted living homes.
Being a lifelong learner is important! Love that you brought that up. With that, what do you think or see that the Assisted Living Industry could use more of?
The Assisted Living Industry could use more sophisticated health monitoring technology. In the next 10 years, we will see lots of wearables tracking heart rates, blood pressures, body temperatures, and many more resulting in better tracking and more remote health monitoring. Staying on top of all the new technology will be crucial.
Technology can enhance healthcare in ways that will benefit employees, patients, and elevate the quality of care! Being in this industry can get stressful at times. What is your favorite way to de-stress?
Having a routine keeps my stress levels low. My favorite way to de-stress is to workout. Besides all my firefighter skills workouts, I go to a Boot Camp 5 days a week. The high endorphins levels and being around my healthy, like minded tribe of friends helps me to reset and de-stress. Also, hanging out with my wife, 3 year old son, and 1 year old daughter at the splash pad is always a good time!
You’ve taken both your caregiver and manager classes with us, is there a piece of advice that you can give to our students?
Stay disciplined and set realistic goals for yourself when you start the courses. Hold yourself accountable, by checking yourself weekly. Stay on top of quizzes, and try your best to retain knowledge and you won’t have to take a quiz more than once. You got this!
Thank you Morgan for sharing your passion with us. It is inspiring to hear about what you have done, are doing, and will do in the near future. Great to have you as an ALTS Alumni!