I have been waiting for 4 months now to begin my AIT program. The ONLY obstacle in my way is that none of the 11 facilities the company I work for operates has a capacity or is licensed for 20 residents or more individually. The total capacity for each of our homes is 8 residents, but with 11 homes collectively we offer services to 88 residents.

All of our homes are within 15 minutes of one another. A few of them are in the same neighborhood and one can walk less than two minutes from one of our facilities to get to another. 

I have reached out to many of the larger facilities in the surrounding area to facilitate my AIT program. I have been told over and over again I cannot do my training there due to HIPPA, and other privacy concerns since I am not an employee of these larger facilities. This has led to restricted access to my training and has hindered it from starting.  If a trainee was allowed to undergo training in their own facility, there would be no privacy concerns as well as all resources would be made available to them. 

Why is it perceived that an ALF with 20 or more residents in one building would prove to be a better training ground than a facility with 88 residents as we have collectively, albeit in 11 different buildings? Why is it perceived better than a facility with 20 residents collectively in 3 different buildings? It does not make sense and I find it unnecessarily prejudice toward small providers. 

Having the opportunity to train in small facilities may prove advantageous as it would allow for greater interaction with those staff and residents. 

I believe the most important factor that will determine the quality of the training is the competency of the preceptor no matter where the training is completed. Afterall, there is an exam to pass after the training is completed.