Heroes' welcome gets rave reviews

The Assisted Living Federation of America did it right today: It gave the profession five major reasons to be proud of itself. The pride comes in the form of individuals who were celebrated as ALFA’s 2011 Hero Awards recipients.

The esteemed honorees were:

* Deb Ericksen of BMA Management’s Heritage Woods of Centralia, IL

* Maribeth Shearer of Emeritus at Spicewood Springs in Austin, TX

* Sharon Stiles of Brookdale’s Sterling House of Shelby, NC

* Hervider Dogra of Vintage Simi Hills, CA

* And Toni Flowers of Brandywine Assisted Living at Senior Suites in East Norriton, PA

This is no softball recognition: the five winners were chosen from nearly 650 nominations made by residents, family members, supervisors, co-workers and others. Any time you can say you’re in the top 0.7% of your class (that’s less than 1%), you know you’re really doing something right.

The five award recipients were announced and honored today during a special luncheon at the ALFA 2011 Conference and Expo in Orlando. Videos showing each hero’s special “above and beyond” efforts can be seen now on the ALFA website.

These are true five-star productions.