Editor’s Note: We are profiling the McKnight’s 2020 Women of Distinction honorees daily through the program’s July 28 online awards ceremony. To learn more about this digital celebration, the Forum the next day (which offers three free continuing education credits July 29) or the program in general, visit mcknightswomenofdistinction.com.

Heather Hudson’s passion for skilled nursing and long-term care is reflected in her role as a mentor to future generations of professionals.

Hudson, administrator at Prescott Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, treats her staff as family. She is personally invested in providing access to personal and professional growth opportunities for staff members — her building boasts a turnover rate of less than 9%. Many of her managers began their careers as certified nursing assistants or nursing assistants.  

Hudson herself began her career in the long-term care industry in 2005, shortly after graduating from nursing school. She has been with Prescott Nursing and Rehabilitation Center since 2006, working her way up from charge nurse to director of nursing services to director of nursing. After completing an administrator-in-training program through her employer, she was promoted to administrator of the Prescott, AZ, facility.

Hudson serves on the Arizona Health Care Association Board of Directors and chairs its Quality and Regulatory Committee. She is the organization’s state nominee for the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living Future Leaders program, which covers the latest theories and practical applications in quality management, customer satisfaction and leadership.

Under Hudson’s leadership, Prescott received AHCA’s 2020 Quality Initiative Recognition Program Award (Tier 3 — achieving three of the program’s four goals), and she earned the American College of Health Care Administrators’ 2018 Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award. 

Hudson is active in lobbying for long-term care at the local and state levels. She also is involved in her local community as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and through the activities of her three children.

The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. The program’s Diamond sponsor is PointClickCare. Silver sponsors are OnShift and PharMerica, and the Signature sponsor is Acadia Pharmaceuticals.