Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2023 Women of Distinction honorees daily from July 5 to Aug. 15. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.

Judy Plantinga began her career in healthcare at age 15 as a dietary aide. A few decades and several degrees later, she was named executive director of the Cedar Creek Health Campus for Trilogy Health Services, an organization she joined as a medical records worker in 2003. 

Plantinga has earned bachelor’s degrees in business and healthcare management, as well as a master’s degree in health administration. 

During her time at Cedar Creek, she has earned numerous awards and was instrumental in achieving its highest ever occupancy rate, 93.4%, in 2021. The campus also has earned numerous customer satisfaction awards under Plantinga’s leadership, even throughout the pandemic. 

Plantinga’s leadership skills and dedication to excellence have helped the company thrive, and she has used her skills to train an additional five administrators who now run other health facilities. It isn’t just administrators she mentors, either. Using her own experience in moving from dietary aide to qualified medication aide, certified nursing assistant and eventually an award-winning administrator, Plantinga has helped to advance the careers of countless employees under her wing, including CNAs and nurses.

The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. PointClickCare is the Diamond sponsor of this year’s program. PharMerica is the Silver sponsor. Additional sponsors include American HealthTech, Healthcare Services Group, Omnicare, Sentrics and ShiftKey.

Visit this web page to see lists of honorees from 2023 and previous years.