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.
On a daily basis, Mary Franklin balances the needs of more than 500 employees and 650 residents at the Cypress Cove campus in Fort Myers, FL.
At no time was this more evident than during the arrival of Hurricane Ian in 2022. A storm surge wasn’t expected so far inland, but Franklin made the difficult decision to evacuate all residents before the storm. It was a life-saving decision, considering the entire campus saw a storm surge that flooded all first-floor buildings and villas.
In addition to evacuating all first-floor residents, Franklin helped oversee all recovery and restoration efforts, despite experiencing damage to her own home and vehicle. Along with other employees who had personal losses in the storm, Franklin and her team helped organize clothing drives, ride shares and hot meals for displaced residents.
Franklin continues to provide creative solutions for programming and space use at Cypress Cove during ongoing campus-wide rebuilding efforts.
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.
