Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2022 Women of Distinction honorees daily July 5 through Aug. 10. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.

Mary Jean McKeveny holds that in order for caregivers to succeed, they need to care for themselves.

“Mary Jean believes that self-care is key to a caregiver’s ability to care for others, and she is committed to helping others master the tools they need to recharge and relax,” said Gurwin Healthcare System Chief Public Relations Officer Dennine Cook.

McKeveny achieves this by teaching her staff tai chi, presenting them with crystals and stones, and guiding them through meditations.

“She is a teacher and mentor and is often found leading the nursing home staff in short meditations to help them decompress and reset,” Cook explained. 

McKeveny’s belief has accompanied her throughout her nearly 30 years working in home care. Before joining Gurwin in 2018, she served a lengthy tenure with ArchCare at Home, in the role of advancing clinical innovation. 

In her current position, as director of clinical innovation, she works with all departments and on a variety of projects to enhance care transitions and implement technology to improve care.

She also works with the Gurwin Jewish HealthCare Foundation to apply for grants aimed at improving better care transitions, innovating dementia care initiatives, and increasing clinical growth.

In addition to McKeveny’s work in healthcare, she also has a passion for research and has worked with Weill-Cornell on the Care of the Older Adult with Depression, United Hospital Fund’s Care Transitions Quality Improvement Collaborative, and in Stony Brook’s Medication Management Clinical Trial.

She also has presented to multiple national and local clinical groups on subjects such as telehealth, nurse coaching, implementing care transitions and home care. As a result of this and her work at ArchCare and Gurwin, she was awarded National Program Director of the Year by the Visiting Nurse Association of America.

In addition to her many other plaudits, McKeveny is an adjunct professor in the St. Joseph’s College School of Nursing (her alma mater), and was awarded the St. Joseph’s College Alumni Achievement Award in Health Care and Human Services.

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. The program’s Diamond sponsor is PointClickCare. Silver sponsors include OnShift and PharMerica, and the Bronze sponsor is Reliant Rehabilitation. Table sponsors included Dreamscape, Gojo/Purell and Sound Physicians.