“Housekeeping. It’s good to see housekeeping motivated for what they do. It’s important, especially when they’re turning a room change or for new admits or discharges. They’re doing more for the building than just their actual job. They do more for patients than just cleaning. They’re preventing infections, [and] making sure people are happy and a room looks presentable.”

— Shilpi Chona, Administrator, The Grove of Evanston, Legacy Healthcare, Evanston, IL 

“CNAs. They are the backbone of the facility. They are the eyes and ears for the residents. Nurses cannot function without them. One week a year is not enough recognition (for CNAs). If families praise someone, we let them know. They’re there every day for the right reason.”

— Robin Lambert, Administrator, Johnson County Health and Rehab, Clarksville, AR

“In some ways, management. I can see it in survey on resident and employee satisfaction. There’s a lot of people who don’t understand what management does, nor how we do it. They think we sit in the office with our feet on our desk all day. I see it year after year on surveys. We need to do a better job of communicating what we do.”

— Michael O. Feltes, MA, LNHA, Executive Director of Support Services, Dow Rummel Village, Sioux Falls, SD

“IT tends to be in the background. We’ve accepted that. When we interact, there’s usually something wrong or they need something. Front line staff also are so needed. They have such a direct impact on results, so it’s good to focus on them and make their lives a little easier.”

— Dave Anderson, IT Director, AMFM, Charleston, WV

“In my building, my housekeeping department, day in, day out, is doing the brunt of the work, cleaning the filthiest of rooms, dealing with family members who come in yelling. A clean room is the first step in a resident’s journey to recovery and health.”

— Scott Morton, Administrator, The Grove, LaGrange Park, IL

“I always believe the activities director has a phenomenal ability to change the tone in a building beyond taking care of residents like doctors and nurses do. It can be massively impactful for employees, as well as residents. Employees like people being happy and not frustrated. Activities [employees] bleed into everything and can bring things up a notch.

Another one is the MDS coordinator. There are a tremendous number of nurses in the building who underestimate the work done by the MDS coordinator. Other nurses don’t always get that.”

— Kyle Romano, Administrator, Blair House, Milford, MA

From the February 2020 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News