Gifford nursing home earns
'coveted' awards for quality
RANDOLPH, May 29, 2008 – The Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) offers up to five Quality Awards to nursing homes statewide each year, but so difficult are the awards to receive that this year only four of the state’s 39 nursing homes were eligible and only one went to a central Vermont nursing home – the Menig Extended Care Facility, said DAIL Commissioner Joan Senecal on Thursday.
Senecal was at Menig – part of
Gifford Medical Center in
Randolph – to deliver what she
called the “very coveted” award
and the check that accompanies
it. This year – Menig’s fourth
consecutive receiving the
recognition – the state awarded
Menig and its 30 residents
$18,458.73.
“It’s not easy to achieve this
award,” Senecal said. “It took a lot of hard work, and the staff deserves a lot of credit. You can look around here and see the residents are well-cared for, and that’s the staff.”
Menig Director of Nursing Brooks Chapin praised her staff for that hard work. “They care from the bottom of their hearts,” she said.
Hospital President Joseph Woodin agreed that caring comes not from a desire to win awards. “I don’t think Brooks and the staff strive for this award; it’s just what happens here,” he said.
The Quality Award is based on the results of resident satisfaction surveys, a lack of substantiated complaints for the entire year, limited deficiencies and low employee turnover.
Also awarded to Menig for the fourth consecutive year was the Gold Star employer award from DAIL and the Vermont Health Care Association, a nursing home organization. The Gold Star award recognizes Menig’s efforts to recruit and retain employees. Low-employee turnover betters residents’ quality of life, said Division of Licensing and Protection Director Fran Keeler. “It’s very important to make sure there are very strong, robust workforces.”
Mary Shriver, executive director of the Vermont Health Care Association, told Menig staff, “You do a great, great job. The last survey from Licensing and Protection, you were deficiency-free, and that’s very, very unusual.”
Nursing home residents know they are receiving great care.
“It’s a wonderful place. I’ve been in others, but not like this,” said resident Lucille Salls of Randolph, who concluded the afternoon ceremony as it had begun – on a high note.
The notes at the beginning were from young Randolph Elementary School flutists, who played and sang as part of an extensive activities program at the award-winning nursing home.