Gifford Medical Center offers healthy cooking classesGifford Medical Center offers healthy cooking classesGifford Medical Center offers healthy cooking classeMenig wins two state awards
RANDOLPH, May 8, 2008 – Gifford Medical Center’s 30-bed nursing home, the Menig Extended Care Facility, received two state recognitions Tuesday at an all-day event in Burlington.
For the fourth consecutive year, Menig and its dedicated staff have earned the Nursing Home Quality Award from the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) and the Gold Star employer recognition from DAIL and the Vermont Health Care Association, a nursing home organization.
Eighteen nursing homes statewide received the Gold Star employer award. The Gold Star award recognizes professional development projects that enhance staff retention and satisfaction. Menig’s project was on staff recognition and support. Menig has won the award each of the four years it has been offered.
Only four facilities statewide received the Nursing Home Quality Award, which comes with an $18,459 gift to Menig and its residents. The award is difficult to earn, notes Menig Director of Nursing Brooks Chapin. It is based on the results of resident satisfaction surveys, a lack of substantiated complaints, limited deficiencies, low employee turnover and participation in the Gold Star employer program. According to the state, the award recognizes “outstanding nursing homes, which have met high standards of quality of care for Vermont’s nursing home residents.”
Only one other nursing home of about 40 in the state has earned more of these awards than Menig.
“It’s very difficult to get this award,” said Chapin, crediting her staff with the honor. “I’m just in awe of my staff. They know what it’s like to provide good quality care and won’t settle for anything less.”
Six Menig nursing staff members were on hand to receive the pair of awards from DAIL Commissioner Joan Senecal and Division of Licensing and Protection Director Fran Keeler on Tuesday. They were Chapin, nurses Jane Stone and Judy Libby, and nursing assistants Marion Currier, Penny Severance and Stephanie Grout.
Senecal visit Menig on May 29 to honor the nursing home’s full staff with the award.