Bradford Village Healthcare Center Honored
By James Coburn, staff writer
Bradford Village Healthcare Center was recently awarded this year’s Silver Award for the American College Healthcare Association/National Center for Assisted Living National Quality Awards Program, said Astrid Chatham, Bradford Village administrator.
The program helps facilities evaluate organizational strengths and opportunities, identify critical areas for improvement, and implement a plan to be stronger, more resilient, and successful than ever before. The three-level program evaluates long term care organizations’ capabilities against nationally recognized standards for excellence, making it one of the most comprehensive and cost-effective performance assessments available to providers.
Each progressive award level — Bronze, Commitment to Quality; Silver, Achievement in Quality; and Gold, Excellence in Quality, requires a more detailed demonstration of superior performance, according to AHCA/NCAL.
“If you win the Bronze Award, you have two years after that to apply for the Silver Award and to be recognized for it. And Bradford Village and St. Ann’s Skilled Nursing and Therapy were the first two buildings in this company to be recognized with the Silver Award,” Chatham said.
Bradford Village’s next step involves applying for the Gold Award.
“I think the award demonstrates all the dedication the employees have to this facility,” Chatham continued. “We have a very high tenure of department heads and lay staff that work the floor.”
Director of Nursing Kary Dillingham, RN, and Chatham enjoy a 10-year professional relationship. They work together to make processes and outcomes effective.
“Things that don’t quite work, we maneuver them around and make them work,” Dillingham added.
Employees understand the valuable role they have in nursing care. Their individual strengths excel in roles they flourish in. Bradford nurses are committed and reliable, Dillingham said.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of nurses (across the nation) that don’t want to work in this field. So, the nurses that do want to work in this field, you know they have a heart for the elderly and want to make sure they are comforted, cared for and feel protected,” Dillingham said.
It touches her heart knowing that when a resident is passing without much family involvement, Bradford Village make sure that when a resident is dying, there is somebody with them. There will be somebody, even a specialized hospice employee or a volunteer by their side.
Her 30-year career has enabled Dillingham to share her compassion.
“You don’t lose that in this profession. Dealing with families and the residents, even through difficult times you have to show compassion and caring. I feel like it keeps you from having a wall put up and, just going through the process in a day-to-day job,” Dillingham explained.
Bradford Village nurses and staff enjoy bringing seasonal joy to residents by joining them for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with families and friends.
Derenda Davis, LPN, values the importance of getting to know residents and family members. Nobody knows the residents better than they do. So,
conversations with those families are “super important,” Davis said.
Nursing has influenced Davis’s life by taking a different look about how people react, she said. Long-term care exposes people to illness and end-of-life.
“Not everybody knows how to go through those phases of grief or how to deal with those emotions. So, sometimes it’s just a step back to let people feel those feelings a little bit,” Davis said. “That kind of made me take a different look at how I talk with people and know they have other things going on, just out in the world and not just at work.”
Stability and a safe environment means a lot to residents, by knowing when they wake up every morning, there is someone to care for them, Davis noted.
Sometimes residents tell stories or color life with humor. Chatham recalled a resident who was very much a character. He was one of those people who never knew a stranger. One day he wanted Chatham to take him to see his daughter who lived down the street.
“I drove down there because she was not answering her phone,” Chatham said. “So, he went to the door — his daughter’s boyfriend answered the door in his underwear. It was super embarrassing for him, and he would always say to me, ‘Remember when her boyfriend answered the door in his underwear?’”
And Chatham would say, “Yes I do.” And he would tell everyone that. He was a character, and he would always say to every woman, ‘You’re iconic.’ So, I was an iconic driver. Our admissions director was an iconic dancer. Kari was an iconic dresser. He had a name for everybody, and he was very complimentary to everyone here — just a wonderful person.”
