Rosalyn Watson is new chief wellness officer at Validus Senior Living
Rosalyn Watson is the new chief wellness officer at Validus Senior Living, owner of Inspired Living communities across the Southeast.
Watson is no stranger to the senior living or healthcare industries. She began her career as a registered nurse and has more than 20 years of experience in the senior care industry.
In her new role, Watson is responsible for many day-to-day factors that affect the resident experience. She will provide resources, support, training and mentorship for community leaders to ensure consistent standards for care and services.
Diann McDonough named community relations director of Watercrest St. Lucie West
Diann McDonough has been named community relations director of Watercrest St. Lucie West Assisted Living and Memory Care, a 128-unit luxury senior living community opening this year in Port St. Lucie, FL.
McDonough has almost 20 years of sales and marketing experience in senior living, real estate and resorts. As community relations director of Watercrest St. Lucie West, she will aim to ensure that every detail is in place for residents’ successful transitions to their new homes.
Watercrest St. Lucie West is a signature Watercrest community, offering 102 assisted living and 26 memory care apartments.
Dominion Senior Living of Athens hires five directors
Dominion Senior Living of Athens, currently under construction in Athens, TN, has hired five new members for its management team.
Melissa Ingram joins as wellness director, Jessica Skelton is business office director, Rhonda Elkins is life enrichment director, Joy Lewis is dining service director and John Crisp is maintenance director. Each will be under the direction of Shannon Alvey, the community’s executive director.
“Our directors share over 100 years combined experience of servant leadership within their individual fields of expertise,” Alvey said.
Ingram has been a licensed practical nurse for 27 years and is experienced in clinical care, emergency room care and pain management. She also has served as a resident services director for an assisted living community.
Ingram graduated from Pickens Technical College with a licensed practical nurse diploma. She is also a certified emergency medical technician – intravenous in addition to holding certifications in advanced cardiac life support, basic life support and pediatric advanced life support.
Skelton will be responsible for overseeing all bookkeeping and localized accounting functions for the community. She will be a resource for information and assistance for residents and their family members. She has more than 20 years medical field experience with Athens Family Practice in all aspects of operations.
Elkins will be responsible for planning, developing and implementing recreational and social activities as well as entertainment that meets the daily needs of residents. She has three decades of creative sales, advertising and customer service experience which she can draw on for her new position.
Lewis will oversee the dining staff and brings nearly two decades of food management service to the community. She will use her knowledge in the kitchen to ensure that the culinary team creates nutritious and delicious meals for residents to enjoy every day. Before her career in the foodservice industry, Lewis was a certified nursing assistant.
Crisp has more than 20 years of experience in multiple disciplines, including management, and more than six years at senior living communities. He was given a corporate-wide Community Impact Award in 2016 at a senior living community in Knoxville, TN, for overall job performance and for building relationships with staff and residents. He will focus on preventive maintenance and the safety of residents, team members and visitors.
Above: Front row, from left: Melissa Ingram and John Crisp. Back row: Joy Lewis, Jessica Skelton, Rhonda Elkins and Shannon Alvey.
Deborah Nugent named executive director at Mirador
Deborah Nugent has been named executive director of Mirador, a life plan community in Corpus Christi, TX.
Nugent has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. For almost six years, she had been the health services administrator at Mirador and has served on the Corpus Christi Mayor’s Council on Senior Affairs and Coastal Bend Nursing Home Administrators.
As executive director, Nugent will be responsible for managing the daily operations of the community, fostering a successful team environment and maintaining the satisfaction of residents and their families.
Mirador is sponsored by Senior Quality Lifestyles Corp.
Scott Thomas named executive director at The Stayton at Museum Way
Scott Thomas has been named executive director of The Stayton at Museum Way, a nonprofit life plan community in Fort Worth, TX.
Thomas spent the past two decades in the hospitality and hotel industries. He held positions with luxury hotel chains, including The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, as well as private country clubs across the country.
The Stayton at Museum Way is sponsored by Senior Quality Lifestyles Corp.
Via Christi Health names Hett as chief clinical officer
Via Christi Health has named Ed Hett, M.D., as its chief clinical officer following the June retirement of Karl Ulrich, M.D..
Hett, who has been a practicing Wichita, KS, physician since 1984, will continue to work directly with employers through the accountable care organization and maintain his part-time clinical practice at Via Christi Clinic.
As Via Christi’s CCO, he will work closely with Ziad Haydar, M.D., senior vice president and chief clinical officer for Ascension. Ascension is the largest non-profit health system in the United States and the world’s largest Catholic health system, operating 2,500 sites of care — including 141 hospitals and more than 30 Ascension Living senior living communities — in 24 states and the District of Columbia, according to the company.
NADONA Executive Director Sherrie Dornberger honored by governor
National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long Term Care Executive Director Sherrie Dornberger recently received a 2017 New Jersey State Governor’s Jefferson Award in the executive leadership category.
The award recognizes individuals in executive positions in the private or public sector whose commitment to volunteerism extends throughout the organizations they lead, using their status to motivate others and generate response to meet the unfulfilled needs of the community.
In the accompanying photo: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie congratulates NADONA Executive Director Sherrie Dornberger.
Lisa Ford named NCCDP 2017 CNA of the Year
Lisa Ford, has been named the 2017 Certified Nursing Assistant of the Year by the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners.
An NCCDP-certified dementia practitioner, Ford has the title of “naya,” a Sanskrit word, at The Watermark at East Hill in Southbury, CT.
Established in 2003, the NCCDP’s CNA of the Year award honors one CNA, personal care aide, home health aide or geriatric nursing assistant who is an NCCDP-certified dementia practitioner in good standing, has met the state criteria to hold certification and provides services deemed to be exemplary to the most vulnerable older Americans.
Ford was nominated by her fellow associates and was chosen from hundreds of applications.
“Associates like Lisa are much more than caregivers, which is why we refer to them as nayas — a guide, person of wisdom and leader who is engaged in the present moment,” Watermark Retirement Communities President David Barnes said in a statement. “Lisa’s commitment to her team and residents exemplifies everything Watermark stands for, and we are so proud to celebrate her honor.”
Ford, who has worked for The Watermark for 19 years, became lead naya at The Watermark at East Hill’s memory care center, called The Villa, in 2012. She is responsible for the well-being of Villa residents, often cooking and cleaning with them or engaging in their hobbies and interests.
Ford, Watermark said, has become an integral part of creating and implementing memory care programs for her community and orchestrating extraordinary excursions for these residents, which have included an overnight campout and trips to New York City and Washington, D.C. She also serves as the key trainer for leaders and new caregivers across Watermark’s 40 communities nationwide.
“I can honestly say that I would consider Lisa Ford the most extraordinary CNA of all those that I have met in the past decade,” Maureen Bonner Garvey, Watermark’s regional director of resident programming and NCCDP-certified Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care trainer, said in a statement. “She is always balancing a ‘to-do’ list that includes each resident’s care plan as well as things that need to happen in the household, while also managing her time and those of her co-workers. And it seems nothing can rattle Lisa.”
All Watermark nayas are required to become certified dementia practitioners, according to the NCCDP.
Ford received the CNA of the Year award in July at The Villa.
Above: NCCDP’s 2017 CNA of the Year Lisa Ford, center, is flanked by NCCDP Chief Operating Officer Lynn Biot Gordon, left, and CEO Sandra Stimson.
Send personnel news to Senior Editor Lois A. Bowers. Please include a photo.
