Editor’s Note: The McKnight’s Senior Living Daily Briefing and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Daily Update e-newsletters are profiling each of the McKnight’s 2019 Women of Distinction in July. For more coverage, visit the McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News websites and read the August print edition of McKnight’s Senior Living and July print edition of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
While in nursing school, most of Kim Estes Elliott’s peers wanted to work in an emergency room or in labor and delivery. But for Elliott, a trip to a nursing home for training solidified that she eventually go into the senior care industry.
She began her career as a nurse at Heartland Villa in Kentucky and worked her way up to the position of director of nursing. From there, she moved to Kindred Healthcare, where she spent nine years and developed training programs, decreased the number of patients / residents returning to acute-care settings, initiated nursing budget control and ultimately oversaw all quality and compliance issues for more than 2,000 locations. In 2013, she relocated to Franklin, TN, and became senior vice president of clinical quality and compliance at Centerre Healthcare.
Since 2014, Elliott has been senior vice president of clinical services at Brookdale Senior Living. She has managed the merging of Brookdale and Emeritus Senior Living as well as the transition from paper to electronic medical records during her time with the organization.
All told, she oversees clinical services for the almost 1,000 communities in 46 states.
In addition to caring for older adults today, Elliott also is working to inspire the next generation of senior living professionals to keep that care going. She is on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the University of Central Florida School of Nursing. This opportunity allows her to spread the message of senior living career opportunities to recent graduates.
McKnight’s Women of Distinction is a joint program of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program’s exclusive Platinum sponsor is PointClickCare.
