The Oceana County Medical Care Facility (OCMCF) Board of Directors was introduced to the new Director of Nursing (DON), Lindy Stokes, at their March 23 meeting. An employee of OCMCF, Stokes worked first as a floor nurse before progressing to the role of a unit supervisor and started as DON on March 16.
Said Facility Administrator Sally Choponis of the appointment, “We’re excited about adding (Stokes) to our leadership team and confident that she will bring value to our organization.” Interim DON Kristina Wilson-Rapson will stay on to aid Stokes in her transition.
In celebration of Nursing Home Week, upcoming in May, OCMCF is planning to hold a facility-wide spirit week, complete with recognition of employees and pins for staff to display milestones based on the numbers of years in service. Choponis also extended an invitation to the board.
In a similar vein, the facility is planning to introduce further celebrating of employees through a monthly “Spotlight of Excellence,” to, as Choponis explained, “bring recognition to a staff member whose actions reflect our standards and values.” This recognition is similar to, but will not be replacing, the facility’s Employee of the Month and will be determined through monthly department reports.
This month’s Spotlight shines on Tara Bateson, R.N. Bateson is being recognized for “outstanding nursing care and clinical excellence. She demonstrated exceptional assessment skills, sound clinical judgment and timely intervention while caring for an acutely ill resident of ours.”
Choponis also went on to say that her actions in this situation allowed the patient to be transferred to receive a higher level of care, resulting in a positive case outcome. “Tara’s actions reflect a deep commitment to resident safety, advocacy and excellence in nursing practice.”
This month saw 31 outpatient therapy members, with 17 receiving occupational therapy and 17 receiving physical therapy treatments. OCMCF also saw a patient census average of 96, exceeding expectations for the month. Between outpatient therapy and resident censuses, OCMCF is maintaining similar numbers to the previous month.
The facility issued 43 denials in the month of February, with the majority having health insurance coverage not yet accepted by the facility - it is an ongoing goal for OCMCF to see this number decrease - with notable denials regarding wanting to preserve the peace, safety and comfort of staff and other residences.
The new facility boiler has been installed in working order, passing a recent inspection. Also passing inspection is the facility’s water softener system for the first time in five years. Backup generators are also in working order, as displayed through two recent power outages. Several lights and PA systems are awaiting updates expected in the very near future. Finally, for operational updates, OCMCF is seeking bids for HVAC systems in anticipation of replacing some of the older units at the facility.
OCMCF hosted three resident birthday parties in the past month, as well as took residents on outings to church services and the matinee performance of Hart High School Drama Club’s production of “Cinderella.” OCMCF continues to host monthly 4-H dog club meetings, which residents are invited to attend and to meet participants and their dogs. April 17 has been set as the date for the upcoming annual facility carnival.
For the financial report, Financial Controller Cindy Leone happily reported a net gain of $96,386 for the month of February and a gross resident revenue of $1.4 million. With expenditures of nearly 1.5 million, this puts the overall favorable budget variance at $233,084. Said Leone, “I’m certain we have never reported an expense that fell below what we budget for the month,” and she owes it to the facility’s “spectacular planning and being very careful… these are all wonderfully beautiful, unique numbers, and I expect it to continue.” Leone is preparing for the facility’s financial audit, which begins April 6.
There were 96 policy updates for the board to approve. Requests from the board on how policy changes are presented came from Larry VanSickle and Chair Linda East. VanSickle asked if policies could continue to be approved by another signatory, at least the medical director, before they came to the board, with East requesting consistency in the formatting in which policies are presented, and all board members agreeing they’d prefer to see a smaller amount of policies every month rather than a bulk amount every few months. Choponis received the feedback and plans to implement these requests for the future.
During public comment, one attendee raised concerns regarding the care of her mother in residence at OCMCF, short staffing and who she can approach to raise those concerns. In reply, Choponis said she is happy to hear out concerns “so that I can work with my leadership team and try to figure out a good plan, because none of that is how we want to present to those that live there, (that their) care is high quality and we’re proud of that.”
