Exceptional BC Care Award nominees we had to celebrate!
BC Care Providers Association announced the winners of the 6th Annual BC Care Awards earlier this month, after receiving a record number of nominations from care providers across the province. These awards recognize the very best among thousands of dedicated and compassionate employees who are making a difference in the lives of British Columbia seniors in care every day.
In addition to choosing winners in five categories, the Association’s Events & Recognition Committee also designated some nominees as honorable mentions.
“Some of our finalists, who ultimately didn’t win, still deserve to be recognized and celebrated for their hard work, passion and unfailing commitment to seniors care,” says Cathy Szmaus, VP, Operations and Corporate Partnerships. “We’re proud to celebrate their achievements as much as our winners.”
BC Care Awards — Honorable Mentions
BCCPA congratulates the following nominees who have been accorded honorable mention status.
Loretta Lo & Bernie Deato from Fair Haven Homes Society (Safety Champion)
Loretta Lo and Bernie Deato are two nurse managers that together lead the care activities within Fair Haven’s Vancouver Lodge. Loretta and Bernie’s commitment to quality care is evident every day in their interactions with residents, families and staff. The most poignant activity that demonstrates this is their commitment to daily safety huddles. Rain or Shine, Christmas or Summer Vacation, Loretta and Bernie are committed to making sure that the entire interdisciplinary team takes 10-15 min to connect and share any relevant information in each neighborhood on both day and evening shifts.
Daily huddles started as a quality improvement project during their last Accreditation cycle; the concept was proposed as a suggestion to improve communication-related to safety activities in the workplace. They have become so much more. The safety huddles have key guiding principles that are reinforced regularly; team huddles start at the same time every day, simple and concise messages are used, all member arrive on time and stay till the end, listen to the message with an open mind, respect each other’s opinion, no naming, no shaming, and focus on a solution. These grounds rules have set the stage for quality interactions between the team, that highlight solution and opportunities for improvements without judgment or blaming. The interactions also create an amazing team attitude to all activities; all staff is working together to provide quality, compassionate care.
Loretta and Bernie continually inspire full participation of all staff. Repetitive activities like these can so easily fall out of favor with leaders, there are so many other daily activities that could take priority and cause a leader to let the huddles slide, but not for Loretta and Bernie, they are consistently dedicated to making the huddles happen, usually as a team, but sometimes intendedly or with support of other departmental managers. These “Safety Huddles” have transformed the culture of the organization.
Thank you, Loretta and Bernie, for your amazing contribution to seniors care!
Brian Winger from KinVillage (Assisted Living)
Brian Winger has been the Recreation Coordinator at KinVillage in Delta, BC in its Assisted Living Residence for over 12 years. He always provides quality programs, which is a big reason why KinVillage’s score for the Activities domain on the bi-annual Fraser Health (FH) resident satisfaction surveys significantly exceeds the FH average.
Beyond the actual job he so capably performs, it is apparent to anyone who meets him that Brian just loves the residents and his job. He considers everyone in Assisted Living part of one big family and he makes everyone feel at home. Brian’s commitment and capacity for caring is outstanding. We can always count on Brian to go above and beyond in everything he does.
For Brian, his work at KinVillage is deeply personal. He gives 200% because he genuinely cares for and about the Assisted Living residents. He knows that what he does and how he does it will make a difference in their day. It’s why he’s there.
He supports residents to live their lives fully, by offering creative and appealing programs designed to enhance physical, cognitive, spiritual, social and emotional health. He reminds and gently encourages residents to participate. And he continually adapts and changes programs and activities in response to changing resident needs and to their feedback and input.
Brian has consistently provided high quality recreation services at KinVillage for over 12 years, never faltering in his dedication.
Thank you, Brian Winger, for your exceptional work at KinVillage!
Lisa Mackenzie from Sidney All Care (Long-Term Care)
Lisa Mackenzie is a bath aide with Sidney All Care Residence. When Lisa is providing bath care she goes above and beyond to ensure that each experience is special for the residents. For Lisa to achieve this, she has gone to the drugstore on her own time and on multiple occasions to pick up small items for some of our residents to enhance their bathing experience.
Lisa also works hard to ensure each bath is a spa like experience for the residents. She dims the lights and plays soft music with individualized playlists for each resident that she has taken the time to make. She knows just how each of them like their baths, for example, one lady loves lots of bubbles, so Lisa always makes sure she gets lots of bubbles.
For the ladies, Lisa takes the time, care, and consideration to blow dry and curl their hair to give them the full spa like experience so they leave feeling special each time. Lisa is also mindful of her team members, and always leaves the spa room ready for the next shift.
In the All Care community, Lisa has gone above and beyond and taken on a leadership role by organizing the bath schedule and by providing education to other team members. She has become a certified trainer for both the Gentle Persuasive Approach and through MSPI’s Train the Trainer Safe Resident Handling course.
Lisa has taken on these additional tasks with grace and a smile on her face. You can’t help but be in a good mood when you’re around Lisa.
Lisa’s leadership skills have also been demonstrated through her excellent communication with management. She brings forward ideas that will not only enhance residents experience but also team members’ morale and provides valuable feedback to management.
Anytime there is training or team events she is there. She is always looking at how she can enhance her skills and pass on her knowledge to her fellow team members. If there is a team member event, she comes and brings her family. When we are looking for people to help with something, she is the first to put her hand up. She is always the first one to say thank you, and she also acknowledges others’ hard work.
Thank you, Lisa, so very much for your amazing contribution to seniors care!
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The 2019 BC Care Awards will take place on February 19th in Victoria, B.C. The awards has been made possible through the generous support of the following sponsors:
