Meet Gina
Administrator
The administrator, along with our friendly and professional staff, strives to create positive, stimulating ways for residents to continue living life with meaning and purpose. We are a friendly family where we treat residents like real people with real life stories.
Our community is a great story that includes heartwarming chapters and incredibly unique characters all in a wonderful setting. Here is the administrator's story:
How long have you worked in the retirement industry?
Since 1982
What do you like best about your job?
I derive great satisfaction in seeing a resident get back on his feet after rehab, as well as receiving a heartfelt thank you note from a resident or family member commending our staff.
What do you like to do in your free time and why?
I like to fish and read. I have this great need for being productive with my time and fishing makes me feel I am being productive (there is a goal of putting food on the table) but it also provides me time for reflection. Reading is purely for escapism.
If you could meet one person, past or present, who would it be and why?
Abraham Lincoln – just to see how a great man looks and acts.
What’s your favorite movie and why?
To Kill A Mockingbird
What’s your favorite dish or dessert and why?
Coffee ice cream. I love the flavor of coffee but it does not love me back. However, coffee flavored ice cream does not cause palpitations like coffee does.
In what ways do your residents/patients inspire you?
I listen to their stories and I am humbled and inspired at the same time.
Do you have any memorable experiences with a particular resident/patient you would like to share?
My first year working in a nursing home, we admitted a young man with a closed head injury. He was, for all intents and purposes, a “vegetable.” After a few months, the staff started seeing changes – he would follow them with his eyes and started moving his hands. The staff was really excited and inspired to help rehab him. He progressed slowly but was eventually able to communicate and regain some motor functioning. He improved significantly and was discharged back to his family. He did more to motivate the staff and lift morale than any motivational speaker could have done. Every staff member, even the ones who did not care for him directly, felt really good about their chosen career path.
How do you honor your residents/patients?
By making sure that they are listened to, by taking the time to address even the most insignificant or trivial concerns, and by acknowledging them.
In what ways do your employees inspire you?
When Haiti was hit with an earthquake a year ago, I was working in Naples where 95 percent of my staff were Haitians. Several lost family members and close relatives. One lost 17 altogether. I was concerned for how the event would affect staffing – expecting massive call-offs, especially right after it occurred when they had no knowledge if their loved ones were alive or dead. My fears were groundless. Only one staff called off (a nurse whose father worked in the building that was shown on TV to have crumbled). So whenever I experience minor aches and pains, or feel a little “down” and think of staying home, I think of their dedication and commitment and I get out of bed and I come to work.
How do you create a family-like atmosphere at your community?
By treating residents and their family and the staff like family.
Tell us about an employee who embodies one of our core values – integrity, respect, responsibility, professionalism or teamwork.
I receive a lot of compliments from family members and residents about a male C.N.A. who not only goes above and beyond but is also respectful in his interactions with residents and family and gentle in his care of the residents.