For an eighth consecutive year, the Menig Extended Care Facility at Gifford Medical Center has received a quality recognition from the state of Vermont and Vermont Health Care Association (VHCA).
The Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living and VHCA awarded Menig the Nursing Home Quality Recognition on June 6 in a ceremony at the Hilton in Colchester.
Receiving the recognition on Menig’s behalf were nursing home Administrator Linda Minsinger and Director of Nursing Cindy Richardson.
“I’m very proud of my staff. I know the residents receive excellent physical care, but are also treated with respect and dignity,” said Richardson, noting staff members demonstrate their care and compassion for the residents daily through every conversation, hand held or care administered.
The award, offered annually to nursing homes in Vermont meeting certain criteria, looks at resident and family satisfaction, state survey results, participation and data entry into the National Advancing Excellence Quality Program and lack of family complaints.
Good care contributes greatly to achieving those markers, but Richardson noted that it takes a larger team to have such a high-quality home for residents.
“The core of the recognition is the aides who give them care and the nurses who guide the care,” Richardson said, “but the facility is also clean, it has good food and it’s well-maintained. That’s what also makes it a quality place to live and work.”
The nursing homes dedicated group of volunteers and chaplaincy volunteers also contribute greatly to Menig’s warmth and offerings, Richardson said.
“I’m very proud that Gifford staff has done that great of a job for all these years to meet the state’s highest award for quality for a nursing home. It shows what a great team we have working together,” Minsinger added.
Named for the late Howard and Gladys Menig of Braintree, Menig was first built attached to Gifford Medical Center in 1998 to provide enhanced quality of care to residents of the state-closed Tranquility Nursing Home in Randolph.
Repeatedly recognized for its high-quality care both on a state and national level, 30-bed Menig is the only nursing home in Orange County and highly sought after as a place to live ones final years.
Now the hospital is hoping to provide care and housing options to a greater number of seniors through the creation of a senior living community in Randolph Center to include independent living and a reconstructed Menig as well as assisted living in the future.
“This quality recognition is further evidence that we’re doing the right thing for our residents and poised to make an even greater difference in Randolph Center,” Director of Development and Public Relations Ashley Lincoln said.
Other/past awards for Menig
- 2012 Honor Roll, U.S. News and World Report (a recognition given to only 39 nursing homes nationally receiving four straight quarters of five-star rankings in all categories evaluated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
- 2012 Best Nursing Homes, U.S. News and World Report (award also received in 2011)
- Excellence in Action Award, from national resident/family surveying company My InnerView (2008-2011)
- Nursing Home Quality Recognition, Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living and the Vermont Health Care Association (2011 and 2012)
- Nursing Home Quality Award, Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living and the Vermont Health Care Association (2005-2010)
- Gold Star Employer Award, Vermont Health Care Association (received during the seven consecutive years – 2005-2011 – the award was offered)
- Registered Nurse of the Year, awarded to Menig nurse Judy Libby, Vermont Health Care Association (2006)
- Nursing Director of the Year, awarded to staff member Brooks Chapin, Vermont Health Care Association (2005)
