From Menial to Meaningful
From L to R: Dana Gilmore, Bob Speelman, Beckie BakerJuly 27, 2017
NOTE: The following story was taken from the blog of Bob Speelman, Foundations Health Solutions VP of Business Development and Culture. Each week Bob works as an STNA at one of his nursing homes to better learn how Foundations can deliver A Culture of Care.I had the most amazing time yesterday at Pinnacle Pointe, our 109-bed facility in Moraine, Ohio, a Suburb of Dayton. Pinnacle Pointe is known throughout the state for its outstanding ventilator care, which is one of the largest ventilator units in Ohio. The administrator at Pinnacle, Beckie Baker, is phenomenal! Her and the Director of Nursing, Jenny Friedman, work hand in hand to give the absolute best in ventilator, rehab, long-term, and behavioral care.
This was my first time working as an STNA on a Ventilator Unit, which made me a little nervous, but luckily Dana Gilmore, the lead nursing assistant on the ventilator unit, put me at ease. Dana’s entire day was spent caring for residents and helping out other nursing assistants, nurses, and respiratory therapists on the unit.
Dana has been a nursing assistant for 23 years. Her heart is as big as all outdoors, and her leadership is felt throughout the unit. It was strange. I was a little freaked out about the chaos of a ventilator unit and the high acuity of the residents, but she ran the unit like a beautifully-choreographed dance. It was so graceful and calm. In the midst of the busyness and acuity, her focus never wavered. She spent the entirety of our time together focused on the needs of each resident and family member, without ever letting a smile leave her face. It was really an extraordinary thing to watch.
When asked what made Dana so special, one of the residents said, “Her smile…Dana always has a wonderful attitude…Everyone has problems, but you don’t need to put them off on someone else. A bad attitude makes someone feel like they aren’t cared for. Dana makes us all feel like we are loved and we matter.”
I’m starting to realize that Dana’s smile is just as important as the tasks she performs. Something as menial as smiling, has more meaning that we realize.
There was another thing that happened at Pinnacle that I didn't expect. Me and Levi Lunsford, the Director of Culture and Operations for our company, received paraffin wax hand treatments. I’ve got to say that’s a first for me, and I’m sure for him, too. The person giving the hand treatment was Tawana, a restorative aide. Tawana and I worked together nine years ago when I was the administrator at Pinnacle Pointe. After receiving the hand treatment, Tawana opened up about another “menial” task that impacted her greatly.
Tawana said, “You may not remember this Bob, but one day nine years ago I was in a real bad place. I had just lost a third major person in my life in a matter of months. You were in the middle of all the stuff you do as an administrator, and I came up to you about how I needed some paperwork from HR so I could deal with another family tragedy.” You got to understand, Tawana is a really great nursing assistant and restorative aide. She trains other nursing assistants. She knows her residents. She’s confident. But she started to choke up, and continued, “it might not have seemed like anything to you, but I felt helpless and you took the time to get me what I needed so that I could take care of my family while we were grieving…you didn’t have to take the time, you had way more important tasks, but you took me to HR and got me the stuff I needed. You have no clue what that meant for me and how it changed me.”
I have no idea what I was doing that day nine years ago. We’re always busy. We can always justify the time we spent in a day by saying we did this and that task. We have reports to check, and numbers to crunch, and that’s all really important stuff. But perhaps the most meaningful things we do in a day, are the smiles we make and the pauses we take.
Thank you Pinnacle Pointe team for taking the time and teaching me how to turn menial tasks into meaningful impacts.
Bob Speelman, STNA
Bob's Blog
From L to R: Bob Speelman, Tawana James