Her Story
About Melissa
I've been in healthcare for about 15 years, and my journey has taken me through many roles in senior care. I started as an assistant administrator, then was promoted to acting administrator where I managed entire skilled nursing facilities. I've spent about 3 years in those administrator roles, and I recently transitioned to assisted living where I currently serve as wellness director. I'm now being promoted to executive director, which is really exciting because I love overseeing all the departments - it allows me to have leadership in healthcare and make sure the elderly and seniors are taken care of all the way around. From activities to meal plans, making sure diet and nutrition is good, their therapy, their day-to-day care, connecting with nurses to ensure they receive proper medications, working with case management to make sure all their affairs are lined up, and even maintenance to keep their rooms in good condition. I oversee the entire clinical staff including nurses, med techs, CNAs, providers, and therapy teams, plus all the compliance and medication management. People ask me why I want to do all this, and I tell them it's because I love everything about senior care. I have this vision to bring the love back to long-term care, because that's what it's lost. People forget that seniors once had a normal life, and I always say you are twice a child - you start off needing help, go through life, and as you get older, you still need assistance. I want people to understand that seniors are people too, and they deserve to be loved and cared for with the same compassion we'd want for ourselves.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Melissa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the motivation of my family and my own self-motivation to make a big change in healthcare, especially with the elderly. The support of my family while I'm on this journey to try and change the face of healthcare has been incredible. What really drives me is wanting to spread the love and care that I would want to see for my own family - I want others to treat seniors who aren't even their family like they are family. That's my motivation to continue to strive forward and make sure people receive the same level of care and compassion I would give to my own loved ones. It's been a journey, but I have been loving it.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was to follow my heart. I had been working in banking for 15 years after relocating back to Buffalo, even though I started my career in healthcare as an aide taking care of elderly people in their homes, hospitals, and nursing homes. I stayed in banking to pay the bills and get my daughters through school and college, but I always wanted to go back to school to be a nurse. My bank manager noticed how I took care of all the senior customers - they would wait for me to help them cash their Social Security checks, pay their bills, and fill out their passbooks because they weren't used to bank statements. She told me she could see I belonged in healthcare and asked what I wanted to do. When the regional manager offered to match an LPN salary to keep me, I stayed until my daughters graduated college. Then they told me, 'Mom, you need to follow your heart. Go back to school.' Even though I was in my 40s and didn't want to be in class with 18-year-olds, I went back. During nursing school clinicals, my instructor connected me with the dean of healthcare management at TroCare, who told me I didn't have to be a nurse to be an administrator. I transferred my nursing credits, did an accelerated program, and finished my bachelor's in a year and a half instead of three years. Following my heart led me exactly where I needed to be.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I'd say the biggest challenges in my field right now are lack of staffing, but also the lack of compassion that people once had for elderly care. You do have some good people out there that love taking care of seniors, but we need more. People need to think about themselves too, because they're eventually going to get to that age where they need that same care and compassion. That's what I see as the biggest challenges - we need to bring back that love and dedication to caring for our seniors.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in my work and personal life are self-respect, perseverance, honesty, love, integrity, empathy, and patience. I especially talk about empathy and sympathy when working with the elderly, because those are so critical in senior care. Patience is absolutely essential in everything I do.
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