We are pleased to announce that Rev. Donna Bassett Heck, a Methodist minister, has joined Florida Presbyterian Homes as a chaplain.

Most recently, Heck served as chaplain for Good Samaritan Village in Kissimmee, Fla. She had previously served for 11 years as Christian Educator and Minister of Programming for a Kissimmee United Methodist Church.

Married to a minister for 30 years, Heck volunteered in Christian Education until 1987, when she became a professional Christian Educator. She received her Christian Education Certification in 1991 and was ordained as clergy in the United Methodist Church in 1997.

Heck earned a bachelor’s degree in education from North Central College in Naperville, Ill. She conducted post-graduate studies at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary in Elgin, Ill., Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, and United Seminar in Dayton, Ohio. She holds a Foundational Studies and Certification in Christian Education.

In addition to church service, Heck has served on Board of Directors, Alumni Association for North Central College. She has also volunteered in hospitals, working with cancer patients, as a counselor for the American Cancer Society and with Give Kids the World.

We are pleased to announce that we have received our five-year re-accreditation from the CARF-CCAF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities - Continuing Care Accreditation Commission). We are the only accredited continuing care retirement community in Polk County.

The accreditation process encompasses an in-depth review of services, including rigorous peer review and an in-depth site visit to ensure that the organization’s programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable and accountable. One of the on-site investigators was Maria Giovinco, administrator of Fort Washington Estates in Ft. Washington, Pa.

“I was most impressed by the sense of family that permeates this community,” said Giovinco. “Everyone is a part of the nurturing environment, no matter what level of care the person is receiving. Once you are a member of this community's ‘family,’ you always have a place. This is very special.”

It was the second site visit for Inspector Brent B. Edgerton, associate executive director of Kendal at Hanover in Hanover, NH who echoed Giovinco’s thoughts on the community’s family atmosphere. “Your most valuable assets aren’t even reflected in your audited financials,” Edgerton added. “Clearly, the employees and residents are the keys to the success of Florida Presbyterian Homes.”

An independent, not-for-profit organization, CARF-CCAC is the nation’s only accrediting body for continuing care retirement communities.

Florida Presbyterian Homes’ Porter McGrath Health Facility has received the coveted state of Florida Gold Seal Award for Nursing Homes. Implemented in 2002, the Gold Seal recognizes Florida nursing homes that exhibit excellence in care management and quality of life for their residents over a sustained period of time. Of the 680 nursing homes in the state, Florida Presbyterian Homes is one of only 19 to achieve Gold Seal status, and one of only 6 to achieve it twice. The Gold Seal is effective for two years, and Florida Presbyterian Homes received its first Gold Seal in 2002.

We were happy to wake up today and see a large article - Lakeland Facility Strives for Highest Ratings - featuring Florida Presbyterian Homes (FPHI) in The Ledger, replete with pictures of and interviews with a few of our residents. The article is part of a larger series the newspaper is doing on nursing home care in the region.

Click the link above to read the full article, but here's a brief excerpt:

At 92, Fritz Messinger enjoys an enviable lifestyle that includes maid service, meals and snacks on demand, and a daily 2 p.m. beer chilled to his liking. Messinger keeps trim with daily laps in a private swimming pool. A female caretaker hovers in the shade as the dapper nonagenarian practices his backstroke. The ritual ends with a brief catnap in the sun.

"Wake me up a week from Tuesday," he coos, settling into a chaise longue.

Club Med for the senior set?

Not really. Messinger lives at Florida Presbyterian Homes, a Lakeland nursing home rated one of the best in the state. At just 40 beds, it's also the smallest nursing home in Polk County, and it's one of only six nursing homes in Florida to have been twice awarded the prestigious Gold Seal.

Of approximately 700 nursing homes statewide, only 17 have ever received the Gold Seal designation, created in 1999 to signify nursing homes of superior quality.

"This is really a nice place to grow old,'' said John Hehn, executive director of Florida Presbyterian Homes, a private, faith-based nonprofit enterprise serving retirees ages 62 and beyond on more than 50 acres just east of Lake Hunter.

Florida Presbyterian Homes welcomes Patricia M. Fekete, CPA as its new CFO.

Fekete has more than 20 years of accounting experience, mainly within the health care industry. Most recently she served as the accounting manager for Lakeland Regional Medical Center. Previously, Fekete worked for St. Joseph’s-Baptist Health Care as a senior accountant and for the BayCare Health System as a reimbursement analyst.

She holds a master’s of business administration degree from Florida Southern College in Lakeland and a bachelor’s in accounting from West Liberty State College in West Virginia. She became a certified public accountant in 1996.

Florida Presbyterian Homes has promoted Maria Rivera to administrator of its 48-bed Porter McGrath Health Center. She brings more than 20 years of nursing and health care administration experience to the position.

Promoted numerous times since joining Florida Presbyterian Homes in 1992, Rivera was its director of nursing for 11 years. Since this past August (2007), Rivera served as Porter McGrath’s provisional administrator.

“We are extremely proud of Maria,” said John Hehn, executive director of Florida Presbyterian Homes. “We appreciate her 16 years of service and her extraordinary efforts to enhance resident care."

Judy Thompson has joined Florida Presbyterian Homes as Manager of Business Development. Thompson has 25 years experience in Sales, Marketing and Public Relations with 18 years in the health care industry. She will be responsible for community outreach activities, hosting events at Florida Presbyterian Homes, collateral material development, and other responsibilities.

Thompson is a life-long resident of Florida and has been a Polk County resident for 34 years. She was formerly Director of Marketing for The Estates at Carpenters.

Florida Presbyterian Homes’ Porter-McGrath Health Center has received the coveted state of Florida Gold Seal Award for Nursing Homes for the third time. The award was granted August 1, 2008 by the Gold Seal Panel of Excellence in Long Term Care.

Implemented in 2002, the Gold Seal recognizes Florida nursing centers that exhibit excellence in care management and quality of life for their residents, marking nursing homes of the highest caliber. Currently, of the 687 nursing homes in Florida, only 18 have Gold Seal status. Florida Presbyterian Homes’ Porter-McGrath Health Facility is one of only five nursing centers in Florida to receive the Gold Seal award three times.

While continually enhancing quality of care, Florida Presbyterian Homes’ (FPHI) has sharpened its focus on improving residents’ quality of life. Last year, FPHI introduced “culture change” to remove the institutional feel of a long-term care center.

“It’s about creating a place to live, rather than simply a place to receive physical care,” explained Executive Director John Hehn.

Culture change challenges the notion that when you have many people to care for, it can only be done in a regimented manner. Porter McGrath residents choose when to get up and when to go to bed. They decide when to eat and when and how often to bathe and which activities to pursue. Most importantly, they become actively involved in the activities of daily life once again. Steak dinners, dining outside, ordering take-out, indulging in spa baths, and receiving music therapy are among some of the new changes.

“Culture change is about continuing the self-determination that comes with being an adult,” Hehn added. “It is about bringing the joy, social interactions, and daily inspirations, into long-term care communities.”

3 Nursing Homes in Polk Get Top Marks
New federal quality-ranking system lauds Lakeland, Bartow, Lake Wales facilities.
By Robin Williams Adams
The Ledger

Published: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 10:10 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:09 p.m.
LAKELAND | Three of 23 Polk County nursing homes received the best ranking possible - five stars for "much above average" - in a new quality-ranking system the federal government unveiled recently.
They are Florida Presbyterian Homes in Lakeland, The Rohr Home in Bartow and Dove Health Care at Lake Wales.

Another eight received four stars, meaning they scored above average. Five were ranked average. Four were below average.

Three others - Auburndale Oaks Healthcare Center, Bartow Center and The Groves Center - received just one star, the lowest grade. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services defines that as "much below average."

CMS looks at three areas to determine a nursing home's star quality:

Its performance on a three-year review of health inspections.

Staffing levels.

How it did on 10 quality measures each center collects on its residents. The measures include residents' health, mental status, physical functioning and overall wellbeing.

A facility's score in each of the three areas, along with the cumulative rating for each nursing home, is on the CMS Web site. Ratings will be updated at least quarterly.

"This should help consumers in narrowing their choices, but nothing should substitute for visiting a nursing home," acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems said in a media telephone briefing.

He said CMS did its best to adjust for variations in the types of health inspections done by different states - the source of the health inspection data - to make the grading comparable from state to state.

"We want to make sure we're measuring differences in quality, not difference in measurements," he said.

Some nursing home officials in Florida, however, said problems exist in using the star system to measure quality.

"If you judge a facility just by that report, it isn't fair," said Ken Perry, who became administrator of the Bartow Center this summer.

"Maybe there were some things, but, I can tell you, a lot has changed. Whatever the rating is, it is not where this facility is (now) and where we're headed."

Whether a nursing home is ranked high or low, Perry said, people need to visit it before putting someone there. He said he is hearing positive comments from visitors during the past few months.

Spokesmen for Auburndale Oaks Healthcare Center and The Groves Center in Lake Wales were unavailable.

John Hehn, executive director of Florida Presbyterian, one of the highest-ranked, said it's difficult to convert large amounts of data into a user-friendly ratings system. "There are some questions and concerns … within our industry, but it's a great first effort," he said.

Additional factors need to be included in determining the ratings, said Kristen Knapp, communications director for the Florida Health Care Association, which represents providers of long-term care.

"It certainly doesn't take residents' satisfaction into consideration at all, which is a quality-of-life issue we feel should be factored in," Knapp said.

CMS also doesn't take into account a facility's specialties, such as dementia care or rehabilitation, or financial difficulties such as having a particularly large number of Medicaid patients, Knapp and others said.

The federal agency changed its method of grading nursing home staffing after having told health care providers it would be done a different way, Knapp said. And the quality indicators used aren't the same for all Florida nursing homes, she said, because some were in a pilot study of a revised way to measure quality.

All nursing homes surveyed are Medicare and Medicaid certified.

To look for a nursing home's ranking, go to www.medicare gov and click on New Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating.

[ Robin Williams Adams can be reached at robin.adams@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. Read her blog at robinsrx.theledger.com. ]

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Nursing Students at Florida Presbyterian
Hospitals aren't the only place nursing students can go for experience.

Students from Florida Southern College's nursing program have been at Florida Presbyterian Homes for their practicum (period of work for practical experience). Twenty-four students - along with Program Coordinator Marcia Posey and instructors Jewel Geiger and Luanne Sadowsky - have gotten a variety of experience. Those included activities, personal care, taking health histories and doing nutritional assessments.

Posted December 5, 2008 6:56:08 PM
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