South Heartland recognizes pandemic efforts of long-term care facilities

HASTINGS, Neb. (Press Release) - Nineteen long-term care facilities located in Adams, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster Counties were chosen to receive a Public Health Leadership Award from the South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD). Each March, South Heartland’s Board of Health recognizes and celebrates individuals and organizations who have contributed significantly to the public’s health.

This year, the Board of Health is recognizing long-term care facilities with the Public Health Leadership Award for their extraordinary dedication to the community’s health throughout the prolonged and on-going pandemic response, for their leadership and commitment to protecting and caring for their residents, their staff and their communities.

In a letter to each facility informing them of the recognition, Shackelford and SHDHD executive director Michele Bever, stated to the awardees: “The impact of this pandemic on the daily workload of facility administrators and staff is hard for the rest of us to imagine. We do know that your facilities have had to take on many additional responsibilities – developing plans, providing reams of required reports and documentation to CMS and other agencies, following testing protocols, reporting test results, ordering/assuring PPE, navigating supply shortages, implementing response plans when staff/residents test positive, adjusting and enforcing visitor policies, working with residents’ families, addressing critical and ongoing staff shortages, and dealing with uncertainty and compassion fatigue.”

South Heartland’s public health awards and recognition usually coincide with an Annual Luncheon event. However, due to the pandemic, the awards are being presented to the facilities in person by South Heartland staff, who will come to each facility.

The following nursing home and assisted living facilities are the recipients of South Heartland’s 2022 Public Health Leadership Awards:

• Adams County: Edgewood Vista, Good Samaritan Village-Perkins Pavilion, Good Samaritan Society-The Villa, Premier Estates of Kenesaw, Providence Place of Hastings, The Heritage at College View, The Homestead, and The Kensington.
• Clay County: Harvard Rest Haven, Hillcrest View Assisted Living, Sutton Community Home, and The Harvard House.
• Nuckolls County: Good Samaritan Society-Victorian Legacy, Kingswood Court, and Superior Good Samaritan
• Webster County: Azria Health Blue Hill, Cherry Corner Estates, Heritage of Red Cloud, and Spring Creek Home, LLC.

About the decision to recognize long-term care facilities this year, SHDHD board president Nanette Shackelford said the choice was a difficult one as there are so many partners in the four South Heartland counties who have played critical roles throughout the pandemic.

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