VVH Administrator Provides Update

Valley View Home administrator Wes Thompson sat down with the Courier to provide an update on the state of Valley View Home. Topics discussed included the home’s recruiting efforts for residents and employees, the state of the facility and major improvement projects and the staff’s efforts to prepare for their impending state survey.

Thompson started off talking about the current resident census. At press time, Valley View was projected to have 57 residents with a possible 59 resident population by Friday, April 30. Thompson said their marketing and resident recruitment plan was, “sound and simple,” adding that the plan relies on, “positive feedback from all players involved, whether staff, family, residents or friends.”

The administrator said that resident atmosphere is changing, employee welfare is changing and other positive changes are also occurring at the home, making more people come to him to inquire about rooms for family members or for themselves. According to Thompson, the positive word of mouth is helping in having people feel comfortable with making Valley View Home their new home.

Thompson said the same strategy applies to recruiting employees. If the staff talk to friends and family about how great working at VVH is, then more people will be interested in working at the home. He cited general examples of staff family members who have inquired about working at the home due to positive feedback from family and friends.

On the facility management side of Valley View Home, Thompson commented that the home is undergoing two major improvements. The first improvement is the roof project, which has been in the works for nearly a year but is set to begin actual construction in the coming weeks. Currently, the contracting company is staging materials for the build, to replace the entirety of VVH’s roof. In the end, the project will cost nearly $800,000, but it will ensure the structure’s integrity for the coming decades.

The second major facility project is the information technology side of the house. Thompson pointed out that with the help of Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital’s IT department, the home has successfully laid the framework to install a server and place stations across the building. Ultimately, once the new infrastructure is operational, the staff will be able to optimize input of medically required data and notes straight into the computer system. This will eliminate note taking and reduce transcribing time periods. Ultimately the move should save both time and money for the home as well as reduce transcription errors in medical documentation, which reduces the chance of survey discrepancies.

The last update provided by Thompson is the facility’s preparation for their upcoming Department of Public Health and Human Services survey. The survey is the state’s way of assessing whether VVH is compliant with state and federal law. VVH has undergone a series of mock surveys preparing the staff for what to expect for the real survey and Thompson expressed confidence with the home’s staff and readiness for the real survey.