Caregivers Corner January 2003 - Institute Welcomes Allison Hagy

The New Year brings with it a new addition to the Institute team�Allison Hagy, our Regional Director of Education and Change Management. Allison will be providing support to nursing homes in MA, PA and West Texas and will serve as a counterpart to Lynn Smith who performs the same role in Florida.

She joins us from Apple Health Care, where she was the Director of Marketing and was responsible for corporate communications, public relations, census / recruitment marketing and Editor of the company�s magazine. Apple owns and manages 21 homes in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

In addition to her marketing responsibilities, Allison was deeply immersed in the company�s mission to bring culture change to its 21 homes. �I felt an immediate connection with my co-workers at Apple, who knew that the only way to move our homes forward in the industry was to try and focus on creating environments where we ourselves would want to someday live.� Serving as a member of Apple�s Quality Committee, Allison participated in developing processes to lead, teach and facilitate culture change in each of the homes.

Allison brings another strong connection to the Pioneer Network to the Institute. �I credit my interest in culture change to my relationship with the Pioneers. They are doing amazing, pivotal and necessary work to change our industry.� Recently Allison acted as project coordinator for the Network�s first newsletter; and is currently helping to create language for a January mailing. She was also a part of the committee that planned the Chicago Conference in 2002. Allison will retain and further strengthen her connection with the Pioneers in her work with the Institute.

Allison plans to spend her early months building relationships with the staff in the homes that she will cover; finding out where they are on their culture change journeys, and what areas they can focus on more strongly. She will provide the homes with support, feedback, resources and ultimately, the opportunity to shine on their own as culture change leaders.