Date: December 27, 2005
Contact: Barbara Schoof Conant
barbaraconant@aging.state.ks.us
Director of Communications
(785) 296-6154
Officials from the Kansas Department on Aging will be in McPherson on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006, to recognize Carla Lehman, administrator at The Cedars, and her staff for their efforts in changing the culture of long-term care.
The Cedars is one of 10 Kansas nursing homes to earn a 2005 award for Promoting Excellent Alternatives in Kansas Nursing Homes (PEAK). This is the fourth year KDOA has presented PEAK awards to recognize homes that are moving away from institutional models of the past to person-centered care in a home-like environment.
The presentation is open to the public. On hand for the 1:00 p.m. awards ceremony will be Bill McDaniel, KDOA director of Nursing Facilities (NF) and Client Assessment, Referral and Evaluation (CARE) programs and Dave Halferty and Patsy Samson, senior managers in the KDOA NF/CARE Division.
Also receiving 2005 PEAK awards are: Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor; Golden Heights Living Center, Garnett; Hillsboro Community Medical Center; Lakewood Rehabilitation, formerly Friendship Manor Rehabilitation Center, Haviland; Meadowlark Hills, Manhattan; Medicalodge of Kinsley; Medicalodge of Wichita; and Pleasant View Home Inc., Inman, and Schowalter Villa, Hesston.
The Cedars, which received a PEAK Award in 2002, continues to strive to make life meaningful for its residents. Staff are committed to promoting resident choice by finding out what residents truly desire. The Cedars is in the process of converting to the “I Care Plan” system, which will be distributed to staff, family members, and elders. Although the home’s “neighborhoods” are recognized as an improvement to quality of life, residents and staff are eagerly looking forward to the completion of the “Cedar Houses”, family-style homes that will accommodate 14 health care residents.
Sponsors of the PEAK Awards are Kansas Foundation
for Medical Care, St. Francis Health Center,
Harrah’s Prairie Band Casino, Heartland
Sales and Chemicals, Golden Eagle Casino, Kansas
Advocates for Better Care and Health-E-Equip.
More information about the PEAK
Initiative is
available on this website.