Date: January 20, 2006
Contact: Barbara Schoof Conant
barbara.conant@aging.ks.gov
Director of Communications
(785) 296-6154
Officials from the Kansas Department on Aging will be in Manhattan on Friday, Jan.27, 2006, to recognize Steve Shields, CEO and president at Meadowlark Hills, and his staff for their efforts in changing the culture of long-term care.
Meadowlark Hills 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 environment. This is the third time that Meadowlark Hills has been selected to receive a PEAK award.
The presentation is open to the public. On hand for the 1:30 p.m. awards ceremony will be Deputy Secretary and Program and Policy Commissioner Janis DeBoer; 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.
Meadowlark Hills has been recognized as a national leader in the culture change movement. The facility has incorporated terminology to restore the person to the center of community life. For example, residents “move in” rather than be “admitted.” Residents live in a “health care household” as opposed to a “nursing home” and are encouraged to decorate their rooms with personal belongings to reflect their personal tastes.
Also receiving 2005 PEAK awards are: Presbyterian Manor, Arkansas City; The Cedars, McPherson; Golden Heights Living Center, Garnett; Hillsboro Community Medical Center; Lakewood Rehabilitation, formerly Friendship Manor Rehabilitation Center, Haviland; Medicalodge of Kinsley; Medicalodge of Wichita; Pleasant View Home Inc., Inman, and Schowalter Villa, Hesston.
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.