New executive director’s task has been to bring the nursing home into compliance with state regulations and chart a new course.
By: David Campbell
Jacqueline Cousins, executive director of the Plaza Regency Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Plainsboro, said it was the visits to her grandmother that drew her to elder care as a child.
The nursing home her grandmother had been moved to was a dismal place, Ms. Cousins said.
"I hated to go and see her," she said. "But for whatever reason, it just drew me to make a difference."
Ms. Cousins is now a 10-year veteran of long-term elder care, and she has weathered her share of storms.
During her four years with Genesis Elder Care, the statewide nursing home company she worked for prior to joining the Plaza, she made a name for herself as an administrator and social worker with an eye for quality assurance, and a fair hand with staff and co-workers even in personnel flare-ups.
She said one of her most challenging and satisfying professional hurdles was while she was administrator at The Woodlands Center, Genesis’s Plainfield facility. Ms. Cousins said she stopped an effort by some employees to unionize the facility by garnering "a large majority" of votes from employees who favored non-union leadership under her administration.
"That was probably my biggest high point in my career," Ms. Cousins said. "It was an exhilarating, wonderful experience."
Her latest high point, and perhaps her greatest challenge to date, has been her work to bring the Plaza into compliance with state regulations and chart a new course for a nursing home that has seen a troubled past rife with financial woes, staff walkouts and formal complaints to the state and to local police from residents’ family members.
Ms. Cousins’ predecessor at the Plaza had been unable to quell a unionization campaign by staff, which came about amid allegations by family members of substandard care at the facility. Last January the staff voted by a margin of 6-1 to unionize, but the move did little to improve conditions at Plaza.
In July, the state curtailed admissions to the facility when it discovered deficiencies that it said posed serious health risks to some residents. Ms. Cousins’ predecessor stepped down, and Ms. Cousins took on the challenge of improving conditions and, if she could, creating a new beginning for the facility.
In the months since she began, she seems to have steered the center in a new direction.
The state recently lifted its admissions ban after the facility, under Ms. Cousins’ leadership, instituted sweeping changes.
Plaza upgraded its nutrition and wound-care programs and enhanced programs such as rehabilitation for orthopedic and surgical patients, post-acute treatment and speech and language therapy. It enhanced its programs in pain management, nutrition management, recreational therapy and respiratory care.
But as she showed at Woodlands, recruitment and staff relations seem to be her specialty, and she said she put them to good use at the center.
In addition to streamlining operations, improving quality-control standards and boosting customer service at Plaza, she said she has recruited more than 100 new employees at all personnel levels, and cultivated strong ties with new and existing employees, as well as with residents and their families.
"The staff has absolutely risen to the occasion, and the families have been responsive," Ms. Cousins said.
The key to positive change has been altering fixed attitudes, she said.
"The biggest challenge at the Plaza is changing mind-sets of the community, of the staff, of the families," she said. "Moving forward, that will always be the biggest challenge here."
But, she added on a positive note, "this is a different building than we were six months ago."
Ms. Cousins said she believes recent changes at the Plaza have "maximized the caring environment in the building," and some family members seem to agree.
"In the short time frame that I’ve known her," said Adelaide Avella, wife of a Plaza resident, "she has done an excellent job of building the morale of all the employees. She’s also very receptive and responsive to family members, is very hands-on and always makes the time to speak directly with us."
Frances Tannenbaum, wife of another resident, shares similar views.
"Jackie takes care of things, does so calmly and professionally, and provides great support to staff and residents’ relatives," she said.
"I’m really excited about being here," said Ms. Cousins. "Now that we have started clearing the storm, we’re really excited about the prospects of the building, of becoming the best elder care center in the region."
For now, Ms. Cousins said, she has had her eye on enjoying the holidays with her "new family."
She recently celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas with residents and their families. On Christmas Day, she and the Plaza community celebrated the 102nd birthday of one resident.
"It’s a good place to spend the holidays," Ms. Cousins said.