Discussions with Dan: Consistency and Cohesion

“Okay, Discussions with Dan part two,” says St. John’s Vice President of Skilled Services Dan Morphet with a laugh. “We have made a lot of positive changes, and the future is looking brighter,” says Morphet.

Since the last Discussions with Dan — almost two months ago — Morphet says his vision for St. John’s has become clearer and more apparent. “We have hired more wonderful employees,” says Morphet. “We now have a new Operations Manager and Director of Quality and Clinical Reimbursement — we have a really strong team.”

“I think a strong team that is visible — on the floors, is good for employee morale,” says Morphet, “but the most important thing it builds with the staff is that we are all moving in the same, cohesive direction together.”

Morphet reflects on the newly instated Town Hall Meetings, which were first held in April. “We reached about 100 employees at all different shifts,” says Morphet, “and our CEO Rob Earl was at every one of those meetings, which was great.”

“A lot of great questions were asked in those meetings and it gave us the opportunity to explain the changes that have been made and the future we see,” Morphet reflects.

One of the focuses during the meetings was to remind employees how they are appreciated. Morphet explains that “growth of St. John’s is not possible without the growth of our employees and that is done through supporting them and making sure they know that they are supported.”

“I think Natasha (Jackson) did a great job of making it known how important our clinical staff is to us, she’s doing great work,” says Morphet about St. John’s Home Director of Nursing Natasha Jackson.

“We want to be sure everyone is on the same page and consistent with the changes we have implemented,” Morphet continues, “and as quickly as we have implemented them — both facility quality-wise and resident care.”

Morphet says that in the realm of resident care, dining services is a “top priority” of his.

“Food remains a top marker in their care and quality of life here,” says Morphet. At the beginning of May, St. John’s Dining Services shifted to a tray-line service as the standard for how residents are served their three meals a day.

“We have had a few bumps in the road,” Morphet continues, “there are going to be bumps with any huge change, but we have to look at the complaints we were getting pre-tray line.”

Morphet says that the biggest complaint prior to this change was that food was not as hot as residents would prefer, which Dan attributes to the lack of staffing. However, with the shift to trays, Morphet says that he has seen “quite a few improvements.”

“We invested in the best equipment you can get to make sure food is kept at a hot temperature and we now have a fully staff dining team.”

Morphet continues by saying that “the cooks are doing a great job with these changes.” He also points out that the whole dining experience has been elevated.

“I want it to feel like an actual dining room,” say Morphet. “A resident comes in and there’s music playing, a placemat, they are served food, there’s centerpieces on the tables.” The dining team works closely with the St. John’s Therapeutic Recreation (TR) Department to ensure this vision is carried out.

“TR does a fantastic job and that was really shown during the Lilac Festival,” Morphet points out. With St. John’s Home being on Highland Avenue, residents are able to attend the annual Rochester Lilac Festival, which is made possible by the therapeutic recreation specialists and as Morphet notes, “other departments got involved too.”

“It was truly great to see the sheer number of residents who made it over there [to the festival] because of the TR team and employees who volunteered.”

The St. John’s staff and volunteers, who helped with this event, are a demonstrable example, according to Morphet, that St. John’s, as an organization, is moving “in the right direction.”

“Everyone has ownership of St. John’s,” explains Morphet. “That’s how it should be if you work here and that is how we build the family and make it successful.”