A site manager at St. Mary's Villa in Humboldt was one of 11 nominees at the 2014 Saskatchewan Healthcare Excellence Awards, held on March 8 in Regina.
Melanie Donald was among the nominees chosen by the SHEA Selection Committee, with the aim of promoting excellence and to "recognize the devotion, professionalism, and humanity of individuals and teams in the health care field as practitioners, leaders, educators and mentors."
All proceeds from the event are used to support the services of AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan, a group dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and supporting those who are afflicted with the illness.
Dianne Eisner, an administrative assistant for seniors' health and continuing care with the Saskatoon Health Region, nominated Donald for the award. Eisner was in a temporary position as assistant manager at St. Mary's Villa when Donald was hired in May 2013. Right away, Eisner recognized the job that Donald was doing.
"Her work ethic and passion for ensuring quality of care was top notch," Eisner said. "It just really impressed me and I thought she should be recognized. She has a wonderful attitude and always made the staff feel great and encouraged them to do their best."
After being hired, Donald became responsible for close to 200 staff members and 85 residents. According to a brief biography from the SHEA, Donald quickly transformed the working culture at St. Mary's Villa.
"Prior to her arrival, St. Mary's Villa was experiencing low staff morale," the biography reads. "Due to Melanie's optimistic and positive attitude she was able to increase the morale by opening the lines of communication between staff and management."
Prior to her appointment at St. Mary's Villa, Donald worked as a nurse manager at Parkridge Centre in Saskatoon. With more responsibility at St. Mary's, Donald came to Humboldt with one important goal.
"I wanted to improved relationship building within the whole facility," she said. "I wanted to improve the quality of care and I think we've achieved that."
While Donald is quick to point out there's always more to be done - "I'm still learning every day," she said - she pointed to the rest of her staff as essential to the Villa's success.
"This is a team award," she said. "It's not just me. I didn't come in with angel wings and change the whole world."
Some changes that have been instituted since Donald took over include a resident-staff breakfast, daily staff huddles and an upcoming resident family satisfaction survey, designed to solicit opinions from those who have family members living at the Villa.
Many obviously think Donald is doing a good job, but she'd rather avoid the publicity and just go to work every day. To prove the point: even though she knew about the SHEA nomination several months ago, she hadn't told anyone at the time of her interview with the Journal.
"I'm a very private person," she said with a bemused laugh.
Private person or not, the work of Donald and her staff have been recognized on a very public scale.
