We hear a lot about places where the elderly and inform are abused or receive poor care, but the state has recognized some that are going a very good job. Department of Inspections and Appeals spokesman David Werning says the Governor’s Award for Quality Care in Healthcare Facilities recently was given to three facilities in the state.

The awards go to the Crestview Nursing and Rehab Center of West Branch, the Heritage Care Center of Iowa Falls,and the Rockwell Community Nursing Home of Rockwell. The governor’s award was proposed by Vilsack in 1999, and the first one was given in 2001.

The purpose is to recognize those longterm care facilities that give the highest-quality care to their residents, and Werning says they can be nominated by the residents themselves, their families, staffers, and “members of the resident advocate committee,” the people who have a first-hand look at what kind of care’s being provided. Those three won the recognition largely because of unique programs they offer.

The West Branch center has a program called “Time Slips.” Workers show a resident a picture and ask them questions, then they make up a story based on the picture. Even residents with dementia or memory loss can take part and their stories are written down and kept in a scrapbook.

The Iowa Falls facility was nominated by twelve different people, the greatest number of nominations any place has ever gotten. He says the highlight of this place is the staff’s attitude toward providing patient care, and even the medical director, who was one to nominate it, praised their can-do attitude. Werning says community involvement is a big part of the success of any care facility and the good ones often have strong community ties.