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Administrator leads through connecting
Sunrise Terrace’s hometown administrator jumps into all aspects of running a long-term care facility
WINFIELD — As Sunrise Terrace Nursing & Rehabilitation Center’s Administrator Lindsey Remick does more than crunch numbers and enforce state guidelines. She connects with employees, residents and the community she grew up in.
Definitively Remick’s job as an administrator includes a lot of administrative office-type work. With a master’s degree in Health Care Administration from Des Moines University she is equipped to fill that role.
It is through her connections with residents, staff and the community paired with the wisdom of a multiyear apprenticeship at Sunrise Terrace with the former administrator that Remick fills a role far beyond her office walls.
Despite the more traditional office work her job entails, Remick is always ready to jump into these moments.
One way that Remick makes the most of her hands-on approach is through connections with her staff.
“We are a private stand-alone facility so we don’t have any corporate ties,” Remick said. “So, all my department heads and management staff and myself all wear a lot of different hats. And I think to be in my role I can’t just sit in my office all day and look at numbers.”
“I think it’s important to be out there and to learn all the different departments,” she said. “So, I’ve worked in the kitchen. I’ve helped out housekeeping. It’s my job to know the daily life of all those departments to be able to help them through and keep us in compliance.”
Remick further supports her staff by organizing continuing education, dispersing new information, and reworking the schedule as needed.
Caring for her staff then allows Remick’s staff to better care for their residents.
“If the residents are happy, then staff are happy,” she said. “I think ultimately we have a really great team and we all want to provide high quality care.”
Perhaps more importantly, though, Remick wants to remember that Sunrise Terrace is more than a workplace. It is these residents’ home.
“We get to go home,” she said. “They have to stay here.”
“In some cases we are their family,” Remick said. “We bring joy to them every single day. So, we know when we take care of them we’ll be rewarded at the end of the day because there’s always something you can do here to make your day a little better.”
According to Remick her predecessor Peggy Beaty imparted a lot of wisdom that motivates her active approach to administration for the nursing center.
Through her time as an administrator-in-training, Remick said, “ … learning from one of the best in the business gave me that foundation to continue to grow to where I am today.”
Remick says Beaty taught her that an office right next to the front entrance “ … can be very distracting, but it’s also rewarding.”
Even as she took time out of her busy schedule to share her experiences in her position, she broke away many times to open that door with a bright smile and welcome greeting.
“As families come in, I’m one of the first faces that they see,” Remick said. “People aren’t usually raising their hands to come to a nursing home, and it’s hard for families when they know it’s time to bring their loved one in here.”
When Remick answered the door for one family that brought a former resident back to stay at the facility, the woman expressed how deeply she wanted to just go back home.
“If you have to be somewhere, I promise this is the place to be,” Remick gently reassured.
Through her time as administrator since 2020, Sunrise Terrace’s continued ranking in the top 5 nursing facilities in Iowa gives validity to Remick’s assertion.
Remick says an important part of her job is making those connections with residence. Sometimes that is made a little easier with her deep-rooted connections to Winfield.
“I take it very personally if I know someone and they’re bringing their loved one in here, then we’re going to take good care of them,” she said. “Since we’re from Winfield, they know us and trust us.”
Remick grew up in Winfield and is a fourth-generation graduate from the small rural school. During her time as a junior high student Winfield-Mt. Union, Remick remembers a class brought her to Sunrise Terrace.
“We had rotations of something like electives,” she recalled. “We had to go through a shop class, home-ec, and something else. One of those rotations we would come out here and actually help pass ice water.”
Now, living in her hometown married to another Winfield native and their own children in school at WMU, she enjoys the moments like homecoming that bring the community back to Sunrise Terrace.
Last month, in celebration of homecoming week, Sunrise Terrace welcomed students for High-Five Friday while residents and staff donned their WMU Wolves gear and colors.
When Sunrise Terrace decided to participate in the Midwest Old Threshers Harvest Day parade, Remick hopped right in decorating the bus.
When the activity director arranged an outdoor day with water games and grilled food, Remick didn’t hesitate to expertly man the grill.
As the administrator for Sunrise Terrace, this hometown woman continues to lead with by example and through those hard earned connections with community, staff, and residents.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
