SLIGO, Pa. (EYT) — By the time she was 15 years old, Heather Kaltenbach knew she wanted to be a long-term care nurse.
(Photo above: Heather Kaltenbach and Clarview Administrator Scott Jordan.)
It all seemed part of a plan when in October of 2016 she was appointed director of nursing at Clarview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a leading provider of progressive skilled nursing and long-term care.
“My family influenced me to get into nursing,” Kaltenbach said. “Both of my grandfathers fell ill when I was a teenager, and I saw a lot of nurses with them through their illnesses. I think that really shaped my opinion of nursing in general.”
One of her aunts also recommended to her at a young age to pursue a nursing career.
“By the time I was 15, I looked into it and set my heart on nursing,” continued Katlenbach.
“I worked from that time until I graduated from college to be a nurse. I definitely love what I do, and it is a good career for me because that is where my heart is. I have wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember. Long-term care was always my goal, even before I went to school.”
She attended Venango Campus Clarion University and received her RN nursing degree. Kaltenbach, 26, will have been in nursing for about seven years this coming May.
Starting her nursing career in Golden Living Shippenville, Kaltenbach hopes she will always work in long-term care. Following Golden Living, she worked at Clarion Hospital for some time before coming back to long-term care at Clarview.
Much like her experience with her own family, Clarview has a reputation for family-type care.
“Our main goal here is to work as a team and family,” said Kaltenbach. “We all work together from the floor staff to the entire facility. Everyone is working together with our common goal of resident-centered care. It’s very important to me, and I think all of our staff here really tries to work together with the residents in mind.”
The longevity of staff is another unique aspect of Clarview.
“We have a lot of longevity in the building, some with 40 plus years, which says something about Clarview because a lot of places don’t have that longevity. We strive to have that with all of our staff, and we want to have lifelong employees here. We keep the staff we have and all work together.”
Despite having longevity of staff, Clarview does work hard on retention and recruitment. In the past year, the starting rates for LPN’s and RN’s have increased at Clarview, making it competitive.
“We do our own care nurse classes here, so that helps us as far as getting and keeping the care nurse staff, and we are able to teach them how to be care nurses. It is an advantage that we’re able to do those classes right in house.”
The job of director of nursing requires oversight of the entire nursing department, from day-to-day nursing care to overseeing the policies and procedures. Her staff includes Care Nurses, Certified Nurses Aides, Charge Nurses, LPN’s, and RN’s.
Scheduling of staff is also critical.
“We have a scheduler here that works very hard to make sure our schedules are all in line, too, and there’s a lot of nursing admin staff that’s very helpful. I couldn’t do my job if I didn’t have my good support staff here.”
The lessons she learned as a teenager with her grandparents still provide guidance in working at Clarview.
“A lot of times it was in and out of the hospital, but my one grandfather did have his end of life care at home and had visiting nurses there, and I could see what they did for the family. They touched me and left a lasting memory.”
“We do have the nursing care for those that can’t return to home and try to make this as much like a home atmosphere for them.”
“There’s a lot more short-term care, and we have the in-patient, out-patient therapy department, and we are able to provide short-term medication, rehabilitation therapy, and that kind of stuff to get people back where they can go home or to a personal care home.”
