Name: Beverly Anne MacDonald

How long have your been an LPN?: working in the industry for 20+ years.

Your city or town of residency:Vancouver  

Your city or town of occupation:Vancouver

Facility and department? Windermere Care Centre, Care . I am employed by Provita Care Management.

Full time, part time, or casual? Fulltime

How long at current position: 9 months

1) What is your role in your job and what are some typical duties? I manage approximately 100 care aides, LPNs, and recreation staff and over see the care of 194 residents. I interview and hire all staff with focus on LPN and Rec staff. I provide mentoring, coaching, inservices, meetings, evaluations for all staff. I design and implement ADLs, routines, resident assignments.I also attend management meetings within the facility and within my contracting company which is Provita Care Management as well as liason with all departments.I attend care conferences and multidisciplinary meetings.I also spend as much time on the floors with staff and residents whenever possible.

2) Have you had to do any additional education in order to do what you are doing? Over the years I have taken Interpersonal skills workshops, Leadership and Development courses and have also taken a diploma program in Business Admin at Mount Royal College in Calgary AB.At present having skills refreshed within my company and provided by my company.

3) What are your usual hours of work and do you work overtime?
My base hours would be 8 a day and would be from 9-5 Monday to Friday. I presently work Sunday - Thursday. However there are days when it may stretch two to three hours over and at times an extra morning or afternoon, especially if there is a crisis .

4) What made you apply for this job? I believed I had the skills, experience and the knowledge to do the job and to do it well. I felt that I could make a difference for the staff and that I could make a contribution to the company.

5) What makes your job unique from others? The degree of responsibility and the variety of duties.

6) Are you part of an interdisciplinary team?  If so, what other professions do you work and consult with? Definitely. Nurses, Managers, Physio, Dietary, Recreation, Education and Doctors.

7) What do you like most about your job?  Least? I enjoy making a difference for the staff and providing them with the resources they need to do the best job they can do for us and for the residents. I find that I enjoy less time with the residents than I did as a floor nurse and that is a loss for me. However, I make an effort to do what I can on the floors such as feeding or even just visiting to connect with them.

8) Share a workplace story of interest. Over the years I have encountered many events which could make a good story, about all areas of my nursing career.I have been a big part of so many lives that my memories are filled with good and bad moments.As a Manager though , just recently I was on holidays and when I came back I was greeted so warmly by a staff member it was as if she had regained her long lost friend. She told me she was so glad I was back and that she missed having me as a support for her and other staff. It certainly made all my efforts worthwhile.I was also proposed to many times, but one person in particular stole my heart and just in the past year. He is 95 and the first time I met him he said" Are you married"..when I said no, he told me we should get together . We joked for many weeks about this and after a time got more staff and residents involved in our "affair" until he asked me to fly to Vegas with him and get married. I was stunned the day he introduced me to his son and daughter as their future step mom . Today we are all friends tho I do not work at that facility any more and I have been told more than once that having the teasing that went with this in his life made a huge difference to his greeting the days. BTW he just celebrated his 99th birthday..

9) What motivates or inspires you in your nursing career? The desire to be the best at what I do. To provide my staff with the resources they need to work well and provide excellent care to ensure our residents receive the best we can give and thrive on our service and attention.

10) What are your long term goals in your nursing career? To maintain and grow in this position and this company.To continue to learn and to accomplish as much as possible.

11) Are you a member of any workplace or LPN organizations?  If so, what are they and why did you join them? I was a part of the LPN association when I lived on the Island and was the Secretary, but have not been able to discover the Mainland chapter. I wanted to be able to provide a supportive environment for other LPNs. I do enjoy LPN cafe though and I am constantly reviewing CLPNBC web site for news and developments.

12) What to you think the role of the LPN will look like in 5 years? We will be more involved in the health care field as nurses and as supervisors as we will be receiving more training and opportunities.At present the LTC industry is using the LPNs as full scope nurses and we are finding more and more providers who are wanting to use LPNs vs RNs.We are the hands on staff of the healthcare industry as as such have the chance to make a tremendous difference in the field.

Additional Comments 

I have worked as an LPN in several Provinces across Canada and have come to my highest role of responsibility here in BC. There is no doubt in my mind that we are still not standarized across the country and we need to focus on that so LPNs can readily relocate when we want or when we need to do so. The education and the compentencies vary with each province and make it difficult to function and become part of the team in each province. We do not extol our abilities and our contributions to all areas of healthcare and until we do with web sites such as these we will not reach our potential in healthcare. I applaud you Michelle for what you are doing here and if there is any way I can be of assitance please do not hesitate to notify me. LTC has been my focus and I love it as much today as I did 20+ years ago. The elderly have much to teach us and we have much to learn from them. With God's help we will provide a better LTC environment for others in the future built on the foundation of the ones we now serve.

Beverly MacDonald LPN
Care Manager Provita Care