Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks earns NC NOVA license

Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks has earned a prestigious NC NOVA license from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

NOVA (New Organizational Vision Award) is a national initiative created to improve resident care by advancing the education of certified nursing assistants and other direct-care workers. The General Assembly of North Carolina enacted legislation for NC NOVA effective Jan. 1, 2007 as part of the state's strategy for recruiting and retaining the direct-care workers North Carolina needs now and in the future.

The law creates a special licensure designation for long-term care organizations that meet rigorous criteria for enhanced employee support and leadership through work-related interventions. The goal is to provide workers with opportunities for personal and professional growth, thereby improving staff recruitment and retention, and ultimately, resident care.

In notifying Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks of the award, Mary Jane McCracken of the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence, the independent review organization for NC NOVA, said, "We congratulate you and your staff for your commitment to quality health care and your active support and empowerment of the direct care workforce within your organization."

According to Lutheran Home administrator Bill Johnson, "Workers who enjoy their jobs and enjoy coming to work are the best possible gifts we can give our residents. Over the years, Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks has consistently invested a great deal of human and financial resources into staff development, and we are especially pleased to receive an endorsement of those efforts with the NC NOVA designation."

After completing an extensive set of requirements, Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks had an on-site review on May 7 of this year. That review included an exhaustive private interview process with randomly-chosen staff and supervisory personnel.

The home received notification in June that they had met the NC NOVA requirements. There are only two other nursing homes in the state that have achieved NOVA status.

"We have a wonderful group of caring staff who want to provide the best possible care to our residents," said Fleta Grant-Corner, staff development coordinator at Lutheran Home. Grant-Corner completed the actual process necessary to secure the award.

"I am proud of their accomplishments," she said. "As a company, we have carefully researched and implemented initiatives such as Wellspring, the Eden Alternative and our own New Pathways program to create better places for residents to live and better places for staff to work."

According to Grant-Corner, there is a growing shortage of direct-care workers. "Every year, more and more nurse aides are not renewing their listing on the North Carolina Nurse Aide Registry," she said. "We have made every effort to offer our workers a good benefits package, the tools and the training they need, recognition for what they do and a supportive environment in which to work. It all leads to better care for residents."

A formal presentation of the license is scheduled in July.