Nazareth Home receives 2022 Top Workplaces award from Courier-Journal

Nazareth Home was recently awarded a Top Workplaces 2022 honor by local news outlet Courier-Journal. The annual list compiles the best workplaces in the Greater Louisville region based on employee feedback.

For a company or organization to be considered for the Top Workplaces list, employees complete a survey that uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to an organization’s success, such as alignment, execution, connection and more. To create the list, Courier-Journal partners with the Philadelphia-based Energage LLC, an employee engagement technology company that has surveyed more than 70,000 organizations since it was founded in 2006.

“This award is significant because it is based on authentic feedback from our employees,” said Mary Haynes, President/CEO of Nazareth Home. “We are dedicated to fostering a strong employee culture at Nazareth Home that’s anchored on hospitality. Welcoming everyone and giving them a voice is so important to ensure we have a great place to live, work, and play. Each of us on our team plays a role in building trust and integrity within our community.”

This 2022 Top Workplaces distinction comes on the heels of Nazareth Home’s recent recognition as one of the 2022 Best Places to Work in Greater Louisville by Louisville Business First. For the Best Places to Work program, employees of nominated companies are asked to complete a Quantum Workplace survey. Nazareth Home was included on the annual list in August.

Anyone interested in learning about career opportunities at Nazareth Home’s two Louisville campuses can visit nazhome.org/careers.

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October 28, 2022January 6, 2023

Louisville’s Nazareth Home seeks ‘thriving image’ while putting seniors first

Source: Louisville Courier Journal
By: Sarah Ladd

Click here to read article

At Nazareth Home, President and CEO Mary Haynes’ philosophy is: “The elder is always in the driver’s seat.”

She believes that’s part of what makes the long-term care facilities, established in 1976 as a ministry and sponsored by the Sisters of Charity, a great place to work and live.

“Aging in America is seen as a negative so often,” said Haynes, who’s been with Nazareth Home since 2001. “That’s so interesting to me, because we are all aging all the time. And it’s not so bad. You know? It’s not so bad. Everybody wants to live a long time, but nobody wants to be old.”

That’s why she tries to “bust that old image,” she said, “and try to have a thriving image.” That thriving image comes through at Nazareth, which has two locations in Louisville and 375 employees.

The nonprofit was recognized in this year’s Top Workplaces survey, finishing fourth among employers with 300 or more employees in the Louisville region.

Some of the respondents in the anonymous survey said they enjoy working there because of their coworkers and the job. One worker said, “I know my voice is heard and valued.” Another said, “I am surrounded by people living the mission.”

“Everyone treats just not the residents but each other with Respect,” another respondent said.

Hanging in hallways throughout the Newburg Road location are calendars packed with events: yoga, movie night, painting, hair and nails fun, bingo, trivia, Catholic Mass, music concerts, and many more.

Art painted by elders adorns the hallways − seashells stuck to brown and blues, the ocean meeting sand. Elders enjoy happy hours regularly.

Still, COVID-19 restrictions remain. The Wednesday night supper club, complete with family and friends, a special menu, a cocktail of the week and “blaring” music, hasn’t made a post-COVID return yet, though Haynes hopes that can happen soon.

COVID forced isolation, reactivity

The last few years, especially 2020, presented long-term care facilities with a unique set of challenges. The virus swept through facilities across Kentucky and hurting vulnerable populations the most before any vaccines to combat it were approved.

“The hardest part of course, was the isolation,” Haynes said. With families not able to come inside for normal visits, Nazareth had to step up its use of technology, she added, including an iN2L system, bank teller mics and Zoom. iN2L stands for “It’s Never Too Late,” which Haynes described as similar to a smart television.

Haynes said Nazareth likes being able to plan ahead, but COVID-19 put her in a position of being responsive to the changing tide of the pandemic. And all the while, families were stuck outside, unable to enter for physical visits for fear of bringing the virus to the most vulnerable.

“I’ve been involved in long-term care provision for many years,” she said. “And there was never a year like that one. And it was really two years. And of course, we’re still in a precaution mode, and we’re still testing.”

There were bright moments. Haynes said one night, elders had a wine tasting night, guided by a man in California through the smart TV. Staff, she said, “could take everybody to Napa.”

Looking to the future

Haynes said her immediate goals at Nazareth for the next few years are stabilizing her workforce after losing some staff during the pandemic and struggling to attract employees to long-term care while the virus raged.

“How can we be more flexible? How can we be more creative?” she asks herself. “How can we create different time and work opportunities? We will never, obviously, be a remote workplace.”

What she can do is look at ways to be more flexible with the ways people want to work, she said, while still being a relationship and environment-first workplace.

“If we can get people in the door,” she said, “they see that it’s a great place to be.”

Reach health reporter Sarah Ladd at sladd@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ladd_sarah.

Nazareth Home

Locations in the region: Two, at 2000 Newburg Road and 2120 Payne St.

Founded: 1976

Ownership: Nonprofit

Employees in the region: 376

Top executive: CEO Mary Haynes

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October 28, 2022January 6, 2023

Meet the 2022 Top Workplaces for Greater Louisville winners

Source: Louisville Courier Journal
By: Kathryn Gregory

Click here to read article

Here are all the Top Workplaces for the Greater Louisville area for 2022, ranked in the following size order: Large workplaces, 300 or more employees; midsize, 299 to 150; and small 149 or fewer. We recognize all of these employers as “winners.”

Large Workplaces

1. Waystar: Founded: 1999; Ownership: Private; Sector: Information Technology; Regional employees: 548
2. First Urology: Founded: 1979; Ownership: Private; Sector: Physicians practice; Regional employees: 321
3. Beam Suntory: Founded: 1934; Ownership: Parent company; Sector: Spirits industry; Regional employees: 577
4. Nazareth Home: Founded: 1976; Ownership: Non-profit; Sector: Long-term care; Regional employees: 375

Midsize Workplaces

1. Total Quality Logistics, TQL: Founded: 1997; Ownership: Private; Sector: Third-party logistics; Regional employees: 211
2. HealthyEquity, Inc.: Founded: 2002; Ownership: Public; Sector: Health account administrator; Regional employees: 220
3. Five Star Technologies: Founded: 2006; Ownership: Public; Sector: Education-Technology; Regional employees: 160
4. Verisys Corporation: Founded: 1996; Ownership: Private; Sector: Data Analysis & Research; Regional employees: 254
5. Dedicated Senior Medical Center: Founded: 1994; Ownership: Private; Sector: Primary care medical center for seniors; Regional employees: 169
6. GlowTouch, LLC: Founded: 2002; Ownership: Private; Sector: Business Process Outsourcing; Regional employees: 198

Small Workplaces

1. Kyana Packaging Solutions: Founded: 1976; Ownership: Private; Sector: Wholesale distribution; Regional employees: 70
2. eBlu Solutions: Founded: 2012; Ownership: Partnership; Sector: Healthcare; Regional employees: 95
3. Miranda Construction: Founded: 2016; Ownership: Private; Sector: Building construction; Regional employees: 64
4. Stockton Mortgage: Founded: 2001; Ownership: Private; Sector: Independent Mortgage Bank; Regional employees: 50
5. Strategic Marketing Services: Founded: 1995; Ownership: Private; Sector: Direct Marketing for Automotive Dealerships; Regional employees: 53
6. PMR Companies: Founded: 2002; Ownership: Private; Sector: Property Management; Regional employees: 97
7. Midea America Corp: Founded: 1968; Ownership: Public; Sector: Consumer Goods; Regional employees: 61
8. Panda Restaurant Group: Founded: 1973; Ownership: Private; Sector: Restaurant; Regional employees: 92
9. Statewide Mortgage: Founded: 2001: Ownership: Private; Sector; Mortgage Company; Regional employees: 66
10. Elite Homes | Arbor Homes: Founded: 1994; Ownership: Private; Sector: New Home Builder; Regional employees: 92
11. Jefferson Country Property Valuation Administrator: Founded: 1918; Ownership: Government; Sector: Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator; Regional employees: 58
12. The Eye Care Institue: Founded: 1984; Ownership: Private; Sector: Ophthalmology Practice; Regional employees: 50
13. Shepherd Insurance: Founded: 1977; Ownership: Private; Sector: Business and personal insurance; Regional employees: 75
14. United Rentals, Inc.: Founded: 1997; Ownership: Public; Sector: Rental and leasing; Regional employees: 50
15. TaylorMade Golf Company: Founded: 1979; Ownership: Parent company; Sector: Consumer goods; Regional employees: 86
16. EverQuote, Inc.: Founded: 2011; Ownership: Public; Sector: Advertising and marketing; Regional employees: 63

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December 3, 2021December 6, 2021

Louisville woman, 91, wins award for aging gracefully. Here’s how she does it

Louisville woman, 91, wins award for aging gracefully. Here's how she does it

Source: Courier Journal & USA Today
December 3, 2021

Click here to view article – USA Today

Click here to view article – Courier Journal

In Anne Marie Currie’s room at Nazareth Home Highlands, several walls are adorned with art made by her and her family members — watercolor, oil, acrylic, pen and pencil drawings.

The 91-year-old also says a few sentences in both French and Spanish and as a teacher for more than 40 years, shows off her own curriculum called Gingerbuddies, which she created using hand puppets.

With her assortment of skills and hobbies, Currie has been named the recipient of the Gold Standard of Optimal Aging Award from the University of Louisville Trager Institute.

The award “recognizes adults who are 85 years or older and outstanding models of optimal aging. Individuals who receive this honor exhibit current involvement in one or more of the following areas: physical, spiritual, social, civic, and creative,” according to Nazareth Home.

“I can’t tell you any reaction to it ’cause I don’t understand it,” Currie said. “I was surprised.”

But Currie said she doesn’t want the award to be about her. Her secret to aging gracefully is family. Currie has three children, Ted and Allen Currie and Gwen Snow, and five grandchildren.

The Currie family spends lots of quality time together. They take Currie shopping, to doctor’s appointments, to Allen’s lake house, to the golf course and out to eat.

At the onset of the the pandemic, Currie’s children and grandchildren made the best of Nazareth Home’s no-visitation policy. Because of Currie’s first-floor room, they were able to stand outside and FaceTime her through the window.

Now that restrictions have eased, she regularly sees a familiar face around.

Her granddaughter Sophia Currie, a 16-year-old junior at Assumption High School, has been giving art lessons to Nazareth Home residents for the past month as a part of her community service requirement.

“We’re required to get a certain amount of hours and I thought it’d be fun to come here and teach an art class with my grandma because I love doing art, and you know, incorporate it with my favorite person,” Sophia said.

A pen drawing of one of Sophia’s childhood homes sits on the bookshelf. A painting and a drawing of Currie’s late husband, one done by Currie and the other done by her daughter, face each other in a corner wall.

Currie first took up painting classes in Pennsylvania, as a young woman with her sister in Pennsylvania. Their goal was to win a contest in which their artwork would be displayed at the local bank.

“I did my first painting that I really liked at that class,” she said. “I had a beautiful frame. It had all kinds of gold and white and everything intermingled … and I put a dog in there and I was happy with it.”

Gwen, Allen and Sophia said they’ve all picked up some tips and tricks for their artwork from Currie over the years. Sophia recalled learning some techniques in the arts and crafts room Currie used to have in her basement.

Unlike most of his family, Currie’s son Ted became a musician.

“But he just had a natural ear for music and we never figured out where it came from,” she said.

Currie recently took a baking class at Nazareth Home. However, she said the best part of getting older is less responsibility, so she won’t be taking on any new adventures anytime soon. Her least favorite part of aging is not being able to advocate for herself as strongly.

But Gwen reminds Currie that she was the one who led the charge on getting watercolor painting lessons at Nazareth Home – and to getting Sophia on board.

“I’m so happy that she’s decided to come here,” Currie said. “To be selfish, it’s good for me. To be unselfish, it’s good for the residents.”

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March 9, 2021March 17, 2021

Looking for hope? These elders are hiding painted rocks with messages of hope around city

Source: Courier-Journal
By Andre Toran
March 8, 2021

Click here to view article

Donna Heicken couldn’t paint the rock like the others.

She couldn’t hold the paintbrush or feel its paint-drenched bristles freely gliding across the rock’s surface, but that didn’t stop her commitment to her artwork as she instructed a staff member at the Nazareth Home to paint out her vision on the stone.

Her message, simply: Have a great day.

“Particularly this year we need a lot of hope,” Heicken, 72, said. “And I just felt like my rock was a good representation that better times are coming.”

With every brushstroke, senior citizens like Heicken at the Nazareth Home Highlands and Clifton campuses — two senior-living facilities in Louisville — paint with the intention of getting closer to the community they love.

After months of being separated from family and friends due to COVID-19 precautions taken in long-term homes for the elderly, residents at the Nazareth homes are using the month of March to paint “scripture rocks” to reconnect with the community.

Each rock painted will have a short bible scripture or words of encouragement on them and are being placed in parks and public spaces across Louisville as a way to spread joy and hope during tough times.

“Our elders haven’t been able to connect to the outside world,” said Roberta Steutermann, Nazareth Home director of development. “We’ve been in lockdown like everyone else, but this is a facility that believes in ministry and mission. … And not being able to connect to the communities for the last year has been tough.”

Nazareth Home is asking the community to actively search for the rocks and to take a selfie and post the photo with the location of the rock was found on the Nazareth Home Facebook page.

The idea for Nazareth Home to re-connect with the Louisville community was fueled by the Clifton campus’ activities director Lisa Stacy, Steutermann said.

Stacy, who has a background in art and art therapy, approached Nazareth Home leadership with the idea after finding a rock with an inspiring message on it herself that someone left in the community in December.

Now, she is leading senior citizens in the craft as a way to pay it forward. A Catholic facility, the home believes Lent, a 40-day season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, is the opportune time to hand-paint the uplifting messages, and leave them for people to find in areas around the community.

Steutermann has been with the home since July and has watched how the pandemic has had an impact on the facilities, its residents and the outside world. And with the home on lockdown, taking precautions to keep its high-risk residents safe, she was surprised by the hope many ofthe elders possessed and shared, which falls in line with the spirit of Lent.

While the rest of the world mourns the loss of our normalcy, the elders’ perspective “has been one of hope and calm and reminding us that ‘this too shall pass,'” Steutermann said.

“Hope” has been the word that defines the journey through COVID-19 for the Nazareth Home, and that’s the sentiment it aims to share with the world outside its doors, Steutermann told the Courier Journal.

That’s what the smooth, black rock she holds in her hand says. Hope, written in yellow letters outlined with pink and speckle dots of paint. It reminds her of the resiliency of the elders, what the elders aspire to accomplish with each rock found and the people the elders have so much they still want to share with.

“As people get older, we think they have less to give and less to share,” Steutermann said. “And what I can tell you from being here at Nazareth Home is that’s completely untrue. These elders have so much to give. … And they are so excited to provide this little bit of hope to someone out in the community.”

Contact Andre Toran at atoran@gannett.com or follow on Twitter @andretoran.

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March 4, 2021March 17, 2021

Louisville Community Reflects on Year of COVID-19 Pandemic

Louisville Community Reflects on Year of Covid-19 Pandemic

Source: Courier-Journal By Matt Stone March 3, 2021 Click here to view article

Adele Barry said she wasn’t scared of COVID-19 after it struck Kentucky a year ago.

“I figured if I died, I died and if I didn’t, I didn’t,” said Barry, who was 95 when the virus first struck. “I’ve had a long life and I figured if it was over, it was over.”

For her, the hardest part of the yearlong COVID-19 pandemic was the isolation imposed on nursing home residents because the virus took the heaviest toll on the frail and elderly.

Barry has lived for the past several years at Nazareth Home in Louisville in the Highlands neighborhood. She grew up near Cherokee Park.

At Nazareth, she was used to regular outings and frequent visits with her children. All that stopped abruptly a year ago when COVID-19 struck.

“That was lonesome, that was very lonesome,” Barry said.

Residents accustomed to socializing, playing bingo and having meals together found themselves mostly confined to their rooms as staff worked to prevent infection.

Barry said she passed the time reading books and watching daily Mass on television at the facility affiliated with the Roman Catholic church. She stayed in touch with her family by phone or through video visits, but Barry said she’s not a fan of the latter.

“I don’t like those video visits,” Barry said. “The telephone is the way I stay in touch.”

With time, some restrictions have been lifted at Nazareth, especially after most residents including Barry were recently vaccinated against COVID-19. Residents are able to have meals together again, bingo has resumed and daily Mass is held in the chapel.

Barry said she enjoys those activities but still misses family visits and the freedom to leave Nazareth for outings.

“I like this place, but it’s too much to stay in here all the time,” she said.

In addition to resuming visits with family in the coming year, Barry said she would like to see old friends. A 1942 graduate of Sacred Heart Academy, Barry said she knows of several classmates who are still living.

“There’s not many people left that I know,” she said.

She also looks forward to warmer weather when she can get outside and sit on the front porch of the facility nestled on a wooded hillside off Newburg Road.

“I like that — I used to sit outside there all the time,” Barry said.

As for advice to others, Barry urges people to make the most of the moment: “You better take advantage of what you are doing now.”