Barnes-Kasson is proud to feature its "Unsung Heroes" of healthcare as this quarter’s Department Feature. 

With all the changes and uncertainty in healthcare due to the coronavirus, there are individuals in our facility that we count on each and every day to make sure that everyone is kept safe. These employees are not found on the front lines doing patient care, but rather behind the scenes making sure that our daily operations run smoothly. They ensure that our staff and patients are well cared for by making sure our environment is safe, clean, and that we have well prepared food to keep us healthy. This quarter we would like to feature the employees of Maintenance, Environmental Services, and Dietary. These three departments are vital to our everyday operations.

Maintenance has worked diligently to keep things running smoothly since the start of the pandemic. They have been involved in helping to create safe isolation units, assisting with additional cleaning, and helping to secure the perimeter of the building by allowing access to only certain doors. On a regular basis, Maintenance is responsible for the heating and air conditioning units, ventilation units, boilers, and generators throughout the facility. They also assist with maintaining the elevators, and other equipment as needed.

Environmental Services is responsible for keeping our facility clean and making sure that surfaces are disinfected several times a day. They are ensuring that surfaces are properly disinfected by taking extra time cleaning. They want to make sure that all proper precautions are taken to keep the patients, residents, and staff healthy and safe. They also do laundry for our Skilled Nursing residents, send dirty linen out to be laundered, and accept clean linen to be distributed throughout the facility.

Our Dietary department is also an integral part of our daily operations. The dietary department is responsible for preparing all the meals throughout the facility. The staff carefully follow the specialized diets of the patients and residents. Staff and families can also be served a warm meal in the cafeteria as well. Our friendly staff makes sure there are meals available at lunch and dinner for all staff and visitors.

These departments often go unnoticed, but they are some of the most important departments in our facility. Without them, daily operations at our healthcare facility would cease to exist. Their hard work and dedication is greatly appreciated!