RINGWOOD, N.J. — The Province’s Holy Name Friary is among 27 elite facilities cited in the March 13 issue of U.S. News & World Report as “America’s Best Nursing Homes.”
Of the 15,000 nursing homes in the United States, only 27 earned honor roll status by the well-respected magazine for earning five-star ratings in all categories. It reported: “All 27 garnered a perfect five stars in each of the four yardsticks the federal government applies to nursing homes: overall rating, health inspections, nurse staffing, and quality measures of individual care.”
The survey covered the period from October 2007 to Dec. 31, 2008
In a memo to staff following a survey visit by state inspectors last month, A. Francis Soucy, OFM, guardian and director, wrote: “While the survey seems to be a measurement of compliancy of the friary function with state and federal regulations, it is also a time for us to present the
intangibles to the survey team.”
“The success of your job performance is demonstrated by all the dots and dashes being in the right place, it is you who demonstrate the intangibles that make our place special for the friars and a comfortable place for regulators to visit.”
“Our five-star rating should be presented as crowns for the heads of each of you. Thank you, congratulations, be happy, and keep it up.”
Holy Name Friary was one of six faith-based nursing homes that comprised 25 percent of the honor roll, and included Home of the Innocents in Louisville, Ky.; Lourdes Health Care Center in Wilton, Conn.; Lutheran Senior Services at Breeze Park, St. Charles, Mo.; Ursuline Center in Toledo, Ohio; and Little Sisters of the Poor-Mullen Home, Denver.
Only two other New Jersey facilities made the list, one in Lakewood and one in Newark.
In December, the Province’s Ringwood facility received a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
— Fr. Cassian, a former director of communications for the Province, lives at Holy Name Friary in Ringwood.