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Mary Louise Fleming is working to bring
long-term care out from the shadow of primary care by
advancing the professional aspects of gerontological
care and rehabilitation. She has played an instrumental
role in the transformation of her facility, a 1,065-bed,
long-term care facility, from a provider of primarily
elder care to one that offers a continuum of long-term
care services.
In effect, long-term care is changing from a provider-driven
system to one that is consumer driven, Fleming said.
"Now, I think we're in a new phase of learning
how to look at the options for care, individualizing
that care and making it appropriate for that person,
and finding out what people want from us in order to
achieve their goals. Sometimes, we don't have all the
right answers, but we can enter into partnerships with
the people we are serving."
In long-term care, for example, that means helping
people maintain their independence so they can live
in the least restricted and most integrated environment.
It means giving them the skills to take care of themselves
as opposed to taking care of them.
Fleming likens her job to being a talent scout. Her
responsibility is helping the nursing staff develop
new skills, new abilities and new ways to interact with
the people in their work environment.
"The two things I really have to offer my staff
are that I have a vision and I have passion. I know
how to help people discover their own talents and passions,
and develop the systems to help maximize those strengths."
She has collaborated with several area nursing schools
to develop educational programs to meet the specific
needs of her largely foreign-trained staff, and has
helped develop a local, on-site master's in nursing
program. Many of her staff have returned to school for
advanced degrees.
"I find that when you have passion, it is almost
impossible to burn out because passion and burnout don't
coexist. I'm very much a motivator. My staff are extremely
motivated and attached to the work they do."
Fleming was chosen as one of 20 nurse executives to
receive a Robert Wood Johnson fellowship. Her focus
is on developing executive and leadership skills that
can be brought back into the health care system. She
also is working to develop a leadership project through
which to seek Magnet status for the nursing division.
In addition, she is using a variety of research partnerships
to look at ways to foster leadership that advances the
profession.
"It has always been a part of who I am to want
to advance the profession. When I became a nurse, it
was impressed upon me that part of your job was to be
a change agent." Fleming found that same emphasis
in the master's program. "They actually used the
words 'drive the profession forward.' It was an obligation
I felt."
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