JoAnn Evans Receives Shining Star Award
JoAnn Evans, Executive Director at Randolph Health Services & Assisted Living, received WHCA/WiCAL’s Shining Star Leadership Award for her unwavering dedication and passion to serve others. But she couldn’t take all the credit for her success.
“It isn’t one person that makes you successful – it is many, many, many,” Evans said at the 71st Annual Fall Convention & Gold Partner Expo last month. “I have been so fortunate in my life and my career to have great leaders and great teachers to be able to build a staff that is amazing. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for those people. One person doesn’t make a good nursing home. It’s just that plain and simple.”
Early in her career, Evans was taught to surround herself with people that were better and smarter than her, be prideful, and positively influence others. “You can make the difference in the lives of so many people every minute of every day,” she said. “It makes your heart full, and I can tell you, my heart is very full, and it’s not because of the things I did, but because of the things we’ve done.”
Evans was nominated for the award by Sally Borzick, her Director of Nursing with whom Evans has worked for over 38 years. A register nurse by trade, Evans uses her knowledge and expertise to transform her facility into a center of excellence. She has achieved 5-star ratings, deficiency free surveys, and outstanding customer and employee satisfaction. Dubbed a “modern day Florence Nightingale,” Borzick said Evans “lives and breathes resident-centered care 24/7/365.”
Ensuring staff not only succeed but excel in their roles is important to Evans. She engages them in problem-solving, is open to new ideas, listens, and makes you stop and think before you act. She’s not afraid to roll up her sleeves and work alongside her staff, reminding them to “work hard to get the job done and done right,” Borzick said.
Two years ago, Evans was struck with COVID and on a ventilator for almost nine days. Her family, friends, coworkers, and community believed in her and prayed until she pulled through. She completed her rehabilitation at Randolph Health with her own staff because they were the only place she trusted for her care. In fact, when the doctors tried to place her elsewhere for rehabilitation, thinking she would not want to recover at the facility where she was an administrator, she told them, “Don’t say that to me.”
“I tell my staff every day they are the best of the best, but then they aren’t good enough to take care of me?” Evans said. “No, I am going to my nursing home, and I did, and it was the first good night’s sleep I ever got.”
Jeff Schueller, long-time colleague and Vice President of Success at North Shore, contributed to her nomination, saying, “JoAnn is considered the ‘rock’ of her center, the foundation for all that is great. She is a true leader, a big heart, a smiling friend, and an inspiration to us all.”
