Feature
OMNI employees are all about dedication
September 24, 2007
It doesn’t matter what job you do – when you work at an OMNI home you’re making a difference in the lives of residents.

There are 16 long-term care homes in the OMNI family, employing nearly 1,400 people. These individuals work in management and housekeeping. They are floor nurses and kitchen staff. They are personal support workers (PSWs) and they are employed in life enrichment departments.

Although they hold different jobs, OMNI employees have one thing in common: their dedication to the 1,295 residents living in OMNI’s homes.

Some OMNI employees have spent their entire career in long-term care at OMNI. Maureen Imamovic, administrator and director of care (DOC) at Springdale Country Manor, is one such member of the OMNI team.

Imamovic started her career with OMNI in 1992 when she took a nursing position at Springdale. She started her position as administrator/DOC in January 2006.

Upon taking her new post, the biggest challenge for Imamovic was trying to make the same personal impact on residents that she did when she worked on the floor.

“That’s the reward of long-term care: You can make a difference every day,” she says.

Some OMNI employees have such a penchant for their work they’ve made sure the same devotion to care for seniors is passed down to their children.

Enter Dawn Shaw.

Shaw, a PSW at Streamway Villa, often brings her two daughters, Serena, 9, and Kylie, 6, to the Cobourg long-term care home.

“They love coming in and talking with the residents,” says Shaw

As Shaw has passed her passion for care onto her children, her children have passed it on to their peers. Following a speech she gave to her class a few years ago, Serena’s classmates have come to the home to sing for residents at Christmas and to help them with gardening in summer.

Karen Dance, who has worked in the housekeeping department at Kentwood Park for the past 10 years, always finds time to help a resident in need.

Whether it’s helping a resident tidy their closet or giving them a hand sorting their laundry, when you give a few minutes of your time to a resident, you get a whole lot back.

On one occasion, Dance was tending to a resident’s room when she noticed the resident had flowers that were dying. So, Dance stepped away from her regular duties and clipped the flowers and gave them fresh water.

“Two minutes of my time and she was just ever so grateful for that,” she says.

Anyone interested in an enriching career with OMNI Health Care should call the head office at (705) 748-6631 for more information.