As a child, Dorrett Hudson, CMA, planned to be a flight attendant when she grew up. Ultimately, she made long-term care her career because, she says, “I knew I loved looking after people.” Dorrett is a teammate at Collingswood, part of United Methodist Communities (UMC), in Collingswood, New Jersey, where she has worked since 2008. 

Every morning Dorrett brings a ray of sunshine to the workplace. “She has individual relationships with every resident, and you can tell that they all trust her and love her,” says her supervisor.

For this and more, Dorrett was the UMC MVP (most valuable player) in November of 2022. UMC names an MVP monthly since the program launched in early 2022.

The MVP program grew out of UMC’s desire to apply recommendations from LeadingAge’s Opening Doors to Aging Services initiative, which provides research-based communications strategies, messages, and numerous tools to help providers raise awareness of the range of care and services available to older adults and their families and improve perceptions of the field.

Recognizing stellar employees and how their excellent performance positively affects residents and clients is a core Opening Doors to Aging Services strategy. Staff members are viewed as a direct connection to the quality care and services that is the key factor in how people view their experience with aging services providers, according to the Opening Doors to Aging Services research.

Robbie Voloshin, UMC vice president, marketing and communications, enrolled her team in the Opening Doors four-part workshop series in the winter of 2022. The UMC team was inspired by the STAR of the Month social media series from LeadingAge member Trinity Woods in Oklahoma that was featured in the first workshop, Getting the Word Out: Social Media, Web, Media Relations. The UMC team put their own spin on it and rolled out UMC’s MVP series. See the other MVPs! 

“We thought the Star of the Month example from LeadingAge member Trinity Woods was terrific,” says Voloshin. “UMC has loads of stars, so we easily adapted their model and created the MVP series. It was a simple next step after learning about the Opening Doors recommendations. 

“I work best in a collaborative environment. So we had multiple team members join the Opening Doors workshops to learn and get familiar with the strategies and messaging advice,” she adds. 

Each month, UMC managers select an MVP from its team on its campuses and home care division. All employees serving in any role—from direct care to culinary and building services—are eligible. The MVP answers four questions and their supervisor sings their praises, as well. The results are concise, lively glimpses at UMC’s outstanding employees that are published on UMC social media and blog. 

Are you ready to dig into Opening Doors? Keep these links handy for resources to guide your communications.

Opening Doors to Aging Services, improving public perceptions

• Dos & Don’ts Checklist
• LeadingAge Language Guide
• Provider Inspiration Guide – strategies, messages, and examples! (PDF format)
• Web-based strategies, messages, and resources
• Virtual workshops, those the UMC team attended

Opening Doors to the Aging Services Workforce, reaching potential employees

• Web-based strategies, messages, and tips
• Workforce Recruitment Communications Toolkit (PDF format)