Whitewater nurse meets residents’ needs in a variety of ways
By John Koski
SLN Staff
Judy Boyd spends a lot of alone time in her office at Lakeland Health Care Center. It’s just one of several ways that she helps meet the needs of the facility’s residents.
The Whitewater resident is MDS coordinator and is responsible for maintaining patient records to ensure they adhere to state and federal regulations.
“It involves a lot of paperwork,” she said, but the sometimes-tedious work is part of the passion Boyd has for her job.
Knowing that residents’ needs are being met – even when it involves completing detailed paperwork – is what Boyd is all about.
Lakeland Health Care Center, located at 1922 County Highway NN in Elkhorn, has 60 beds in its memory care unit and another 60 beds in its rehabilitation unit.
The multi-faceted Boyd is also a registered nurse and is one of the facility’s wound care nurses.
“Judy really is passionate about her work,” said Bernie Janiszewski, nursing home administrator. “She loves working with our residents and staff.”
At an early age
Her passion for caring for people began when she was a teenager living in a small town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“My high school offered a certified nursing assistant training course,” Boyd said. “It seemed like something I wanted to do because I was always helping my grandparents with various things.”
She landed her first job as a CNA at age 16 at a long term care facility in her hometown, earning $3 an hour.
“I started working in Wisconsin in 1979 at Walworth County’s former long term care facility,” Boyd said. “My starting wage was $6 an hour, twice what I had been making, so I thought I was being offered gold.”
Boyd went from being a CNA to a restorative activities assistant, then a nurse intern while she was in nursing school. She became a registered nurse in 1989 and has since worked as a unit supervisor, staff development coordinator and more.
“What I enjoy most about working in long term care is being with the residents,” Boyd said. “I just love working with them and listening to their stories. Our residents have so much knowledge to share, and I love that.”
For Boyd, however, listening is only part of what makes her passionate about her work.
Boyd noted that when people come out of Lakeland Health Care Center it is a transition for them, as well as for their loved ones.
For some, it may be the first time they have ever lived outside of their homes, while at the same time they are coping with memory-loss issues. For others, who have had joint-replacement surgery, physical therapy may be something they have never before experienced.
“I love to help people with whatever they are going through,” Boyd said, “whether it’s a transition to living here, or someone who is going home after rehabilitation. I try to do whatever I can do to make the situation better for them.”
The passion also shows in her work as a wound care nurse.
“When it comes to healing a wound,” Boyd said, “I try to do everything I can so that the person’s function can improve as quickly as possible.
“It’s all about making people comfortable, no matter what they are going through,” she said.
Making lives better
“My grandmother always told me I was going to be a nurse,” Boyd recalled. “She used to make me watch her giving herself shots. ‘You’re going to have to know how to do this someday,’ she would tell me. We were very close and she liked caring for people just as I enjoy caring for people.
“For me, it’s all about trying to make things better – trying to individualize the care residents receive,” Boyd said. ‘It’s all about asking, ‘What does the resident want or need?’
“It’s what we call patient-centered care,” she continued. “If a resident wants something particular, we try to make that happen. It’s trying to personalize things and to try to make being here as homelike as we possibly can.
“There’s something special about the elderly that I just love,” Boyd said. “Even after I retire, you’ll still find me in a nursing home as a volunteer.”
