The Worth County Convalescent Center Board voted to allow the custodial, housekeeping, and dietary departments to determine as a department what their employees would wear, within the guidelines set out in the center's dress code. Nurses would not conduct such a meeting; however, they will not be allowed to wear jeans or shorts or shirts that had logos on them and there would be no more Casual Fridays. Nurses would be allowed to wear scrubs like they currently do. The code had been in the policy manual for a long time but had not been enforced. However, Board President Scott Houk said that when a person walks into the facility, they should be able to recognize who is a nurse and who is a custodian, for instance, by the uniforms that they were wearing. Administrator Charlie Green made that point in an earlier interview with the Sheridan Express. Secretary Jozy Moyer said that updating the dress code would help elaborate on what was appropriate attire for employees and what was not. Houk said that it would also help residents identify staff members so that, for instance, if they needed a nurse they could get one.
Board member Kaye Havner said that he wanted the staff to get away from wearing shirts with logos on them and that he wanted them to look more professional, but that he didn't want to see the administration require them to wear a certain color. At that point, resident Jerry Dignan asked to speak. He said that the employees wanted Casual Fridays back and then began to challenge what he saw as Green's failure to follow the WCCC dress code. At that point, Board President Scott Houk declared that since Dignan was not on the agenda that he was out of order. "You had an opportunity to get on the agenda," said Houk. "If you want to speak out, you need to get yourself on the agenda for the next meeting."
The WCCC would pay for the first three uniforms for the employees so that they could meet the dress code standards for the facility; after that, the employees would be responsible. Shirts would have to be clean and in good condition; employees could choose whether they wanted to wear short or long-sleeved shirts. "Most places of employment have dress codes," said Houk. "They make it very clear what you can and can't wear to work." He added that when people say that "everybody" wants a particular dress code, "I don't know who 'everybody' is." Havner said that there had been a lack of communication in the past between administration and employees and other board members agreed that more departmental meetings would help with that problem. "I'm not saying this is wrong, but there needs to be more communication around here," said Havner, saying that he had gotten calls from employees concerned about the dress code.
While the dress code sets out guidelines about what is and isn't appropriate, there are other instances which would not be specifically covered by the code. In that case, Houk said that it would be a matter of the administration deciding what is and isn't appropriate. He said that the policy gave broad discretion to the administration to determine appropriateness; for instance, if someone were to get full arm and face tattoos, the administration could decide that it was not appropriate. "If it becomes an issue, then we would address it," he said.
After further discussion, Moyer said that she didn't have a problem with floral shirts and that for the Director of Nursing, "casual business" was standard. "If you're a professional, then you should look like a professional," added Houk. However, in the past, Moyer said that there had been "way too much wiggle room" in dress code enforcement. However, board members agreed to change the language in the code from "solid" to "same" colors, meaning, for instance, that a department could agree to wear floral shirts as a department.
Department heads would be responsible for setting an example for appropriate dress under the code while shorts or capris would not be allowed. After the departmental meetings and the implementation of the dress code, Houk said that the facility could give families a color code to identify staff.
The board voted to revise the budget, citing decreased revenue from the state. They also voted to approve the 2009-2010 budget.
Cable TV came up for discussion; board member Martha Rush noted that while the WCCC offers free cable to residents, most other facilities don't. Two residents have bought sattelite service as well. Administrator Charlie Green said he would look into getting sattelite for the facility, citing the fact that more and more nursing homes were making that switch.
The board voted to fix the back entrance of the facility for an estimated cost of $600 as well as the area around the hole in the back parking lot for an estimated cost of $22,000. A patch for the hole would have cost $1,860 and might not have held until next spring. Fixing the entire back parking lot would have cost an estimated $60,000 and both Houk and Green said that there were other priorities. Green said that the boilers were original and that the facility was looking at going to air conditioning and cooling for individual rooms. He said that it would partially pay for itself in reduced energy costs for the facility. Green said that he would draw up a list of needs and prioritize them for the board.
The board voted to renew membership in the Missouri Healthcare Association; Green said that they were able to go to meetings and discuss common issues, meet with state officials, keep up to date with regulations, do background checks on employees, get training and licenses for employees at reduced cost, and send residents to beauty contests.
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