Department Spotlight - MDS Coordinator/Infection Preventionist at St.

Chelsea Dillon is the MDS Coordinator/Infection Preventionist at St. Marys Manor. Her position is part of the Administrative Nursing Team.

The MDS Coordinator is essentially responsible for the St. Marys Manor facility being paid or reimbursed for taking care of residents. Chelsea completes assessments on each resident upon admission, quarterly, annually and anytime there is a significant change. The patient data is then transmitted to CMS. This information helps compute the 5-star standing as Quality Measures are determined via the data submitted. As the Infection Preventionist, Chelsea is responsible for tracking all infections and antibiotic use throughout the resident population. She determines if there are any trends and provides feedback to the Director of Nursing and Administrator.

As with most smaller facilities, we all wear multiple hats! Chelsea also plays a large role in employee health at St. Marys Manor and offers vaccinations and makes sure associates meet all requirements. She is also responsible for the BLS training at St. Marys Manor as well as fit testing for N95’s.

She has even come-in on week-ends to paint resident rooms. She recently painted, cleaned the floors and rearranged furniture in the small staff lounge. She also assembled a new coffee bar for our Resident Bistro that was freshly updated! Much to everyone’s delight, Chelsea even brought in an incubator with chicken eggs and her office quickly became the hot spot for residents and staff to stop by and check-in on the babies. Once the eggs hatched and the baby chicks were old enough, she took them around for residents to see and hold! Boy, did their faces light-up!

Chelsea has brought consistency and organization to the role. Anyone familiar with MDS and infection prevention responsibilities understands it is not an easy role, but Chelsea is always anxious to attend trainings and educational events where she can learn more.

Chelsea very-much enjoys her job. “Working in long term-care is so different than other types of nursing. Caring for the residents everyday allows us to support their aging process while promoting their quality of life. Knowing that I'm truly making a difference in the lives of the residents and their families is why I love working at St. Marys Manor. It's an honor to provide care to those who have given us so much. And our staff is pretty great!”