Rep. Daniel Davis Honors Jacksonville Nursing Assistants

Representative Daniel Davis (R-13) recently joined members of the Florida Health Care Association (FHCA) to honor three Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) working in Jacksonville-area nursing homes as winners of FHCA’s annual CNA Essay Contest. Rep. Davis honored Teresa Base, CNA with Southlake Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (pictured below), as the Grand Prize winner for the 2012 CNA Essay Contest. Other winners honored during the presentation included Second Place winner, Carolyn Thompson, CNA, Heartland of South Jacksonville; and Third Place winner Mary Juen, CNA, Life Care Center of Hilliard. Along with recognition, this year’s winner and runners up each received a cash prize.


The event took place at Riverwood Center, a 240-bed skilled nursing facility located at 2802 Parental Home Road in Jacksonville. Maya Perez, administrator of Riverwood Center, Connie O’ Donnell, FHCA District IX President, and Emmett Reed, FHCA Executive Director, hosted the event.

FHCA’s CNA Essay Contest asked Certified Nursing Assistants working in the Association’s member nursing homes and assisted living facilities (ALF) to submit up to 500 words about their personal experiences surrounding a designated theme. This year’s theme, “CNAs Talk About Managing Falls,” focused on the CNA’s role in preventing and responding to falls in nursing homes and ALFs, including their understanding of falls as a particular risk to their residents and the interventions they’ve learned in their caregiving career that may prevent falls.

“These CNAs are excellent examples of what successful long term care nursing assistants contribute to the high quality care delivered to the residents in our FHCA member facilities. We are proud to honor them for their dedication and commitment to the profession,” said FHCA Executive Director Emmett Reed.

The annual CNA Essay Contest helps to raise awareness about the important role of Certified Nursing Assistants and their contributions to high quality care and quality of life for Florida’s more than 70,000 nursing home residents and patients. The winning entries were announced in conjunction with National Nursing Assistants Week, June 14 - 22, 2012. For more information about FHCA’s CNA Essay Contest, visit the Quality Improvement section of the FHCA website.