(December, 2020) Alexa Saco has joined the staff at Wapello Specialty Care as Administrator. She is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in health and human physiology and a master’s degree in healthcare administration.

A native of the great Chicagoland area, Saco returned to Chicago for a few years and worked in software sales. During this time, she became an advocate for her grandfather who was living in a nursing home.

July, 2018 – Wapello Specialty Care has been named to the National Nursing Home Quality Care Collaborative Honor Roll to recognize its performance on the Nursing Home Compare long-stay quality measures. Nursing homes on the Nursing Home Quality Collaborative Honor Roll have achieved a quality measure composite score which is aligned with the top 10 percent of nursing homes in the U.S.

Wapello Specialty Care has been recognized as a 2018 recipient of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality Award for its dedication to improving the lives of residents through quality care. The award is the first of three distinctions possible through the National Quality Award Program, presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL).

Wapello Specialty Care Administrator Kristen Paris is third from right.

Wapello Specialty Care has been selected for the American Health Care Association (AHCA) Quality Initiatives Recognition Program. The Quality Initiative Recognition Program honors AHCA-member skilled nursing centers that demonstrate the attainment of four or more of the following AHCA Quality Initiative goals: 

Throughout much of 2017 and into 2018, Wapello Specialty Care has been ranked as a 5-star skilled nursing facility by the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for 2017. Skilled nursing facilities are rated quarterly based on health inspections, staffing and quality measures of 11 different physical and clinical measures of residents.

Wapello Specialty Care also received a rating of 4 out 5 in the U.S. News & World Report 2017-18 Nursing Home Finder report in November, 2017.

Wapello Specialty Care has received a “Deficiency Free” result on its annual survey in December, 2017 by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. There are 412 nursing facilities in Iowa. Generally, only 5 percent are found to be deficiency-free.

     Wapello Specialty Care Activity Coordinator Tawana Rowe was awarded Care Initiatives’ “Work as a Team” award at the Care Initiatives annual award brunch Friday, Dec. 16 in West Des Moines.

     Tawana joined Wapello Specialty Care as a CNA and medication aide and also trained to work in the dietary department. “Where ever we are short staffed, Tawana will be the first to volunteer to help out,” said Administrator Kristen Paris. “She wears many hats in this facility and is so influential to other co-workers to work together as a team that we are not divided by departments.”