Lynch takes the reins at Southern Hills Specialty Care

There’s a new face in charge at Southern Hills Specialty Care.

Diane Lynch became the new administrator July 27 at the facility run by Care Initiatives. She took over for Casey Stephens, who was promoted to a corporate position.

Lynch said team building and business problem solving are her strengths in the business.

“I have been an administrator for almost 16 years, and prior to that worked in this environment as a department head,” she said. “So, my whole career has been spent in senior care, nursing homes, assisted livings and hospitals. I like the business function of making sure that the machine works.”

Experience/goals

Lynch worked for Care Initiatives at their Panora facility for three months, and prior to that she worked in Minnesota.

“It’s unusual in that most nursing homes are old … It’s a nice, pretty new modern building, which is nice,” she said. “It keeps you from having all the challenges of old buildings.”

Some of Lynch’s goals are to streamline some of the processes of the workplace, and improve what is already in place.

One of her main goals is to increase community involvement with the facility. She said it’s special to have a community facility in a rural town.

“In terms of volunteers or as an employer, as a business in the community, it’s pretty remarkable to have a building of this size in a community of this size,” Lynch said. “It’s to both our advantages to work together in the community to keep us here, and we to attract volunteers and labor for the building.”

Locally

According to Lynch, it can be a challenge to compete with the Des Moines area being approximately 45 minutes away.

“As a community, and as a facility, we need those people to stay local,” she said. “So how do we partner with the community to make sure that they’re supporting us and we’re giving the community what they need, which is to allow people to stay here when they need this kind of care.”