By Edgar Roldan, District Manager
Recently we opened at a new-to-us facility, Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.
Opening at a new facility is always an exciting and very busy time with many people working together to make the opening a success. There are many components that make for a successful opening.
When preparing to enter a new building, one of my personal priorities is first to get to know its people. It’s important to understand the day to day operations unique to each facility and to be able to communicate with the team.
I have few prerequisites that I feel you need to meet in order to be successful:
1. You must love working with people;
2. Good open communication is key; I can’t emphasize this enough;
3. You need to established a rapport with the existing staff and gain their trust;
4. Let your staff know that you’re there to support them all throughout the transition and beyond. Pinnacle is a team with an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ mentality;
5. Understand the operation from the ground up, gather information and learn what the client and residents like, which areas need improvement and form a plan to get you and your team there.
Opening new facilities is always a learning experience, there will always be something to improve. With each opening, you’ll take away some new bit of information or skill that you can apply to the next. With the support of your team from beginning to end, discuss anything that didn’t work or things that worked well, update your opening kit lists and enjoy greater success and teamwork with each new facility you open.
