Nursing home aging gracefully

In 1981, Dianna White was a single mother of three working construction.

Around Thanksgiving Day that year, she volunteered at the newly opened Bear Creek Nursing Center on State Road 52, where a friend worked.

"I wound up volunteering for about two weeks," White said.

Eventually, the nursing director asked whether she would consider becoming a nurse's assistant.

"It was a steady job, and with construction, there was always a lot of rain," White said. "I said I'd try it. For a while, I still worked construction on my off days."

She doesn't work construction anymore.

The longest-standing employee at Bear Creek, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in Hudson on Sept. 15, White calls the center "home away from home."

"This building was new when I started," she said. "Now it's been upgraded and remodeled and taken on a whole new look. Also, we kind of started out working (almost exclusively) with the older generation. They've lived quite a life, you know, and they'll tell you all their stories."

Bear Creek now provides rehabilitation services to complement a patient's hospital stay or alleviate the need for one. The center continues to offer traditional short- or long-term nursing care as well as a short-term respite care program that can offer a much-needed break for those caring for the chronically ill.

"People can even come for outpatient rehabilitation," said Maria Owens-Wicker, the center's administrator.

The 40,000-square-foot facility is holding a 30th anniversary celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at 8041 S.R. 52. Hors d'oeuvres and wine will be served, and state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, is scheduled to speak.

Bear Creek recently underwent a $500,000 renovation that has made the center feel less "institutionalized," said Betty Lou Barron, director of nursing. The work included transforming nurse stations with long counters into more open places where residents can socialize.

"It just makes people feel more at home," Barron said. "The idea is to make it more patient-centered. Before, people didn't have as much space to visit."

Other improvements include spalike shower rooms and a relaxation room with a library. Owens-Wicker said there are plans to add an ice-cream parlor.

White is the longest-serving staff member, but her lengthy service isn't an anomaly. Of Bear Creek's 135 employees, 20 percent have been there at least 10 years, Owens-Wicker said.

Jan Keys, a certified nurse's assistant from Spring Hill, has worked at Bear Creek almost as long as White, her close friend.

"I like the residents," said Keys, who transferred from a sister facility shortly after Bear Creek opened. "They're really very interesting, and I love talking to them."

Like White, Keys said, she often grows attached to patients, who are referred to as "residents" by staff. She said it can be difficult when they die.

"It's almost like losing a family member," she said. "It can be really heartbreaking; you're with them until the end."

Because she likes her job so much, and because she gets to work alongside White, Keys doesn't foresee a day when she will stop making her rounds at Bear Creek, chatting with residents and seeing their needs are met.

"I can't see retiring," she said with a grin. "It's just not something I look forward to."

In the kitchen on a recent morning was Linda McKinney, who has been at Bear Creek since 1985. As with other employees, McKinney said she has had family members cared for at the center, including her father, who was at Bear Creek in the 1990s, and her husband, Jerry, who died last year.

A Brooksville native living in Hudson, McKinney was busy helping prepare enough pork loin, red-skin mashed potatoes and turkey to feed about 80 people.

"Things have gotten much better since when I started," she said. "The staff is much better; the administration is much better."

Like her co-workers, McKinney seemed content with her job.

"I just like to cook," she said, "and I like being around all the folks."