Island City Assisted Living
Many of our HealthCap Heroes have stepped up for their residents because they love them like family, having worked years in their facility and spent countless hours at their side. This wasn’t the case for our most recent HealthCap Hero, Donna Ruggiano, who joined the staff at Island City Assisted Living in the midst of the pandemic in March 2020! Bringing her extensive professional background and hitting the ground running, Donna has made a huge difference at her facility in such a short amount of time and her efforts have not gone unnoticed by her team!
Donna Ruggiano, MSN-Ed, RN joined our team in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Her background in health care is robust, started her career as Paramedic/Firefighter, and certified in hazardous material procedures, for both community and hospital. Transitioned into emergency/trauma care for 21 years, home health care services then Senior Care Manager for Medicare clients prior to current position at ICAL. She was also Adjunct Clinical Faculty teaching nursing fundamentals to students at an area community college at the time. Donna went into teaching mode and readied our employees in PPE procedures, reviewed our infection control protocol, and assured we were compliant facing this new pandemic. Last week, we were notified by the United States National Guard that we would be receiving Covid-19 test kits and they would be here to train our staff to conduct these tests. Our staff conducted the training and we are ready to tests our residents and staff for Covid-19 to keep our communities safe. Donna was approved to offer a certified nurse aid program at our organization. This program will improve those employee’s care knowledge, will increase their pay, and ultimately increase their longevity. We are also happy to announce that our residents and staff have remained Covid-19 free. We owe these achievements to Donna Ruggiano, RN, Director of Resident Care. Thank you, Donna, for your expertise in training staff and protecting the residents, families, and staff at Island City Assisted Living. We appreciate you!
Island City Assisted Living
HealthCap would like to thank Donna for her dedication to the healthcare industry, and her hard work in helping Island City Assisted Living rise above the uncertainty of the pandemic to create a safe place to work for her team members, and their residents. Thank you, Donna, for rising to the occasion in a new position and showing us all what it means to be a hero!