Orpha Macasa, RAI Coordinator at Silverthorn Care Community in Mississauga, Ontario, was recently honoured with a Nursing Leadership Award from the OLTCA. She has worked as a nurse at Silverthorn since 2006, and has consistently grown in her leadership capacity. She was promoted to an MDS nurse position, MDS Coordinator and then into a managerial position as RAI Coordinator. “Orpha is a leader who will identify a gap, offer solutions to trial and takes accountability for seeing those trials through. Because of her history working on the floor, she always includes the care team’s perspectives when problem-solving,” says Justine Welburn, Silverthorn’s Executive Director. “She has earned trust from the team because of the way she supports them. She is transparent, follows through on commitments and is generous with her time.”

 “I love my job my because everyone here at Silverthorn share the same vision to help residents live fully every day,” says Orpha. “I am able to engage in collaborative relationships with not only the residents and their families but also with my colleagues. I am deeply humbled and honored to be the recipient of the prestigious OLTCA Nursing Leadership Award.”

Orpha leverages her advanced knowledge of best practices and all care platforms to improve quality indicators in the home. She has empowered everyone at the community to understand the importance of quality, including how to drive positive outcomes at every level. By the end of Orpha’s first year as RAI coordinator, Silverthorn met the Benchmark of Excellence in all nine publicly reported quality indicators, from two at the start of the year. The focus on quality gives everyone at the community something to collectively work toward and something to celebrate. “Orpha’s leadership inspired us to continually strive to do better – she has enhanced the culture of care here at Silverthorn,” says Justine. Orpha reflects that this award would not have been possible if not for the incredible support she receives from her team each day. “I have the sincerest appreciation for my Silverthorn family... I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to my ED, Justine for believing in me.”