Dock Woods Health Care Achieves Third Deficiency-Free Annual Survey

On a humid morning in late August, the Health Care neighborhoods at Dock Woods had one of their busiest days in recent memory.

After months of renovations, refurbished resident rooms in the Ivy Lane neighborhood were ready for residents. First thing in the morning, movers and Living Branches team members hustled through the halls, getting ready to move beds, furniture, and personal items into residents’ new accommodations.

And then the state inspectors walked in.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Health conducts an unannounced annual survey each year,” explains Naomi Hawkins, director of Health Care Services at Dock Woods. “They had just inspected to approve Ivy Lane for occupancy the week before, so when I got the call from the front desk I thought, ‘This has to be a joke, right?’ But it wasn’t!”

During an annual inspection, surveyors assess resident care, staffing levels, cleanliness, food preparation areas, compliance with state and federal regulations, and more. Most facilities are asked to improve at least a few areas, such as processes for care documentation, medication administration, or infection control.

Dock Woods’ Health Care centers have historically done well in these inspections. The community earned a deficiency-free survey in both 2022 and 2023 — quite an achievement for any organization.

But would it happen again?

“Everything we do depends on people — both residents and team members — and sometimes things aren’t perfect,” Hawkins shares. “As soon as inspectors walk into the building, the lead person meets with leadership while other surveyors immediately visit the kitchens and resident spaces. Anything can happen.”

An inspection takes several days, so Hawkins didn’t know how Dock Terrace had done until three days later when it was time to review the preliminary results. At the start of her meeting with the surveyors, Hawkins grabbed a notebook to write down their findings so she could get to work on a plan of correction.

But for the third year in a row, she didn’t need that notebook.

“Deficiency-free surveys are difficult to achieve in the state of Pennsylvania,” says Lisa Reiff, executive director of Dock Woods. “Doing it three times in a row is rare — especially post-pandemic and during construction. Communities like Living Branches that care for residents with complex health needs face additional challenges. And evolving standards and regulations, such as staffing mandates, make it harder still.”

Hawkins is proud of this year’s deficiency-free survey and acknowledges it’s about having the right mindset, day in and day out.

“When you do the right thing every day, you don’t have to change what you’re doing when people are watching,” she says. “Our campus team members adopt that approach, from nurses and aides to the dining and environmental services teams. It takes everyone coming together to make Dock Terrace a great place.”