James L. West Center for Dementia Care received the 2024 Customer Experience Award from Pinnacle Quality Insight. The award recognizes James L. West’s outstanding performance in variety of food and menu choices, quality of food and providing a safe and secure environment.

Resident satisfaction scores are an important quality measure in long-term care and provide communities with ongoing feedback about their performance in key measurables such as care, safety and security, dining services, and communication.

The Customer Experience Award places James L. West in the top 15 percent of care providers across the nation in the past 12 months. The achievement underscores their unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional experiences to residents and their families.

Defining resident satisfaction

“We are honored to be among the top providers in the nation,” said Cheryl Harding, PhD, LNFA, president & CEO of James L. West. “We find joy in dementia every day through the eyes of our residents and their families.”

James L. West was recognized for creating a safe and secure environment for residents and for the variety and quality of the foods offered to residents.

“Our dining services are second to none,” Harding said. “Their creativity and dedication to providing a high-quality dining experience every day is one of the hallmarks of the James L. West experience for our residents.”

Dining services are about more than just ensuring proper nutrition and hydration. It’s about creating an experience that entices and encourages residents to maintain healthy and life sustaining eating habits. 

“Our team works to provide visually appealing and great-tasting meals,” said Pamela Williamson, dining services director, who has been with James L. West for 29 years. “We eat first with our eyes, so visual appeal is important. 

“Having the kitchenette in each house allows us to do some of the meal preparations where the residents can smell the food cooking, which helps boost appetite,” Williamson said.

The open kitchenettes provide opportunities for residents to watch meal preparations as well.

How is resident satisfaction measured?

Throughout 2023, the James L. West Center engaged Pinnacle Quality Insight to conduct telephone interviews with resident families. These monthly phone conversations included open-ended questions and ratings across various categories. 

Families’ comments were anonymous and provided to James L. West in a summary report. James L. West uses this feedback to drive continuous improvement in their care.

“We are always looking for ways to improve the care we provide to our residents and the support we give to their families,” Harding said. “The Customer Experience Award recognizes the areas in which we scored among the best skilled nursing providers in the country.

Resident families gave the community high marks for customer satisfaction in providing a safe and secure environment, the variety of food and menu choices and the quality of the food prepared and served.