Angie Hunt, Chief Operating Officer at The Cedars, was honored by Leading Age Maine and New Hampshire for her Excellence in Leadership.
Angie has earned the respect and loyalty of everyone she works with through leading by example and working side-by-side with therapists, nurses, housekeeping, activities staff and anyone else who needs a hand. Community leaders, legislators and trustees immediately recognize Angie’s enthusiasm for any opportunity to improve quality care and to advocate for seniors.
Exceptional Leadership and Effectiveness
“Angie is self-motivated, a tireless worker – always putting the best interest of the patients first.” – Susan Dionne-Jones, Director of Nursing at The Cedars
“Angie ‘lives’ The Cedars’ mission every day and in doing so, always puts the needs of our residents above all else. She continually meets any and all challenges that are presented to her. And Angie’s concerns go beyond The Cedars to the entire caregiving community. She has lobbied for all long term care facilities in Maine by advocating for State legislation … and she been a successful leader of The Cedars’ efforts to collaborate and integrate with ACO’s in Maine.”
– Richard Borts, Board Chair at The Cedars
Angie can’t see a need in the senior community and not look for a way to meet it – even if that means creating and launching a brand-new program and now she leads the organization through culture change and into the Household model of care.
Extraordinary Workplace Environment
“Angie always connects with staff and makes us feel heard and understood. Whenever she sees me, she wants to know how I’m doing and asks about my son.”
– A. McDonald, CNA at The Cedars
Angie has the loyalty and admiration of every employee at The Cedars. She not only empowers the direct care staff through her bottom-up style of management, but she is there when they need a hand, doing what they do every day: answering call bells, working weekends, administering physical therapy evaluations and treatments, completing paperwork for new admissions, and more.
More importantly, Angie believes in the value and contributions of her direct care workforce and their relationships with their residents. She has driven Culture Change into all aspects of the organization through the development of Neighborhoods and the innovative staffing and programming that makes The Cedars home to so many. Angie realizes that partnering with her staff and involving them from the ground up leads to better outcomes and creative solutions for our residents.
Advocacy
“Your CEO is incredibly lucky to have you.”
– Senator Anne Haskell (to Angie Hunt) at the State House
“Angie has been the voice for non-profits when no one else would step forward.”
– J. Watson, CFO at The Cedars
Angie has been a key non-profit face for Maine, frequently presenting to legislators and coalitions at the State House. Angie’s down-to-earth, genuine presentation of real issues about real people has proven to be highly effective.
Angie recently addressed LD154, a document aimed at creating flexibility in the regulations to allow senior housing residents access to in-house personal support and nursing care. Angie testified for 40 minutes, in a give and take manner, to a panel of legislators, eager to learn about the issues providers face. She was able to convince DHHS to make exceptions not only for The Cedars, but for all Maine providers providing independent and assisted living.
Collaboration with Other Organizations
“When we reached out to Angie, her response and enthusiasm were better than expected – she was gung-ho to partner with Mercy and the Beacon ACO.”
– Dr. David Polisner, MD, Mercy Hospitalist Service
“Angie Hunt truly loves her work. She is thoughtful, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and caring in all that she does at The Cedars … always eager to share new ideas and projects she is working on with the goal of providing the best care possible for the residents of Cedars. She is such a good leader to have in long-term care in Maine.”
– Brenda Gallant, RN, Maine Long Term Care Ombudsman
During this time of change in health care and policy, Angie assures that The Cedars is always at the table in collaboration with community organizations. She has been instrumental in planning various initiatives and an active participant in the following:
- Maine Health
- Bundled Payment
- Shared Savings
- Mercy Hospital
- Beacon ACO
- Maine Partnership to Improve Dementia Care
- with the Maine Ombudsman Office
- Emergency Preparedness
- with Cumberland County’s Emergency Preparedness team
- University of New England
- created a unique course for healthcare professionals at The Cedars