Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living are profiling the McKnight’s 2022 Women of Distinction honorees daily July 5 through Aug. 11. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.
As vice president of rehabilitation services at ProMedica Senior Care DeLaine Rice-White firmly believes that a resident’s or patient’s therapy team is a critical part of his or her recovery.
She also holds that a therapist’ insight — not only in the physical progress of the individual but also in his or her emotional and self-confidence — is critical to getting that person home safely and to reducing rehospitalization.
Believing in the importance of her work, White most notably has collaborated across her company’s health system to create a data analytics platform that allows clinicians to track a person’s recovery across the continuum of care. She was instrumental in developing ProMedica’s rehab telemedicine program during the pandemic and continues to have benefits for resident/patient improvement after a company merger.
Starting as a speech language pathologist at a private school, White moved on to OvaCare as a skilled nursing facility director of speech language pathology; she was promoted to district manager for Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties in Florida.
In 1998, White joined HCR ManorCare, called ProMedica Senior Care since 2020, following the 2018 acquisition of ManorCare by ProMedica. She was promoted to the position of vice president of rehabilitation services, where she oversees the therapy operations for 168 skilled nursing centers, 100 home health and hospice agencies, and more than 54 memory care communities.
White serves on the Cultural Initiative, Workforce, Innovation, Patient Experience, Geographic Synergies, Revenue, Census, and Rehab and Telehealth ProMedica task groups.
During the COVID pandemic, she was the inspiration behind the organization’s rehab recovery suites, which brought the therapy gym to a person’s room, allowing isolated individuals to receive their much-needed therapy regimens.
Acknowledging that people living with memory loss have a greater risk of falls, speech failure and loss of independence, White is developing a therapy program for residents residing in memory care communities to help strengthen their muscles, reduce frustration and increase engagement. It also will help them practice their fine motor skills.
“A mentor to therapy team members and a compassionate caregiver to residents, she spends endless hours encouraging and supporting her team as well as others,” said James Pagoaga, the retired vice president of rehabilitation.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living. The program’s Diamond sponsor is PointClickCare. Silver sponsors include OnShift and PharMerica, and the Bronze sponsor is Reliant Rehabilitation. Table sponsors included Dreamscape, Gojo/Purell and Sound Physicians.
