About us

The Good Samaritan Society, a Lutheran Social Service Organization, is a not-for-profit, registered charity with over 65 years of experience providing specialized health and community care services in innovative and caring environments.

Corporate Office

8861 75 Street, Edmonton, AB

goodsaminfo@gss.org

1-780-431-3600

Awards of Distinction

Awards are open to all Good Samaritan Employees. Nominations open May 10 and close May 31, 2023.

Employee Award Categories

Each award is open to one employee across Good Samaritan.

Mission Award

The mission award recognizes an employee that best exemplifies extending Christian hospitality in a meaningful and creative way. They embody the organizations mission statement.

Criteria

This employee:

  • Demonstrates Christian values in actions and decision-making
  • Demonstrates integration of Good Samaritans identity as a faith based, not-for-profit care organization in their actions and decision making
  • Advocates for vulnerable and diverse populations
  • Fosters an inclusive approach to team and community

Congratulations to the 2023 Mission Award Winner, Myrna Johnson, one of our RAI Coordinators.

“Myrna upholds the GSS Christian values by being honest and sincere. She is fully dedicated to GSS and the residents that she serves. She strives to provide the site with information and ongoing support to do her best to achieve the goals set for the site.”

Vision Award

The vision award recognizes an employee who continually supports our vision to grow in strength, excellence and creativity in caring for others.

Criteria

This employee:

  • Seeks innovative approaches to care and accommodation excellence
  • Is actively involved in quality and safety outcomes improvement
  • Champions quality and safe care and work environments
  • Demonstrates practice excellence in their respective role

Congratulations to Lindsey Jones, LPN at Good Samaritan Hillside Village in Salmon Arm, for winning the 2023 Vision Award.

“Lindsey orchestrated wound rounds with our health authority wound care nurse specialist, and spent hours designing a tracking document to ensure accurate vaccination information was passed to our pharmacy vaccine team. She took on our Quality initiatives and triple-checked each chart to make sure it met Quality standards before our audits… which we then passed with flying colours!”

Healthy Relationships Award

The healthy relationships award recognizes an employee that works in supportive partnerships and opens their heart to others by affirming their goodness and potential. They make it a priority to develop and foster every relationship they are a part of.

Criteria

This employee:

  • Shows respect to others
  • Is eager to partner in shared responsibilities
  • Communicates openly and sincerely
  • Shows compassion to all
  • Upholds dignity and encourages the growth of everyone around them
  • Makes those around them feel truly part of the Good Samaritan family
  • Actively promotes the work of Good Samaritan

Congratulations to Kathryn LeVoir, an Associate Care Coordinator at Good Samaritan Mountainview Village in Kelowna, BC, for winning the 2023 Healthy Relationships Award.

“Kathy is genuinely kind, caring and interested in others. She is welcoming, positive and has an open, honest way of interacting with her team, residents and their families. Kathy displays kindness, respect and patience when facilitating our care conference meetings. Kathy handles complaints/criticism with poise, grace and professionalism.”

Hospitable Environments

The hospitable environments category recognizes an employee that provides safe, comfortable communities inspiring involvement, where people experience a sense of caring, belonging and purpose.

Hospitable Environments are created by:

  • Putting people first before tasks
  • Providing home-like surroundings
  • Providing safe, non-threatening environments
  • Building and maintaining community connections

Criteria

This employee:

  • Promotes safe living to residents, staff, guests and peers and continuously search for safer ways to improve the lives of those around them and share their ideas
  • Promotes home-like surroundings for residents and families
  • Develops new partnerships and engages stakeholders in an effort to improve the resident and client experience.  
  • Exemplifies teamwork and effective communication in everything they do

Congratulations Tito Bernadino, a Housekeeper at Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre in Delta, BC, for winning the 2023 Hospitable Environments Award.

“Tito brightens the resident’s and care staff days with his affable nature and always has a moment to hear and assure residents when they are experiencing distress or want to do something nice for a fellow resident or staff.”

Servant Leadership Award

The servant leadership category recognizes an employee who continually demonstrate the core values of the Good Samaritan through exemplary servant leadership qualities. They lead through the giving of themselves in service to others, by acting with courage in a trustworthy and ethical manner.

Servant Leaders are

  • Accountable for all their actions
  • Demonstrate integrity
  • Are good stewards of resources
  • Serve others without self-interest

Criteria

This employee:

  • Leads by example and inspires leadership though action and results.
  • Demonstrates accountability for their actions and decisions.
  • Leads by managing resources in the most efficient manner and devises plans that reflect the current and future needs of those they serve.
  • Knows the resources they have been entrusted with and works towards improving services with these resources. 
  • Excels in open and honest communication with others.
  • Believes in continuous learning and assisting in the growth of others.

Congratulations to Sandra Fillatre, Regional Administrative Assistant for Northern Alberta, for winning the 2023 Servant Leadership Award.

“Sandra leads by example and inspires others to step up and demonstrate leadership through her actions and results. Her dedication and commitment to her work are evident in the positive impact she has had during external partner audits. She consistently goes the extra mile to ensure that audit preparatory tasks are complete and supports are in place for care home leaders.”


Team Award Categories

  • Each award is open to one team across Good Samaritan.
  • Administrative and operational teams including interdisciplinary teams are eligible.
  • A team must consist of a minimum of 3 people.

Resident/Client Experience Award

The resident/client experience award recognizes a team that has implemented a change or made an improvement to how residents/clients and their families experience healthcare services. This team continually prioritizes all aspects of person centered healthcare service delivery to stay focused on those that we serve.  Demonstrable improvements in or positive impact on culture, quality, safety and/or financial indicators will be used to determine the recipient of this award. 

The winner of the 2023 Resident/Client experience award is the team of Chaplains:

  • Curtis Collins
  • Dallas Hjorth
  • Dean Shingoose
  • Gretchen Johnson
  • Kayley Kerr
  • Laird Borst
  • Lois Punton
  • Robert (Bob) Korth
  • Shelly Norris
  • Shirley Carleton
  • Vikki Mars
  • Wendel Ritz

“The Chaplains team transition from pastoral care providers to clinical chaplains has been instrumental in enhancing the spiritual care services offered within our organization. By being members of the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) and embracing a holistic approach to care, the chaplains have expanded their role to provide spiritual care to all residents, families, team members, volunteers, and community partners. This transition has not only improved the accessibility of spiritual care but also fostered a culture of inclusivity and support for individuals from diverse backgrounds and faith traditions.”

Quality Improvement Award

The quality improvement award recognizes a team that has demonstrated a relentless focus on driving forward quality improvement.  This team is a strong advocate of quality improvement: leading, influencing, motivating and engaging others in improvement efforts with an unwavering focus on improving outcomes for resident/clients. This team has implemented a quality improvement initiative(s) focused on a single issue resulting in a measurable, positive impact within Good Samaritan.

The winner of the quality improvement award is Southern Alberta Maintenance Team:

  • Garden Vista – Mike (Michael) Welsh
  • Lee Crest – Jacob Creed and Joe Creed
  • Linden View – Tim Ashe and Christine Murphy
  • Park Meadows Village – Bob Meller and Ed Mangahs
  • Prairie Ridge – Spencer Rose and Decon (Reece) Shaw
  • South Ridge Village – Rocco Votta and Stuart Roth
  • Vista Village – JJ (John) Lynk and Colin Chancey
  • West Highland Centre – Leroy Zoeteman and Kevin Harris

“The Southern Alberta Regional Maintenance Team consistently drives forward quality improvement projects in the region to ensure the residents are comfortable and happy in their homes. Many of these projects are behind the scenes and are not visible to staff and residents but come with tireless work from the maintenance staff.”

 

Congratulations to all the 2023 winners! Truly a great accomplishment and testament to your dedication and contribution to Good Samaritan.