Wainscott Honored as "Shining Star"
Date Posted : 04/11/2012

Heritage Woods of Sterling receptionist Ali Wainscott was honored by BMA Management, Ltd., with the 2011 First Place Shining Star award.

She was presented with the award for touching the lives of residents in so many ways.

Employees of all 35 senior living communities managed by BMA were eligible for the award.

Ali truly abides by BMA's mission statement in which she "passionately provides a dignified lifestyle in a caring environment, defined by integrity and enriched by our values," said Dawn Powell, Administrator, and the Heritage Woods Department Managers in nominating Ali for the honor.

"Ali has and continues to show each resident love, compassion and dignity," they said. While there are a countless number of examples about Ali that could be cited, "this one recollection in particular is striking."

We have a 94-year-old resident who is completely deaf. The resident can read lips, but does much better with sign language. The resident and Ali hit it off from day one, joking around with each other, sharing stories, and just plain smiling from ear to ear as they talked.

The resident decided to show Ali some sign language. Day by day, Ali learned a bit of sign language through his wonderful tutorial skills.

One evening, the resident was hospitalized and Ali went to visit him in the hospital. She returned desperately wanting to be better able to communicate with the resident. She signed up for Sign Language classes at the local college not only to improve her ability to communicate with the resident, but so she could be his translator when needed. She took the beginning and the intermediate sign language courses. No one asked her to do this, no one asked her to study, and she paid her own tuition.

To this day, Ali communicates with the resident through sign language and continues to improve her sign language communication skills.

We are amazed at her dedication to this resident.

They added that Ali is always there for all of the residents of Heritage Woods of Sterling with a smile and a helping hand for anything and everything.

She is also there for us as well.

Whatever it is, it is done in the most professional way possible.

Ali is our little "Jack of all Trades" and truly an asset to our team at the Heritage Woods of Sterling affordable assisted living community.