As CEO of American Senior Communities, with its portfolio of more than 100 Indiana-based senior care properties, Donna Kelsey applies her years of experience leading health care companies, including previous roles with Revera and Kindred Healthcare. Her leadership experience also spans service as a Captain for the U.S. Naval Reserves.
Kelsey takes the Hot Seat to share her most important people management principles, what she’d change about skilled nursing payment system, her ideal superpower and more.
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Morning.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?
The power to heal, so I could alleviate pain.
What is your favorite weekend activity?
Walking
What is your go-to breakfast?
Oatmeal (heart healthy) with blueberries (brain food) and ground flax seed (omega 3s) — a great way to start the day!
What’s the emoji you use most often?
Thumbs up
What was your first job and what was your biggest on-the-job lesson from that experience?
I had a newspaper route. It is hard to ride your bike in the snow.
If you could change one thing about the skilled nursing payment landscape, what would it be?
I would seriously incentivize building new construction and upgrading older centers.
What is your most important people management principle?
Integrity. Being honest and having strong moral principles.
What’s one thing all skilled nursing professionals can to do improve the patient experience?
See life through the eyes of our residents.
If you were recruiting someone to join the industry for the first time, what are three words you would use to describe the skilled nursing industry?
Rewarding, challenging, interactive.