Few Morning Pointe Senior Living nurses have as much experience with the company as Shauna Sanford, director of nursing at Morning Pointe of Danville, Kentucky, Senior Living and Memory Care. She has worked for Morning Pointe for more than 13 years and served at four different communities.
Shauna originally planned to be a pediatric nurse, but when she did a clinical rotation at a skilled nursing facility (nursing home), she fell in love with serving seniors. She started working in skilled nursing as a certified nursing assistant during nursing school, then as a licensed practical nurse after graduating. She worked in that field for about six years.
How she came to Morning Pointe is an unusual story. In 2010, one of the nurses she was working with left to go become the executive director at a brand-new senior living community: Morning Pointe of Frankfort, Kentucky, Senior Living. Soon after, the ED contacted Shauna asked if she would join her as the director of nursing.
Shauna was flattered, but she was about a month away from the start of maternity leave with her second child. The executive director told Shauna that after her daughter was born, if they hadn’t filled the position, she would try again to recruit her.
“I’d been home maybe three days after having my child, and she texted me and said, ‘Are you still interested?’” Shauna remembered. The position was still open.
“I went and talked with her, toured the community, and absolutely fell in love with it,” Shauna said. “When I came back from maternity leave, I went straight to Morning Pointe.”
Shauna worked at Morning Pointe of Frankfort for several years. She was asked to help open Morning Pointe of Lexington, Kentucky, Senior Living in 2012 and serve as DON there. In 2013, she helped open The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence, Lexington. She transferred to Morning Pointe of Danville, which was closer to home, when that building opened in 2016.
And Shauna loves her Danville team. “We work well together,” she said. “We all work toward the same goals. These residents are not just your residents – they become family. You get to know them. You get to know their families. It’s like you have a whole other family. You get to hear what their life was like. It’s not just a person that you’re in taking care of and then out.”
Recently, Shauna has officially become a family member herself. Her grandfather moved in to the community after a fracture and has benefitted from not only the on-site medical assistance but also the socialization. Shauna says she would trust her staff 100% with any of her loved ones.
Her team also trusts and respects her in return. “She is the best DON I’ve ever had,” said Tanya Young, lead nurse.
Alexis Gorley, lead CNA at Morning Pointe of Danville, added: “She knows us and genuinely cares about us and what we have going on, even outside of work. “She doesn’t just do the DON job – she is willing to jump in and help. She leads from the front and balances her job with the needs of her staff.”
Shauna sees her job as a service: “I love making a difference in the lives of people – that’s the main reason I went to nursing school, and at Morning Pointe I feel like you can do that, whether that be their mental wellbeing, their physical wellbeing, or even the social aspect of it. Morning Pointe does a fantastic job of taking mental, physical, social all in one model and really looking at the resident as a whole and being able to take care of them to the best of our ability.”
That enthusiasm has caught on, not only among her staff, but even with the next generation. Her daughter, Jaycie, who was born right when Shauna started her Morning Pointe career, now loves volunteering at the community. Thank you, Shauna, for choosing to give of yourself in caring for our amazing seniors and supporting our Morning Pointe family!
