Courtney Nieves has worked in long term care since she was 15 years old. “You could say that she grew up in long-term care,” said her staff. “Courtney often says that working with the geriatric population at such a young age taught her how to be a good person.”
She began her career as a dietary server before a promotion to activities assistant. Once she obtained her Activity Director certification, Nieves knew she could never be anywhere else but in long-term care serving the elderly community. She ultimately climbed the ladder into administration during college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, obtaining a nursing home administrator’s license. She now serves as the CEO of Garden View Care Centers.
Garden View Care Centers is a skilled nursing and long-term care center with a mission to provide quality, first-class care to the residents and families served. Garden View Care Centers makes up three skilled nursing communities in the St. Louis area serving the elderly population.
Garden View Care Centers continues to prosper under Nieves leadership. Under her guidance, the organization has had several years of successful state and federal surveys that increased the community’s CMS star ratings significantly. Nieves consistently visits both the Missouri and US Capitols where she lobbies and advocates on healthcare issues in America.
Nieves has been instrumental in increasing revenues and census by 45 percent and was selected by the American Healthcare Association as a Future Leader in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care in America.
“One of the most important aspects of being a good leader is being able to create a team of professionals that are dedicated and committed to an organization’s mission,” said her staff. “Courtney has been able to mold a group of people with the same vision and expectations that she has for how a skilled nursing facility should be operated.”
According to Nieves, empathy, integrity and humility are important attributes of a leader. “One of the most important attributes of successful leaders is knowing that it’s okay not to know everything,” she said. “I’ve always said that an expert of everything is a master of nothing, so I recognize that it’s important to utilize your team members’ strengths and knowledge to be successful versus attempting to know it all yourself.”
She said she leads with a belief in others. “I feel the best leaders have ambition for their teams – not themselves,” said Nieves. “If you try to focus on the ‘We’ instead of ‘Me,’ success comes naturally.”
Her success has led to Nieves being named a Titan 100.
