The Face of Caring – November 2022

As the Thanksgiving season comes to a close, we want you to meet a staff member who makes us thankful she chose Cassia. Elim Wellspring is a pilot site for the Cassia Connect Nursing Assistant-Registered (NAR) program.

Registered Nurse Angela Cowden, who is in charge of staff development and clinical education at Elim Wellspring, has been at the forefront of it all. “We have had such excellent outcomes from this program,” says Director of Nursing Jessica Sweazey.

During the sixteen months Angela has overseen On-Track/Cassia Connect, fifty-six students have gone through her nursing assistant program:

• Forty-two of those graduates have stayed/worked at Elim Wellspring in a nursing assistant position.
• Seven of those went to other Cassia sites.
• Three took positions in our activities department.
• A total of fifty-two staff members have been employed by Cassia over the past sixteen months, as a direct result of the work Angela has done.

Angela has worked at Elim Wellspring for five years and worked for two years at Milaca Elim Meadows before she began work in Princeton. She is actively helping multiple sites train new NARs to pass their certification class and pass the test to fill the need on the front lines.

Angela also finds countless innovative ways to facilitate and exceed the expectations of recruitment and onboarding. She is a team player and works the night shift on the floor and in any other capacity to support front-line staff and/or management. “I could not do this job without her,” Jessica Sweazey says.

Thank you, Angela, for your commitment to excellence at Cassia. We are grateful for everything you do.