Quality of life is new Care Center administrator’s goal

April 20, 2016 at 6:00 a.m. | Updated January 1, 2021 at 12:00 a.m.

Brandy Arment becomes involved in every aspect of care for both the residents and staff at the California Care Center. Arment is making decorations for the residents to enjoy for the center’s Hippie Day on April 22. She is seen here sporting blue hands because she spent the entire day rinsing out tie-dyed T-shirts the residents created, also for the upcoming Hippie Day. The community is invited to attend this and most other events at the center.
Brandy Arment becomes involved in every aspect of care for both the residents and staff at the California Care Center. Arment is making decorations for the residents to enjoy for the center’s Hippie Day on April 22. She is seen here sporting blue hands because she spent the entire day rinsing out tie-dyed T-shirts the residents created, also for the upcoming Hippie Day. The community is invited to attend this and most other events at the center.

No rest for Brandy Arment — and that’s exactly the way she likes it.

“I’m constantly on the go,” Arment said.

Whether on the phone, talking with staff or helping residents, Arment, the new administrator at California Care Center, loves her job.

She loves her residents.

She loves her staff.

And everyone loves her back.

“We want our residents to know that there is a life outside the nursing home,” Arment said. “We want to create memories.”

Every morning, Arment walks through the center greeting both residents and staff alike. Every second Tuesday, she sets aside special time to catch up with everybody living at the home.

“It’s my time with the residents,” she said. They’ll enjoy milkshakes or banana splits outside in the courtyard, for example. “And we just talk. I don’t just want to be the person who sits in the office. … All I ever wanted to do was make a difference in someone’s life.”

And that’s exactly what she is doing.

“In the 21 years I’ve been here, I haven’t seen happier residents,” said Christie Findley, business office manager at the center. “More smiles on their faces than I’ve seen before. The residents have been very happy and excited since Brandy has been here. … Brandy makes sure their quality of life is the best.”

Jesse Baker, a U.S. Navy veteran, has been a 12-plus-year resident at the nursing home.

“I’ve been through four or five administrators,” Baker said. “She’s wonderful.”

They all love this new administrator because she doens’t shirk from any challenge, even if it includes sporting blue hands — a result of rinsing out tie-dye T-shirts the residents made to celebrate Hippie Day on April 22.

To celebrate the opening of the baseball season, Arment and staff recently recreated a ballpark atmosphere, complete with staff dressing up like vendors and serving food.

A recent trip to Walmart was planned for residents to meet new people and have fun shopping as well.

“We go out a lot more now,” Baker said.

In March, the nursing home held an Easter Egg hunt — the first of its kind at the home. Around 125 local children enjoyed the day, but no more than the residents enjoyed watching and talking and interacting with the kids. Local businesses donated all manner of gifts that were given to the children who attended, in addition to 1,500 eggs for the hunt. But the could have used more because this event become a grand success.

“Next year we’ll have 3,000 eggs,” Arment said.

Around 150 other gifts were given out, including 12 bicycles.

But the greatest success at this event was the delight the residents enjoyed watching all the youngsters, Arment said.

One little girl jumped up and down when she received a “Frozen” scooter, thanking the resident who handed it to her profusely. The 86-year-old resident said he’d like to give her one every year just to enjoy the look of joy in the little girl’s face.

“So they can feel like they are still a part of things,” she said. “We work in their home, they don’t live in our work.”

When folks have a question or a problem, they come to her.

After Arment was promoted to administrator in October after starting as assistant administrator in March of last year, she started a new open dining policy that everyone really enjoys. Instead of just eating what is on a set menu, residents can pick and choose what they would like to eat.

“Just like at a restaurant,” Arment said.

Arment graduated from high school in Buffalo (Missouri), and got her bachelor’s’s in social work at Columbia College in Osage Beach. She then earned her master’s in counseling from Lincoln University in Jefferson City. To become an administrator, Arment had to pass both a state and federal test to get her license. She served as a social worker at Eldon Nursing and Rehabilitation for three years before starting at the California Care Center.

Arment has four children: Chelsea, 22; Luke, 21; Riley, 15; and Collin, 13.

Upcoming activities at the California Care Center

April 22: Hippie Day (Dress Up)

May 5: Kentucky Derby Day

May 6: Mother’s Day Tea

May 9: Tarzan

May 9-13: Nursing Home Week (Dress Up)

May 10: Jungle Book

May 11: Lion King

May 12: Robin Hood

May 13: Peter Pan

June 3: Olympic Games, 1 p.m.