Patricia Krasnausky has been a vital member of the New York City Long-Term Care Ethics Network from its inception. She has played an important role in the Network’s startup and over the last six years has actively contributed her multifaceted expertise and talents to the organization by being on the planning committee of several conferences, writing articles for the newsletter, participating in panel discussions, obtaining sponsorship for conferences, and assuming a lead role in the strategic planning committee. She has generously dedicated her time to the Network and the NYCLTCEN is indeed fortunate to have her as a Board Member.

Pat is uniquely qualified to serve on the NYCLTCEN Board. She is a licensed nursing home administrator, as well as, a certified dietitian in New York State with more than 30 years of health care management and consulting experience in Long-Term Care Facilities and Acute Care Services. She started working as a volunteer in a nursing home in South Boston, where she grew up, and later held many different positions (nurses’ aide, house keeper, therapy aide, food service supervisor, unit coordinator, director of security/housekeeping/ dietary, chief dietitian and food service director, assistant administrator, and administrator).

Pat became interested in ethical issues when she was appointed Chair and asked to develop the ethics committee at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital (then Misericordia). She remembers fondly the consulting ethicist, Monsignor William Smith, who provided her with a lot of instrumental assistance. When Pat was asked what areas of ethics interested her, she said, “…end-of-life decisions are not what interested me so much as the everyday issues, such as those we struggle with in the Homes with the elderly. Right now, I’m very interested in the move from a bio-ethics focus to the broader organizational issues, especially working in Catholic facilities where justice is a major focus. I see all of these as very related to our mission and corporate values.” Pat is currently helping to plan the NYCLTCEN’s next conference on ethical issues in long-term care.

Pat graduated from Rosary College in Illinois with a BA in Food and Nutrition and then moved to back home to Boston where she completed a Dietetic Internship at Massachusetts General Hospital. From Boston, Pat moved to New York and attended graduate school at NYU, where she obtained a master’s degree in Institutional Administration of Food Service. After spending a few years as a consultant dietitian to three nursing homes in New York City, she became the Director of Food Service at St. Patrick’s Home in the Bronx in 1975, a position she held for five years.

In the 1980s, Pat’s career seemed to be leaning more and more in the direction of administration. In 1980, Pat became the Assistant Administrator of Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home in New York City. In 1983, she obtained her MS in Health Systems Management from Iona College, and in the same year, became the Assistant Vice President for Community Affairs at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center. During her tenure there, she was responsible for public relations, internal communications, financial development, and community relations and outreach programs. She was also Vice President for Ancillary Services. In her short three years at Our Lady of Mercy, Pat planned the establishment of a Geriatric Unit and related services at the Medical Center.

Before joining Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in New York City, Pat was briefly the Administrator of the Loeb Center at Montefiore Medical Center, and in 1987 she became the Administrator of Frances Schervier Home and Hospital. At Schervier, Pat’s interest in ethical issues was rejuvenated, particularly her interest in organizational ethics.

Since 1991 Pat has been the Executive Director of Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in NYC and, in 1998, she also assumed the role of Executive Director of St. Cabrini Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry. Under her directorship, short-term sub-acute beds were established in 1994 and one year later the Long Term Home Health Care Program was created. She is presently overseeing the implementation of Adult Health Care Centers into both facility’s services, as well as AIDS Home Care Programs.

Pat is a true professional in every sense of the word—she has published articles, presented at local and statewide conferences, has worked as a consultant, is actively involved in professional organizations, and teaches. One of Pat’s publications concerned bringing about an end to the diaper debate. The article, Ending the Diaper Debate: Dependables vs. Reuseables, was published in Long Term Care Administrator, in 1993. Another noteworthy publication of Pat’s was a chapter in Reshaping Dementia Care, which was published by Sage, entitled The Reduction of Restraint Use in the Nursing Home. Pat was a consultant on the Lower New York Infirmary Collaboration Project which involved working with a number of different religious communities in an attempt to form one infirmary in New Rochelle for their members who have dementia.

Pat is actively involved in several professional organizations. She is a member of the American College of Health Care Administrators and has served on the Awards Committee since 1992. Pat is also a member of the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aged, where she was elected a Board Member for several different terms (1989-1994 and 2000 to 2003). She was on NYAHSA’s Operations Committee for many years as well as the Sub-Acute Committee. In addition, she served on NYAHSA’s Education Advisory Committee in 1998.

Pat’s interest in education is also evidenced by her work as a Preceptor. Since 1990, Pat has been a Preceptor of the Administrator-in-Training Program for the New York State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators. Pat also precepts in the Undergraduate Program in Health Services Administration (AIT) at Lehman College, as well as in the Graduate Program in Health Systems Management at Iona College.

Since 1994, Pat has been the chair of the Retirement/Pre-Retirement Committee of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. In 1998, Pat received National Certification for Retirement Housing Professionals. Pat has also been a member of the board for the Franciscan Health System of Warwick and she has served on their Planning Committee.

Pat has had a long and productive career. Except for the three years she spent in acute care at Our Lady of Mercy, Pat has been in long-term care for 40 years. She says that one of her favorite and most rewarding positions was as a nurses’ aide caring for 20 residents with dementia.

Posted December 22, 2000.

Meet the Board was published in the Winter 2000 edition of the Ethics Network News and is available on-line at: https://www.angelfire.com/on/NYCLTCethicsnetwork/dec_jan00-01board.html.

Next Article

Previous Article

Winter 00-01 edition of Ethics Network News

Ethics Network News Home Page

NYCLTCEN Home Page