Everybody is somebody’s somebody

Toni Dudley, director of nursing for Consulate Health Care of New Port Richey, in New Port Richey, FL has been noted for her sincere passion, honesty, and compassion for her patients and residents. She has a known ability to improve centers’ care and operations, and it is estimated that over her 30 years in healthcare, she has touched the lives of over 250,000 patients. From the description, one could assume that Toni would be dying to brag about her successful career. However, when you meet her, you quickly realize how incredibly humble she is. Although Toni has had a long, and very successful career over the last three decades, she still presents herself as though she is just like everyone else. The truth is, Toni is nowhere near average and her skills and determination have led her to be awarded Nurse Administrator of the Year by the Florida Health Care Association (FHCA).

Toni’s career began back in 1984, when she became a nurse in upstate New York at a hospital. After only three years, she decided to move to Florida to become a long-term care nurse. Within a few months, Toni was quickly promoted to director of nursing because of her hard work and dedication to her patients. In 2015, Toni began working at Consulate Health Care of New Port Richey. She had previously worked with the current executive director, Daniel Frenden, 12 years prior, and when he made the move to New Port Richey, there was no question of bringing Toni on with him.

In just under three years of working with Dan at New Port Richey, Toni was able to successfully bring the care center from a one-star rated building to a CMS five-star rating. Together with Dan, Toni was able to lead the amazing staff to success by sharing her passion, and showing her commitment to the care center. Toni spends much of her time at the care center to show her team that she too will do whatever it takes to provide compassionate care to the residents. This motivation allowed her team to really believe in their goal and to give them reason to keep working hard.

Toni has been so deeply dedicated to her work at the care center, that she had absolutely no idea she had been nominated as Nurse Administrator of the Year. Toni was afraid she had forgotten to confirm she was attending the FHCA Conference, and that the reservation for her hotel room would be given away. Little did she know that everyone knew she would be there, and why. Dan somehow managed to even get her family over to the hotel and surprise her at the conference. It wasn’t until the presenter began to talk about the person who had won the award that Toni realized it was her that they were speaking of. We asked Toni how it felt to win the award and she said, “I was speechless. I looked at Andi (our Chief Nursing Officer), and she started crying, then I started crying, and it will always be a treasured memory.”

We truly can’t think of someone more deserving of the Nurse Administrator of the Year award than Toni. We are beyond proud of her success, and we are sincerely grateful that she has chosen Consulate Health Care as her home. Congratulations Toni on this amazing achievement, and thank you for what you have done for the residents of New Port Richey!