Brookfield Healthcare Center wins prestigious Ensign Flag award

DOWNEY – Brookfield Health Care Center staff, administration, patients, and family members celebrated Tuesday afternoon after being awarded with the prestigious Ensign Flag award, an honor bestowed to skilled nursing facilities who demonstrate quality care and customer service above and beyond the normal regulated standards. prestigious

According to David Howell, Administrator at Brookfield, the “Flag” is not easily earned, due to the standards set by Ensign (Brookfield’s parent company). Only a handful of those who apply for the honor are selected to receive it. 

“What Ensign has done is said, ‘Well, we’re gonna pick 20 plus criteria for you to reach, which is incredibly hard to reach,” said Howell. “We have applied several times and not been able to get it. Just because you’re five star doesn’t mean you’re going to win the Flag.”

Some of the criteria that Brookfield and like agencies include passing surveys of employees, patients, and family members, safety, culture, and community census. 

“There’s just many different criteria that we’ve been grateful enough to achieve,” said Howell. 
Several individuals addressed the crowd, speaking highly of Brookfield, its staff, and its care, including Co-Medical Directors Dr. Max Nguyen and Dr. Alan Frischer.

“When David came along, we actually pushed it forward,” said Nguyen. “We made sure that we became the role model for all the nursing homes for Ensign. Not just Ensign, but eventually for the entire nation – all the nursing outside of Ensign. We wanted to be the role model.”

Frischer commented that a lot has changed since he first began working with Brookfield, and reinforced Nguyen’s comments on being a role model. 

“When I started working at Brookfield 12 years ago, this was a very dingy, small building that was not performing very well. And David, [Dr. Nguyen], and I sat down and helped a culture and a quality facility that really shines across the United States; we wanted to be a role model. And I think we’ve done a great job so far.”

Along with the Flag honor, Ensign has also given Brookfield $40,000 to distribute to employees, and another $30,000 designated for improvements and beautification of the Brookfield facility.