The Westview News

Press Release
Employee of the Month
Date
April 24, 2023

      Jeffrey Labby achieved the March Employee of the Month award at Westview Health Care Center. Jeff is an Occupational Therapist in Westview’s Outpatient Therapy and Aquatic Center, having joined their team in June 2021. Having begun his work at Westview during that challenging time in all healthcare settings, he found that his colleagues helped him to ease into the position with grace. Jeff performs Occupational Therapy with both outpatient clients and inpatient residents at Westview. He enjoys his work considerably; finding the honest efforts and rewarding results among his favorite aspects. He likes to have fun with his clients and patients, and especially loves when a patient is discharged from the rehabilitation setting upon their therapeutic improvement. Jeff starts his OT assessment by gauging a patient’s Activities of Daily Living, known as ADLs. This includes evaluating elements such as the patient getting dressed, them standing up or sitting down, and their individual hygienic abilities. He and his colleagues then develop plans to enhance the patient’s strength and mobility by ambulating throughout the facility and working in the therapy gymnasium. Ultimately, he loves to reassess the ADLs after several sessions and share the joy with his patients about the progress they have made.

      Jeff graduated from Marianapolis Preparatory School in Thompson, CT, and went on to graduate with a degree in Exercise Science from Becker College. Shortly after completing his undergraduate studies, he earned a position at an acute rehabilitation setting in Worcester, MA, and began learning about all of the therapeutic interventions and modalities that health care professionals can offer. He quickly discovered that becoming an Occupational Therapist was his goal, and went on to earn his Master of Occupational Therapy degree from Worcester State College. Jeff is the son of Kirstin and Peter Labby, and has two brothers, Christopher Labby and Peter Labby. In his youth, he and his family lived in the Worcester, MA area; moving to Northeast CT at the beginning of his elementary school years.

      In is free time Jeff enjoys disc golf, and is a member of the Webster Fish and Game Disc Golf Team. This friendly but competitive league plays in Webster, MA and Worcester, MA frequently. The two rounds of disc golf that they play are separated by a pot-luck style food session, and Jeff enjoys the camaraderie and competitiveness that happen during these matches. He played ultimate in high school so he has a natural proclivity for throwing discs and frisbees. Jeff also possesses a passion for basketball; playing roundball since his youth and joining a league at the YMCA at the beginning of this year. For both relaxation and recreation, he loves to play with his dog Willow.

      In response to receiving Westview’s Employee of the Month award Jeff reflected with humility and commitment for his efforts. “I see how hard that everybody works here at Westview, and how well our patient outcomes are. I am honored to be recognized among our great team. It feels good to be acknowledged in this way! I love what I do, and it hardly feels like work when I see our patients and residents succeed.” Jeff continued to remark about the therapeutic settings at Westview: “I am taken aback every day by how great our facilities look, and all of the incredible equipment we are able to work with.”

      David T. Panteleakos, Administrator of Westview Health Care Center, values Jeff’s individual efforts and team commitment to great therapeutic outcomes for patients and residents. “Jeff is a true professional and a great addition to our amazing team of outstanding therapists. He is kind in all of his interactions and concrete in his knowledge of Occupational Therapy,” Mr. Panteleakos stated. “I see firsthand how well he works with our patients and residents, and how the foundation of that is his collegial connection with all of his colleagues at Westview. I appreciate his commitment to getting people ‘Home by Way of Westview.’ Congratulations to Jeff!”

Westview Health Care Center is a 103-bed inpatient skilled nursing facility, which includes a distinct and self-contained 28-bed sub-acute short term rehabilitation unit and outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapies including: Sports Medicine, Adolescent/Pediatric, Adult, and Aquatic Outpatient Centers, all dedicated to providing outstanding quality health care services. The Dayville, Connecticut facility is consistently ranked among the top nursing facilities in the nation, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as U.S. News and World Report, consecutively for the past years.