Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2022 Women of Distinction honorees daily July 5 through Aug. 10. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.

The improvements Karen Devaney has made since her appointment as national director of care management at Atria Senior Living are truly indicative of her years of experience in the caregiving field. Bringing in new technologies and processes to make the lives of her colleagues and those around her easier are just some of the practices Devaney has refined at Atria.

Devaney has more than 15 years of experience in nursing in a variety of healthcare settings, including senior living communities, hospitals and public schools. Not only is she a licensed nurse in Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, she holds several professional certifications through various prestigious organizations, including the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners and the NICE Infection Prevention Certification from Northeastern University.

She first joined Atria in 2015 as divisional director of care management in New England and upstate New York. Since then, Devaney has played a key role in implementing electronic medication administration record systems throughout the company’s 430 senior living communities, which span 45 states and seven Canadian provinces.

Devaney regularly advocates for technology, policies and processes that allow caregivers to work smarter and focus more time on residents. She has been integral to COVID-19 policies and infection control protocols through improving Atria’s community infection management system after seeing the need to capture more data surrounding infection control factors such as symptom tracking and contact tracing. Thanks to her hard work and dedication, the Critical Information Management System now can monitor and help control any kind of infection on a more comprehensive scale than ever before. 

“The best thing in the world is when a family comes to you and says how they can’t believe how many new beginnings and new experiences Mom or Dad has had since moving to Atria,” she tells her team.

Devaney also has been recognized for her volunteer work with special needs children and young adults with the Cabot Creamery Award and the title of Massachusetts Unsung Heroine, where a commission representing the commonwealth partnered with state legislators to identify “women who make outstanding contributions to their organizations and communities.” 

The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. The program’s Diamond sponsor is PointClickCare. Silver sponsors include OnShift and PharMerica, and the Bronze sponsor is Reliant Rehabilitation. Table sponsors included Dreamscape, Gojo/Purell and Sound Physicians.