Editor’s Note: The McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Daily Update and McKnight’s Senior Living Daily Briefing e-newsletters are profiling each of the McKnight’s 2019 Women of Distinction in July. For more coverage, visit the McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living websites and read the July print edition of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and August print edition of McKnight’s Senior Living.
In 2011, Kimberly Green experienced what she now calls her “alive day.” She and her family were involved in a car accident with a semi-truck. The wreck left her with extensive injuries that required her to stay in the intensive care unit for 10 days, in a rehab facility for 30 days and in a wheelchair for four months.
It took almost a year for her to be able to walk on her own again, and her brain injury causes physical and memory issues to this day. Instead of being defeated by her lasting injuries, however, Green took them as a chance to view her career from a new perspective: as a patient.
![Kimberly Green receiving Hall of Honor award](https://www.mcknights.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/07/HOH_GreenKimberly_111_600x600.jpg)
She began working in the healthcare industry as a nursing aid when she was 16. She went on to work in several medical rehabilitation, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities. In 2008, she created her own company, Eli Healthcare Consulting, which specializes in Medicare, resident assessment coordination, skilled nursing and Medicare B, rehabilitation, restorative nursing and long-term care.
She now is the chief operating officer at Diakonos Group, where she is responsible for operations management. The company has revenues of $50 million annually and includes nine skilled nursing facilities, three assisted living centers, one independent living center and 11 communities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Beyond them, she traveled to Haiti on medical missions to train physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers on how to provide restorative care for their elderly residents and patients after the earthquake there in 2010.
She is currently on the Quality Improvement Committee of the American Health Care Association and serves on the board of directors for Care Providers Oklahoma and the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma. She also volunteers with the Mental Health Association’s Joy in the Cause and The Purpose Project, which focuses on behavior and mental health for seniors.
McKnight’s Women of Distinction is a joint program of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program’s exclusive Platinum sponsor is PointClickCare.