Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2024 Women of Distinction honorees daily from July 1 to Aug. 13. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.
Shelly Koch not only works in home care, she is an active advocate for it.
As executive director of operations for home-based services at the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, she oversees approximately 50 home health, hospice and Services@Home (private-duty) locations in more than a dozen states. Although she has a lot on her plate, it is safe to say that she is running a well-oiled machine.
Koch’s leadership has yielded impressive results. Two of the home health agencies she oversees have the No. 1 and No. 2 highest employee engagement scores in the organization as of the most recent survey.
She is also a savvy recruiter. In 2022, when the Beatrice Community Hospital in Beatrice, NE, discontinued its home health services, Koch and her team worked closely with the health system to hire all BCH caregivers to the local Good Samaritan Society home health agency.
“Through her involvement in the industry and continued advancement, Shelly has become one of the top voices for home- and community-based services in rural America,” her nominators said. “After growing up and now raising her family in rural Nebraska, she understands how critical it is for older adults and their loved ones to have access to in-home services. She is resolute in advocating for equitable access to services so no older adult is limited by their zip code.”
More about Koch:
- Koch has been a member of Good Samaritan’s Nursing Council and Nursing Senate, as well as a cabinet member for the Nursing Senate. She also is a former board member of the Nebraska Home Care Association.
- Koch is raising her two children with her husband, Jesse, who farms.
- In October, Koch was on Capitol Hill sharing her on-the-ground perspective of the post-pandemic environment for home health and the effects of reimbursement cuts. She later met with Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) to reinforce the importance of continued support for home health.
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. Healthcare Services Group was the Platinum sponsor of this year’s McKnight’s Women of Distinction Awards and Forum. PointClickCare was the Gold sponsor, and PharMerica was the Silver sponsor. Other sponsors included Curana Health, DirecTV for Business, Easyshifts, Hireology, Reliant Rehabilitation, ShiftKey and Sentrics.
Visit this web page to see lists of honorees from 2024 and previous years.
