It’s About the Quality of Life

Carol Kvidt, Albert Lea, BCLP 2003    
Community volunteer, Long-term care administrator

Being a Change Agent, Making a Difference
Building community is at the heart of leadership for Carol Kvidt, whether she is working on a community project or carrying out her professional responsibilities. She applied to participate in BCLP because she was new to the community at the time and thought it would provide an excellent way to meet and network with people. “I also grew up on a farm with parents and grandparents who were very involved as volunteers. I especially remember my parents taking care of elderly farmers living nearby. That sort of service was something a person just did.”

Carol started a career after her four children were in school. She finished college and began working as a social worker. Soon drawn to long-term care, she served as a nursing home administrator in Albert Lea before moving to Alexandria in 2005 to assume administrative leadership at the Bethany Community. There she has quickly gained recognition for her passion to create a long-term care environment that welcomes elders to a new stage of life, not just a place to wait for death. “I am very involved in changing the way things are in nursing homes and in undoing the institutional model that seems to prevail.” Carol is just as committed locally in Alexandria and has built a linkage at the state level, where she serves on the Culture Changing Steering Committee of the Minnesota Health and Housing Alliance.

When asked how her professional life and commitments influence her understanding of community leadership, Carol is quick to respond: “Making a difference in improving life.” In practice, that means seeing herself as a change agent and as someone who encourages the growth and development of others. When Carol was in Albert Lea, the state nursing home association was promoting advanced training for aides with hopes that some of them would eventually become nurses. As Carol worked with this initiative, several women came to her privately to indicate their interest in training but explained, with some embarrassment, that they hadn’t finished high school. Because Carol knows how networks can make things happen, she contacted the local Workforce Center and persuaded its leaders to offer GED courses at the nursing home. As a result, several aides earned their GED, and two went on to become licensed nurses.

Healthy Dimensions of Community Life
As Carol completes her first year in Alexandria, she is already thinking about ways in which she might be of service beyond Bethany Community. Two issues capture her attention. She is particularly worried about the methamphetamine problem in rural Minnesota — especially as she sees its effects on the health of those who already require long-term, residential care. And because she knows that community life is a system of many parts, Carol also is interested in exploring how Alexandria is providing for the economic health of its citizens. She recognizes that people need more than minimum wage jobs if they are to find and maintain a quality way of life for themselves and those who depend on them.

Carol approaches most issues within the broader framework of the dimensions of healthy community and how those dimensions interact with one another. She knows that the foundation of her commitment to the well being of others was laid early in life and recognizes that one often leads by example — putting into action the values one speaks. Her participation in BCLP confirmed for her the importance of building relationships and being attentive to one’s leadership style. “In the leadership retreat, I learned about myself and about what I need to be a leader.” Carol manifests those insights in her profession as well as in her understanding of her responsibility as a citizen.