Creating and nurturing an environment that makes residents feel at-home isn’t straightforward or easy, but that’s the task in front of Landon Gosselin and his colleagues at The Alice Center’s Skilled Nursing Facility every day.

With Landon, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), as part of the SNF’s care team, that all-important task is a little bit easier. The traveling LPN’s positive, sunny nature, his professional and interpersonal flexibility, and his willingness to assist residents and co-workers no matter what they need, are what make him Alice Hyde’s newest DAISY Award winner.

“Landon makes a difference every day he walks into The Alice Center,” says Keirstan Daggett, the SNF’s staffing secretary. “Going above and beyond to help your co-workers and our residents is what the DAISY Award is all about – and that’s just what Landon does.”

Having now served on the SNF’s care team intermittently for about two years, Landon’s compassion, professionalism and sense of humor have endeared him to co-workers and residents. Daggett recalls one morning earlier this year when he began passing out packets of M&Ms with his face etched on the candies, giving co-worker’s a much-needed chuckle.

On another day, Landon jumped into taking over care of a resident who was struggling with mobility after returning from a trip outside the facility – something Daggett said most LPNs shy away from doing, because it involves providing care and services that usually fall to members of the team with less advanced clinical qualifications, such as certified nurse aides.

“He’s just always there and always lending a hand, no matter what the job is,” says Daggett. “He’s always in a good mood, and he goes wherever we need him to go. It’s made a huge difference.”