VETERANS HOME: RENO NAMED TO HEAD NEW FACILITY IN CAPE

A new administrator has been named for the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau.

Desma Reno, a faculty member in the Department of Nursing at Southeast Missouri State University since 1981, was appointed to the position, the Missouri Veterans Commission announced Wednesday. She officially begins her duties Aug. 5.

Reno follows Terry Ford as administrator of the facility. Ford resigned June 7.

Reno said, "I am very pleased to have this opportunity to provide leadership in the delivery of quality health care to Missouri's veterans in a very innovative, long term care facility."

Reno, a specialist in gerontology, has served as a consultant to the facility over the past year. "I know the residents and the staff. Those things will be very beneficial as I move into the role of administrator."

The 150-bed veterans home was completed in June 1990, at a cost of $8.2 million.

The new administrator said one of her top goals is admission of residents. All beds are projected to be filled by the end of August.

On Wednesday, the veterans home had 124 residents. "We've been admitting two to four residents a week," she said.

She said she also plans "to build a working relationship with community agencies and volunteer organizations in an effort to promote interest in the field of gerontology and enhance resident care at the facility."

Among the community organizations Reno hopes to work with is Southeast University.

In addition to her job as director of the home, Reno will remain an adjunct faculty member in the department of nursing at Southeast.

As an adjunct faculty member, Reno will do guest lecturing and will help provide opportunities for student learning. "We can offer opportunities for practicums in gerontology, health-care management and, of course, nursing," Reno said.

"I have had an interest in the field of gerontology for quite some time," Reno said. "I have been a nurse for 17 years, and this is a group of individuals I have worked with all that time."

Reno is also a doctoral student at the Rehabilitation Institute of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where she is specializing in gerontology and rehabilitation.

"That really spurred my interest in the veterans home," she said. "I've been consulting at long term care facilities in the area."

She said the veterans home was of particular interest "because it is a more innovative type of facility.

"The programming is different than typical long term care facilities. It is more high-tech in terms of equipment and it has more professional staff."

Reno is certified as a gerontological nurse by the American Nurses Association. She has also served as a gerontological nurse consultant on a contractual basis to longterm care facilities in Southeast Missouri.

Reno is a board member of the Missouri Nurses Association. She is also a member of various professional organizations.

Reno resides in Jackson with her husband, Danny, and her children, Matthew and Jonathan.