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It’s National Nursing Assistants Week!

Staff Spotlight on 2 Outstanding Hospice Aides

It’s National Nursing Assistants Week, the perfect time to showcase outstanding, compassionate Crossroads Hospice Aides who work tirelessly every day to make sure our patients are cared for with respect and dignity. 

In 1986 Congress officially designated the annual observance every second Thursday in June thanks to Laurie J. White, a career nursing assistant, who passionately advocated for elevating the status of nursing assistants. In 1977 White founded the National Network of Career Nursing Assistants (NNCNA) to further nursing assistants’ education, promotion and advancement as integral professional members of the healthcare workforce.   

Today we are showcasing two amazing Crossroads Hospice Aides, both State Tested Nursing Assistants (STNA,) Holly Jones in Cleveland and Lindsey Barr in Cincinnati. As Hospice Aides, they are on the frontline of patient care, spending the most amount of time with our patients and their families.

Holly Jones has More Time for Compassion

“More time to provide care and compassion.” That’s what Crossroads STNA Holly Jones, an experienced nursing assistant in a variety of care settings, at the Cleveland site said about working as a Hospice Aide. She joined Crossroads at the end of 2022.

“I love it. You don’t feel rushed,” Holly said remembering that, in other settings, there was always a “time crunch.” There was no “extra time” for patients. Now, spending time by the bedside of a patient who just “wants to talk,” is encouraged, not punished in hospice care.

Crossroads’ philosophy that “no one should die alone,” aligns with Holly’s personal values. It is also what attracted her to Crossroads when she observed a Crossroads team compassionately caring for a patient in the long-term care facility where she was working. 

Holly’s past professional experience at the Cleveland Clinic, in rehabilitation and her three years working in a psychiatric unit give her a depth of professional experience but it is her empathy and compassion that is valued by patients and remembered by their families.

Lindsey Barr Celebrates Humanity

STNA Lindsey Barr joined Crossroads as a Hospice Aide in Cincinnati just nine months ago. She’s only been a STNA for two years, a major pivot from a successful career working in shipping and receiving for a manufacturer.

But Lindsey has “always taken care of people,” noting that her family suffers from genetic disorders. After a recent move to a more rural community Lindsey was looking for a new career with a bigger impact, much to the surprise of her husband. It was their drive to their new home by a local nursing home that was the trigger for Lindsey to earn her STNA. 

“Extra care and love” are the impact Lindsey has now every day on the job caring for hospice patients, going beyond mere “custodial” care, making their comfort and dignity a priority while respecting their humanity. And when a patient does pass, Lindsey takes personal comfort in knowing she provided them with the best care possible. 

Lindsey worked briefly at a local nursing home before her transition to hospice care. She came across Crossroads after extensive research, including patient and family reviews and also employee workplace reviews.

Working with Crossroads nurses, social workers and chaplains delights Lindsey as does her intimacy with the patients and families she cares for admitting, “I love the inner workings of families.”

Lindsey takes her professional role on the front lines very seriously, communicating with nurses daily and proactively reporting or escalating changes. “As a Hospice Aide we have time to notice things,” Lindsey said unlike the “run, run” frenzy of working in a long-term care facility.

In a short time Lindsey has become a fierce advocate for hospice care in general, educating family and friends on its many benefits and why her work is so rewarding. Crossroads patients and their families benefit greatly when Lindsey is their Hospice Aide.

Fiber or Sugar

By Danny Gutknecht
Fiber is all the rage right now.

Doctors, longevity specialists, and gut-microbiome experts agree: we've stripped something essential out of our food, and the body has been paying ever since.

The sugar in an apple and the sugar in a soda are the same molecule, but they do completely different things. The fiber in the apple makes the body work for the glucose. The energy comes slowly, through the work the body does, in a way that makes it usable. Strip the fiber away, and the same molecule wreaks havoc.

The documentary Forks Over Knives featured Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn at the Cleveland Clinic, whose research and intervention have shown remarkable results with heart disease. Heart attacks run in my family, and a few years ago my blood pressure and cholesterol were climbing. My primary care doctor told me to take the medicine. There was no getting around genetics, particularly for people my age.

Work before quick fix (pill). What’s the core issue, let's look at that.

So, I called Dr. Esselstyn. I reached out to other specialists in the documentary.

A week later, my phone started ringing.

"Danny, this is Caldwell Esselstyn."

We had a great conversation, and I became his patient. Within three months, every diagnostic—normal—no medication. Maybe that changes someday. It has held for four years.
My primary care doctor was right, there's no getting around genetics, but she also went for the easy button, the sugar. So I kept talking to people, experts on lipids, experts on health. I realized that a lot of what I had learned about diet and cardiovascular health was wrong. My idea of exercise and healthy eating was wrong.

We are drowning in information. It's not slowing down. Everything is getting quicker—access to a recipe, directions, or how to test a pool heater—it's actually awesome.

But every light casts a shadow, has a price, and it starts when we rely on all our information to be quick. Just look at headlines that rise to the top of your algorithm.

"The five things to do about a bad boss."

"How to tell if someone is a narcissist."

"What to eat to live longer."

And now, with AI at the top of Google, we don't even sort through search results. The robot wraps our question in a short, easy synthesis. Easy.

The information we get is sugar stripped of fiber. And the algorithm knows the type of candy we like.

The dopamine kicks from scrolling social media and headline hunting are not neutral either. They create a stress-and-anxiety bounce: a hit, then a drop, then a desire for another hit.

Psychologist Ryan Stoll, an expert on stress and anxiety in children (and adults), found that much of the stress and anxiety came "from" the parents. Attempts by parents to solve the child's stress often made the matter worse, because they were looking for the instant relief, which increased anxiety in the parent and… you guessed it—amplified the child's anxiety.

The loop increases stress, decreases our ability to be present, to connect.

This is what happens when we try to remove the substance and replace it with ease. We mistake the quick fix for contact, or worse, for a solution.

Information needs fiber to make it work for us. Make us think, struggle, give us something to be curious about.

A book that makes you work to understand something has fiber. A conversation that does not resolve quickly has fiber. A question that will not resolve easily has fiber.

We keep trying to remove the work from the things that require work, then act surprised when they stop nourishing us. When our teeth (or mind) start rotting.

Food needs fiber. Relationships need the fiber of time and repair. The mind needs difficulty. The things we most need to know have to be tested, challenged, and interrogated. They must be worked through, not merely consumed.

The silver lining is that we all know this. We've been there, worked through something and felt good about it.

Fiber.

Online Patient Reviews Drive Decisions

Finding a Hospice on Google

Rater8 is a technology platform dedicated to healthcare reputation management with the goal “to help healthcare organizations future-proof their reputations as they weather the impacts of AI-generated overviews and chat results and the ongoing fragmentation of patient search.”

In rater8’s 2025 Report “How Patients Choose Their Doctors; The Role of Online Reviews in Winning Patient Trust” it found 84 percent of patients check online reviews before choosing new healthcare providers.

According to Renee Morgan, RN, Clinical Director for Crossroads in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio (NEO,) Google reviews are monitored very closely. Good reviews are celebrated internally at all-staff meetings and with WOW points for team members. In turn, bad reviews, which can be admittedly very damaging, are investigated. “We try to follow up and track down” what inspires a bad review, Renee said.

Sometimes, the reviews are flat out wrong and that can be very frustrating knowing how families rely on Google reviews when it comes to making decisions about an end-of-life care provider. 

Google reviews are “very powerful,” Renee said. “If someone were to call me and ask me the best way to show praise for the hospice team that cared for a loved one, my immediate response would be to please write a Google review.”

Renee said, authenticity is what makes Google reviews so powerful. “They’re often spontaneously written by family members.” And it’s easer and easier to go online with more people “willing” to go online, according to Renee.

Lately, the integrated care teams in Cleveland and NEO have “been getting a lot of good ones (Google reviews,)” Renee said. This doesn’t surprise her based on the clinical excellence, compassion and camaraderie she observes on every care team every day. While she has no doubts about Crossroads standards of care, because of their importance to patients and their families, she’ll be monitoring Google reviews closely for the foreseeable future. 

Recent 5 Star Google Reviews

“Crossroads Hospice was such a blessing during a difficult time for our family. Their entire staff was comforting and compassionate with all interactions. The Crossroads nursing staff explained everything in great detail and made sure we were comfortable with all decisions. The Crossroads chaplain was so supportive and helpful and made sure to honor our loved one since he was a Veteran. I really can’t say enough about the staff and their services – it was a wonderful experience dealing with them.”

– Nancy Koenig, Philadelphia, May 11, 2026

“Our experience with Crossroads nothing but positive. Any and all questions or concerns that we had were dealt with efficiently and professionally. Anytime I had a question or concern about my mother’s condition was met with immediate response. We could not have been more pleased with her care. When the end was nearing we were kept up to date on her condition. Their handling of everything was done with the utmost respect and compassion. They are truly angels sent from above.”

– Sheila Showalter, NEO, April 20, 2026

"I just wanted to write a quick review for Crossroads. They helped me and my family when my mother passed recently and they were just wonderful. The people who were there to support us and walk us through our grieving were so kind and supportive. They even followed up personally with me several times after Mom’s passing that really helped me pull through and realize that there were people out there who could just listen to us even if it was just a call or texts. Wonderful people and I’ll never forget their kindness through this horrible time. Thank you."

– Eric Wambold, Dayton, March 11, 2026