Sigma Health Rehab Announce Their 2024 DOR & ADOR of the Year

Sigma Health Rehab, one of the leading complete post-acute care rehabilitation companies in the northeast operating in 45 Centers Health Care skilled nursing facilities, returned to Rivers Casino in Schenectady for its annual retreat, which took place from September 17-19, 2024.

This year’s retreat highlighted essential advances in therapy patient care, education, and auditing. Special sessions included a speech therapy demonstration on Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing. Like the other years, special awards were handed out. Still, the two moderators of the retreat were Erica Davison, Sigma’s Corporate Rehabilitation Educator and Reimbursement Specialist, and Richard White, the company’s Corporate Rehabilitation Director of Education and Clinical Practice.

Two of Sigma’s most respected therapists in leadership were given this year’s Director of Rehabilitation (DOR) and Assistant Director of Rehabilitation (ADOR) awards. Ms. Jocelyn Nackley, Director of Rehabilitation at Onondaga Center, the intimate 80-bed skilled nursing facility in the Syracuse, New York suburb of Minoa, was distinguished as Sigma’s 2024 Director of Rehabilitation of the Year. Ms. Nachley was previously named a nominee in both 2022 and 2023 but now in 2024, she succeeded to the top. Mr. Yisrael (Izzy) Pupko, Assistant Director of Rehabilitation at the large 504-bed Boro Park Center on 10th Avenue in Brooklyn, was made a two-time winner of this highly-accomplished award. According to Sigma’s Vice President of Therapy Services, Michael Forzano, Mr. Pupko and Ms. Nackley are highly well deserved.

“These two individuals are not only so well-deserved of these awards, but they are cornerstones of our organization,” said Forzano. “Jocelyn is the blueprint of what other DORs should follow. Her great, outgoing personality fits into the care of our residents in Central New York, and it's this personality that has spread throughout the department, where all therapists are so full of life. Izzy is everything you want in an assistant director, as he is there with Jeff (Jeff Grzybowski is Boro Park Center’s rehab director), and they run that department without any flaws. Izzy is so well-experienced and highly accomplished in everything he does in that very busy building.”

Sigma Rehab Health holds its Directors of Rehabilitation to a very high standard as patient and staff advocates. These directors genuinely care about the health and well-being of their patients and the health and well-being of their staff. Additionally, DORs, in all of their patient's cases, figure things out with their therapists, even under the most difficult circumstances, to lead to positive outcomes. They motivate their staff and act as leaders, and these directors inspire them and get them excited about the Sigma company mission. They find solutions to any problems or concerns. These directors lead by example by fostering clear communication throughout their department, transparency, positive relationships amongst staff, encouragement, and a sense of support and community.

Sigma’s Assistant Directors of Rehabilitation are essential members of the management team. They not only provide assistance to the DOR but are also key to developing relationships with the interdisciplinary team members and the individual members of the rehabilitation department. The ADOR is also the “right-hand person” when assisting the DOR. Still, according to Sigma leadership, they often show tremendous potential to grow in their management capacities in the future within the company.

Congratulations to Onondaga Center Director of Rehabilitation Jocelyn Nackley and her fellow DOR nominees, Brian Reese of Schenectady Center, Salina Kopp of Fulton Center (Gloversville, NY), Jeff Grzybowski of Boro Park Center (Brooklyn, NY), and Daniela Vilinsky of Northern Metropolitan (Monsey, NY).