Mary in a Minute

A series about individuals making an impact at Mary Cariola Center

Meet Renee Zemans from Fairport, NY. Renee is our Residential Operations Manager and recently celebrated her 20th work anniversary at Mary Cariola.

A little about me. I am originally from Franklinville, NY. I started working at Mary Cariola while I attended Roberts Wesleyan College where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. What attracted me to Mary Cariola was the ability to make a difference and to build relationships.

My career path at Mary Cariola has been full of fun and challenges. During my tenure at Mary Cariola, I have grown tremendously professionally. Each position I have held has had challenges and pushed me as a person to grow and meet the challenge. Becoming a supervisor was a big move for me. I am a social worker by trade and generally speaking, one to shy away from confrontation. Learning to supervise others and on occasion have unfavorable conversations certainly took me out of my comfort zone but helped me grow as a person. I am thankful to have the opportunity to have a job that I enjoy doing; thankful for the team that I work with; and additionally, I am thankful to go home to my lovely family.

The role of a Residential Operations Manager entails a number of different quality assurance aspects in the Community Services Department. I complete internal audits to ensure compliance. I supervise the clinical team and am the chair of both our Special Review and Human Rights Committees. With the assistance of the team, I develop plans of corrective action if needed, following reviews from outside entities. I enjoy interfacing with other entities to ensure we are providing the best person-centered services to the individuals we serve. Although I spend a lot of time behind a computer, my favorite time is spent with the individuals we serve and having impromptu moments spent talking about their day, the fun things they have planned, and what they are looking forward to.

Operations is a 24/7/365 role and my job deals with a lot of regulations, ensuring we are following the regulations but at the same time ensuring we find the balance for the person in the person-centered approach. We are a 24/7/365 program and the residences are the individual’s home which brings its own challenges. It’s finding the balance in the team with providing an enjoyable, growth-promoting home for the individuals, but also ensuring we are promoting professional development for the staff.

It is all about the people. Relationships are all encompassing in my role; the relationships with the individuals served, the staff who support them, the management and clinical teams who are responsible for ensuring we are following the regulations and Mary Cariola’s processes and procedures. It’s also the relationships built with outside entities that come into our residences whether they be survey teams from the Division of Quality Improvement or NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control, and most importantly the relationships built with the families and day programs/schools that our residents attend.

I am passionate about doing my part in making this world a better place. I may not be able to change everything but I strive to do my part in making my little corner of the world a better place!

If I could invite four people (living or deceased) to dinner at one of our residential homes, I would definitely want to invite Mary Cariola. I think it would be so great for her to be able to visit our homes and the upgrades we have made, to meet the current residents, and see first-hand the person-centered services provided. It’s hard to choose three other people! I think I’d leave that up to the individuals we serve! Post-COVID we could have a grand party with everyone they would like to invite! If I had to guess, we would have a number of musicians, Thomas the Train, a couple princesses, and Santa!

I want people to know that Mary Cariola Center is a fun and rewarding place to work. You learn to enjoy the little milestones and you celebrate with the individuals for their accomplishments.