Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care are profiling the McKnight’s 2025 Women of Distinction honorees daily through Aug. 18. For additional McKnight’s Women of Distinction content, visit this page.
Tammi Lehto’s leadership has been instrumental in redefining the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society’s Loveland Village location in Colorado.
She has dedicated more than 30 years of her life to serving older adults, demonstrating her commitment and her ability to connect with people and lead them.
When she has a new hire at the continuing care retirement community, she takes an intentional approach to support and train them in their first 90 days of employment. She celebrates employees with an all-staff “rally” when they reach their 30-, 60- and 90-day employment marks. Lehto strives to make those celebrations fun, with dancing, music and a big scoreboard that serves as visual recognition of the new team members.
Lehto also connects new employees with mentors, recognizing long-term colleagues for their investment in career growth and dedication to the company. She has introduced more behavioral-based interview questions and engages a variety of staff members in the interview process to ensure each new hire is a good fit for the location and its residents.
As a result of her work, Loveland Village has seen a 180-degree turnaround on employees’ feelings about management support, peer relationships and overall engagement, colleagues say. They added that Lehto recognizes that the needs of the workforce are different today than when she started her career and tailors her management style to meet her team members’ needs.
Lehto also is known for being open to new ideas that improve quality outcomes and the resident experiences.
In 2022, she agreed to make Loveland Village’s skilled nursing facility one of 18 in the country to participate in a two-year pilot program aiming to improve long-term care employee vaccination uptake. The program provided education, resources and funding to assist participants in finding new, effective employee immunization programs and strategies.
It was an additional responsibility for her, but she took it in stride, her nominator said. Lehto knew by participating in the program, she not only would enhance the safety and well-being of her own residents and staff; the findings also would benefit the entire industry and help more providers adopt successful vaccination programs.
“Her positive attitude and determination set her apart as a leader that her team loves to follow,” her nominator said.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care. Healthcare Services Group was the Platinum sponsor of this year’s festivities, and PharMerica was the Silver sponsor. Additional sponsors included Affinity Health Services, Curana Health, DirecTV for Business, EasyShifts, Guardian Pharmacy Services, Marquis Health Consulting Services, Priority Life Care, Reliant Rehabilitation, Reside Admissions and Sentrics.
Visit this web page to see lists of honorees from 2025 and previous years.