If you want to know what makes the nursing home business more of a calling than a business, read on and share the life’s work of one dedicated New Yorker and her team.

Danielle Pagoulatos-Lieblein started working in a nursing home at 17 as a dietary aide, not yet a full-fledged adult but someone already in possession of a mission, which was to bring joy to residents through nutrition.

She worked her way up the ranks and today, Pagoulatos-Lieblein is a clinical dietician at Promenade Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Rockaway Park, N.Y.

After 37 years of working in nursing homes, she is still focused on bringing residents joy through nutrition but has added bringing joy through clothes to her repertoire as well. When all is said and done, Pagoulatos-Lieblein just wants to make things better for nursing home residents, be it focused on sustaining health through nutritious food or bringing clothing options where none existed previously.   

“A resident had a house, and now they're sharing a room with somebody,” she said. “And maybe they went from having a living room and a den and their own kitchen to a twin bed and a TV and a dresser. Right? So that I can't change. But can I make their dining experience better? Absolutely.”

New Clothes

Seeing life through a resident’s eyes, Pagoulatos-Lieblein observed that the opportunities available to residents to bring new items into the center were few. Family member visits were not always frequent, and opportunities for purchasing new items were scarce. She felt a pull to start a charity, but she didn’t quite know what it would be.

“It's not like assisted living where they can go to the store,” she said. “Especially after COVID, a lot of these trips have stopped. It's also a generation that doesn't really use the computer very well, and they're not very savvy about how to buy things online.”

After seeing residents wear the same clothes over and over again, Pagoulatos-Lieblein decided to do something. She started bringing in her own clothes and her son’s clothes to donate. One day, a friend asked why the residents were wearing her son’s clothes. “I explained that the residents on Medicaid only get $50 to $60 to spend per month, and that’s not enough to purchase clothes on a regular basis,” she said.

When her friend brought his own box of gently used clothing to donate, a light bulb went off. She knew what her charity would do.

“We're going to provide clothing for residents in nursing homes,” said Pagoulatos-Lieblein. “They don't have the money to buy it. They don't have the opportunity to buy it. And literally, that's how it started.”

Getting to Work

Pagoulatos-Lieblein got busy and Nursing Home Warrior was born. The organization attracted a group of volunteers, including Paulie Moran, her friend who cofounded the group, her sister, Janice Pagoulatos, and her son, Jack Lieblein. Together, they collected gently used clothing from the local community, put them in boxes named “Cozy Boxes,” and started sending them to local nursing homes.

To date, Nursing Home Warrior has sent more than 200 Cozy Boxes to nursing homes throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. After some time, she wondered if she could do more.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we can provide them with a boutique experience?’"  With a new experience, Pagoulatos-Lieblein wanted to also give residents new clothes.

In a Pop-Up Shop, which is often located inside a nursing home, residents can browse new clothes and select three to four pieces, free of charge. The new clothing is made possible by donations from Major Label Group. Volunteers donate their time and skills to make it happen.

Nursing Home Warrior has founded 13 Pop-Up Shops to date in various locations in New York, including the Bronx, The Rockaways, and Long Island.

“Every nursing home resident deserves a free day of shopping,” said Pagoulatos-Lieblein. “The looks on their faces and the appreciation they show is so worth it.”

Beyond Pop-Up Shops

Pagoulatos-Lieblein considered how else she and the group could effect change in a positive way for residents, and it wasn’t long before she started to respond to requests to help residents and their families, on demand.

“People will call and say, ‘My mom's having a really hard time at a nursing home, can you go and see what’s going on?’” said Pagoulatos-Lieblein.

“We say yes, because we can most likely address the problem early on before it reaches the Department of Health.”

Often, fixing the issue is simply having a conversation with the right person. Sometimes a family member will share a concern with a certified nurse assistant believing that to be sufficient to make a change.

In addition to directing the conversation to the appropriate person, Pagoulatos-Lieblein helps set expectations, using her experience as a department head. “It’s often a balance between helping the residents and family and the facility as well,” she said. A room change may be doable, but if something looks like it could be more serious, Pagoulatos-Lieblein will engage facility staff in a conversation to help avoid further issues.

In an effort to help families understand what skilled nursing facilities can and cannot provide and how to advocate effectively for their loved ones, Nursing Home Warrior hosts education sessions for families just getting started in nursing homes.

“I try to teach people the reality of what to expect,” said Pagoulatos-Lieblein. “Because families have a lot of guilt putting their family members into a nursing home, they may have unreasonable expectations of what actually goes on. So, I try to merge that gap with education.”

A Bright Future

Nursing Home Warrior started two-and-a-half-years-ago, and with a number of achievements in the bank, Pagoulatos-Lieblein is focused on the future. The Pop-Up Shops continue, as do the education sessions, and Pagoulatos-Lieblein has expanded her education work to the Nursing Home Warrior Podcast.

“We're going to Connecticut next weekend,” she said. “But the goal of Nursing Home Warrior is to have satellite places throughout the country.”

Interested in learning more or supporting the Nursing Home Warrior? Check out the Facebook page.