Life Care Center of New Market

Champions Rise

Champions in Action


The positivity and support of the community have always been a driving force for Life Care Center of New Market – while battling COVID-19 and beyond. The facility held its first vaccine clinic on Jan. 7, 2021, and it was truly a full-circle moment where associates looked to a future of continuing to serve and love one another and the community. As COVID-19 vaccines begin, the team at New Market is more hopeful than ever.

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I think everyone in the skilled nursing industry is thankful that a vaccine is available and being administered, and we are thrilled that vaccinations are underway at our facility. It's an understatement to say this has been a difficult year, but the vaccine offers hope as we move forward.

Tony Cooper, executive director at Life Care Center of New Market

New Market Vaccine

"Our goal is to provide a high level of service in a safe environment that brings peace of mind for our residents and patients, along with their families," said Cooper. "The virus tested us, but we came out stronger on the other side."

New Market Vaccine

Fighting a pandemic was not something that most medical professionals anticipated facing in their careers, but the heroes at Life Care Center of New Market rose to the occasion and fought bravely to protect their residents, who are like family. Here is the story of their COVID-19 journey…

Our Story


When Tony Cooper left New Market in 1996 after six years as executive director of Life Care Center of New Market, the facility was less than a decade old, but he knew the skilled nursing facility off East Lee Highway was well on its way to being a vital part of the community.

Cooper returned to Life Care Center of New Market in 2017, 21 years later, and found a facility that was firmly entrenched as a respected and valued member of the New Market community, serving residents from a tri-county area that included Shenandoah, Rockingham and Page counties.

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"I was mentored to be part of the community, not just a building in the community," said Cooper, "and that is what Life Care Center of New Market is. We have built a strong relationship with the communities we serve, and that was important this past summer, when the virus came."

Tony Cooper, Executive Director

More than any topic related to the facility's battle with COVID-19, Cooper and Director of Nursing Jennifer Breeden talk about how people in the New Market community and surrounding towns rallied to support the New Market team during the most difficult days.

"The community and our families were just amazing," said Breeden, who has spent 12 years with Life Care. "No one questioned the restrictions we had to put in and even during the peak time, the families were sending in food, refreshments and calling with words of encouragement."

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"They were on the outside while we cared for their loved ones on the inside. I know this: our families did a whole lot better being supportive than I believe I would have been if I were on the outside."

Jennifer Breeden, Director of Nursing

Cooper, Breeden and their team carry that positivity with them today as Life Care Center of New Market continues to provide the high level of service in long-term care and short-term rehabilitation that it is known for throughout the Shenandoah Valley.

Champions Rise.

Cooper and Breeden watched as the coronavirus attacked skilled nursing facilities and moved across the country in March, April and May. They made preparations such as purchasing additional PPE and daily monitoring of residents and associates for symptoms, while retraining employees on infection control.

Things changed on the second day of summer, June 21. An Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Team and the Virginia Department of Health were inside Life Care Center of New Market when Cooper got confirmation that the facility had its first positive resident. The state regulatory agency found no deficiencies with the facility. The Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Team commended Breeden for her infection control protocols and validated that the facility had implemented proper contingency planning with appropriate plans in place. But even that good news was lost on Cooper as he worried about what might be coming.

"It literally went downhill quickly from that day on," said Cooper.

The associates of Life Care Center of New Market came face-to-face with COVID-19 and battled it fiercely. The heroic work of people who put their own personal safety at risk to care for their residents was easy to miss in the sorrow that came as 19 residents were lost to the virus.

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"In a small town like this, everybody knows someone who is a resident here, a former teacher or ball coach, or someone who works here," said Breeden, "and that made the losses even harder. There is not a member of our leadership team who has not attended a service for one of our residents."

Jennifer Breeden, Director of Nursing

Listening to Breeden talk about a single day at the peak of the virus in July paints the clearest picture of the difficulties her team faced as they dealt with the lethal virus, one that no healthcare facility or government was prepared to fight.

"Some of the deaths in the beginning were here or there," said Breeden. "We were getting four or five positive tests, until the day we got 15 positive test results in one day. On that day, we also lost three residents, two within 30 minutes, and these were residents that we expected to pull through.

"It was devastating," she said. "We were trying to deal with that anguish and console the staff, but we had to make the choice to put our emotions aside and move to a mindset of moving these 15 residents into an isolated unit, calling families and informing residents and staff. We had to transition from grief to nurse mode in a matter of minutes."

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"Every person in the building, no matter what department they worked in, got involved in doing whatever needed to be done to care for our residents," Breeden explained. "It was an incredible balancing act emotionally, and our associates diligently got the job done. It seemed like a day that would never end."

Jennifer Breeden

The good attitude that the people of New Market have shown toward the Life Care facility is infectious to Breeden, Cooper and their associates. It has enabled the team there to look to the future, not focus on the past or the virus outbreak.

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"It is just not something you want to mentally dwell on,” said Cooper. “Once you have lived through it, you know you don’t want to go back."

Tony Cooper, Executive Director

Instead, Cooper and his champions of care are looking forward, committed to the premier 24-hour skilled nursing care and outpatient rehabilitation services they are known for in their community. They realize that the national fear associated with COVID-19 and the skilled nursing industry has caused families to have concerns about utilizing a skilled nursing facility. They are hoping to gradually ease some of those concerns as visitations continue at the facility. And that brings us back to the bond between Life Care Center of New Market and the communities it serves.

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"People here know they can trust us," said Cooper.

Tony Cooper

The Vigilance Continues


Life Care Center of New Market remains vigilant to provide a high level of service in a safe environment that brings peace of mind to its residents and their families. It's what the community expects, and it is what the champions of care at Life Care Center of New Market will continue to provide. That vigilance includes:

  • Providing every patient with a routine clinical assessment.
  • Using "Point of Care" testing equipment from the federal government.
  • An ongoing surveillance testing program that continues for staff, per state requirement.
  • Ongoing communication with family members.
  • Strict adherence to CDC, CMS and state health department infection control protocols will be maintained.
  • Training for associates will be continuously updated based on regulations and first-hand experience in controlling the virus.

Champions Rise.

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