Employee of the Month

Brian Sullivan achieved Country Living at Westview Commons’ December 2022 Employee of the Month award. Brian is a line cook at the Dayville independent and assisted living facility; fulfilling this role since joining their dietary team in December 2021. Brian worked as a cook at other locations previously, but in the two years prior to his position at Westview Commons, he served as a therapist in Worcester, MA. Specifically, he worked to help children with autism at Behavioral Concepts Incorporated. He points to his multi-generational family legacy of providing human services as a source of inspiration for his work at BCI. Growing up seeing people helping other people in myriad ways has had a lasting impact on Brian, and he maintains the compassion he gained through his upbringing in every facet of his life.

he maintains the compassion he gained through his upbringing in every facet of his life.

Brian was raised in Woodstock, CT—proudly graduating from The Woodstock Academy—and he currently lives in East Thompson, CT. He has experience working in area restaurants earlier in his life, and when he heard more information about Westview Commons from their head chef and his friend Matt Barks, he sensed it was a good fit. Brian already held a positive opinion of the Westview organization due to good family experiences with Westview Health Care Center. Naturally, he knew that he could have a strong impact connecting with people while also pursuing an exciting culinary opportunity. Brian appreciates that he can talk to the residents at Westview Commons and find out what he can do to improve their day with the meals he makes—even helping them in other ways. He will quickly jump in to help a resident carrying something, but most importantly he appreciates that he can have a face-value experience with his patrons. The importance of providing people meals in their residential home is not lost on him.

Brian’s family includes his girlfriend Kelly, his mother Elizabeth and father Kevin, his sister Danielle and brother Sean, and his grandmother Janice—with whom Brian is especially looking forward to sharing this press moment. As a proud New Englander, he supports the Celtics, Patriots, and all of the regional teams. He is an avid cinema enthusiast; consuming as many 20th century films as he can. He particularly likes to focus on the films of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Furthermore, he likes to view foreign cinema such as Spanish and Japanese language films and finds that the language of movies is universal. Brian credits this passion for motion pictures to his academic education in the subject at Woodstock Academy. For non-fiction content, he loves to listen to a lot of true crime podcasts and organized crime history audiobooks. Whenever possible, Brian takes in a live concert performance—whether it is a commercially successful band or a locally independent group.

In accepting this award, Brian acknowledged his leadership and expressed humility in his place on the dietary team at Westview Commons: “I appreciate the recognition from everyone at Westview Commons, and I especially value the positive feedback I receive from our Head Chef Matt Barks and our Dietary Director Nathan Mitchell. I appreciate that my ideas and input are listened to and addressed. We have a cohesive, collaborative kitchen where we are always looking for ways to improve what we do as a culinary team. There’s such a great standard here for what we want to provide as the dining experience at Westview Commons.”

"We have a cohesive, collaborative kitchen where we are always looking for ways to improve what we do as a culinary team."

David T. Panteleakos, Executive Vice President of Westview Commons, sees the care and consideration that Brian places in his daily efforts. “Brian’s personalized approach to meal preparation is a wonderful contribution to our dining efforts at Westview Commons. Brian and all of our amazing team members bring different elements to the dietary discussion, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing how those ideas are ultimately unified to benefit our residents at Westview Commons. Congratulations to Brian on this well-deserved recognition!”

Country Living at Westview Commons is a 75-unit independent and assisted living community conveniently located in picturesque Northeastern Connecticut. Affiliated with Westview Health Care Center, a nationally-ranked nursing facility according to CMS and U.S. News and World Report for the past years, Westview Commons is a 115,000 square foot catered living facility dedicated to a genuine 5-star experience including outstanding service, culinary expertise and professional in-house entertainment. Located in Dayville, CT, Westview Commons combines convenience, tranquility and comfort; providing a lifestyle that seniors deserve.