2012 Award Winners Announced

Each year we bring our team leaders to Hutchinson for an educational conference.  During our winter conference, we announce those who won awards during the previous year.

Last night, we announced the winners of the 2012 awards.

 

*Pictured above, L to R: Dean Bloemke, President and Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations

Our first award announced was for the Resident Choice Award.  This award goes to the community who achieved the highest score during our annual resident satisfaction surveys.  The 2012 Resident Choice award was given to Excelsior Place Assisted Living in Baxter, Minnesota.

As their Director of Resident Services, Loree Besser, accepted the award, she gave all of the credit to her team.  ”This year, like many, presents each of us with challenges.  All of the credit for this award goes to my team back at Excelsior Place.  Without a solid foundation, you have nothing.  The team that I work with is absolutely phenomenal and we couldn’t have done this without them.”

Our next award presented last night was the Great Places to Work award.  This award is presented to the communities who achieve a high satisfaction level.  This year’s award winner was River Pointe of Moorhead.

While accepting the award, Ron Bervig, Director of Resident Services gave credit to the team in place at River Pointe, commending them on doing a great job.  ”I really have to thank the staff for the wonderful job they do every day.  They are what makes us successful!”

Our next award goes to communities who have reached a list of achievements and have a high level of excellence in senior living. Criteria for the award include employment best practices and employee satisfaction, resident and family satisfaction, resident and staff safety, financial performance, matching resident needs to care plans throughout a resident’s stay, and overall occupancy.  Each of the performance objectives is to assure the proper and desired level of service is provided.

The 2012 Best Community Awards go to:

Orchard Hill Assisted Living – New Ulm, Minnesota.

Potter Ridge Assisted Living – Red Wing, Minnesota.

Excelsior Place Assisted Living – Baxter, Minnesota

River Pointe of Moorhead – Moorhead, Minnesota

Our final award of the night was the North Star Leadership Award.  This award goes to the person who was nominated by their peers and residents who live in the community.

The 2012 North Star Leadership Award goes to Paulla Perry from Thomas Landing Senior Living, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

Paulla was unaware that she had been nominated, so the surprise on her face was great to see when it was announced that she had won.  Paulla thanked each of her peers and the resident’s back at Thomas Landing for making her job a joy to be a part of.  ”I’m at a loss as to what to say.  I need to say thank you to everyone at Thomas Landing for being such a great team to work with.  It’s because of them that it is a joy to go to work everyday.”

Congratulations to all of our award winners!

You continue to inspire us and others to do great work. Thank you for everything you do!

Recap of the WHMC Summer Workshop 2012 – It’s all about Teamwork

For the past two days, we’ve been hosting our Summer Workshop series here at Welcome Home.  Team members from each of our communities have been hear learning and sharing about a variety of topics.

As managers, from top to bottom, can feel like your on your own, trying to figure things out.  Twice per year, we bring in our management teams to have an opportunity to network with other communities and share best practices.  The key part in all of this is that we function as a team, and no one is ever alone.

We really have a wonderful team put together here at Welcome Home.  We have very talented people who really care about the residents and staff who work and live in our communities.  These sessions serve as an opportunity for them to make their communities a great place to call home.

We had many breakout discussions for each department…

 

We had a few general sessions for everyone…

 

 

 

 

And the outside speakers this year were fantastic!

 

 

At each of our summer workshops, we believe in hosting a team building event to draw each team closer.  This year it was an amazing race type of event.  Our group shot below was shot along the Crow River in Hutchinson.

 

 

 

As with each conference, it keeps getting better and better.

A giant thank you to all of our speakers!  We heard many great comments about how wonderful each of you were.

And finally thank you to all of the staff at Welcome Home for helping us put on another fantastic conference and workshop for our team members.

Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations/WHMC

Pinewood Derby–Baxter vs. Pillager at Excelsior Place

This week, Excelsior Place Assisted Living in Baxter, welcomed the Cub Scout Packs from Baxter and Pillager in for their derby car races.

Scouts from both cities came to for a day to see who had the fastest wheels between the two cities.

I’ve always thought that this would be fun for the residents to see in the community, especially for the guys.

Thank you to the Cub Scouts for coming out and showing off you cars!

Resident at Excelsior Place Announced as Finalist in ALFA Senior Living Art Showcase

Liz Buxton, a resident of Excelsior Place Assisted Living, has been declared a finalist in the Assisted Living Federation of America’s (ALFA) premier art competition for senior living residents, the ALFA Senior Living Art Showcase.  Liz’s artwork, titled “Birch Trees”, was chosen out of a pool of over 200 submissions from residents of assisted living, independent living, and memory care communities because of her artistic talent and embodiment of this year’s theme, carpe diem, meaning to seize the day.

Liz’s only experience with painting had been paint by numbers. Something about art always fascinated her. She was always drawn to art work. Not having the imagination of an artist, she had the desire. Liz would sign up for art classes where she lived and then her husband would get relocated before she could actually take the class.  Then she moved to Excelsior Place Assisted Living where watercolor painting classes are taught. Liz has been able to participate in something she has always wanted to do and loves it!! When we asked Liz what she thought about the theme, carpe diem-”seize the day” she said, “A pleasant day to me has always been nice weather outside. Living in Northern Minnesota you are able to experience a variety in scenery.  I have always been interested in painting but never thought I was good enough. I just never seemed to give it a chance.”

Liz’s artwork will be displayed at COMMUNITY 2012, the ALFA Conference and Expo, where it will be viewed by thousands of senior living professionals from across the country.  Liz’s piece can also be seen on ALFA’s Facebook page at www.alfa.org/facebookartfinalists.  Because of Liz’s achievement, she will receive $100 and a set of note cards with her painting printed on the front to share with family and friends.

If Liz’s artwork is declared the ALFA Senior Living Art Showcase Grand Prize Winner by a panel of distinguished art experts, she will win special recognition for her artwork from ALFA at COMMUNITY 2012 as well as a painting party for her community to celebrate her accomplishments and underscore the role community plays in senior living residents’ lives.

”Each day senior living communities all across the country provide supportive environments for residents to continue to enjoy hobbies they’ve pursued all their lives or engage in new ones,” said Richard P. Grimes, President and CEO of ALFA.  “The ALFA Senior Living Art Showcase recognizes meaningful and beautiful works of art produced by residents residing in senior living communities.   Robust community programs, such as art initiatives, encourage residents to remain engaged in their individual interests while they age with a supportive community around them.”

“We are proud of Liz and all of our artists at Excelsior Place!  Many years ago, we made a conscious effort to not just have games and entertainment in our community life programs.  Our residents still want to learn, they still want to grow as individuals.  Our art program has really been an awesome way for people to unlock talent they never knew they had.” states Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations for Welcome Home Management which operates Excelsior Place.

About The Assisted Living Federation of America

The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) is the largest national association exclusively dedicated to professionally-managed senior living communities and the seniors and families they serve.  For 20 years, ALFA has worked to educate policymakers and consumers by advocating for choice, accessibility, independence, dignity, and quality of life for seniors.  ALFA’s member-driven programs promote business and operational excellence through education, research, publications, professional networking and online tools designed to foster collaboration and innovation in the field of senior living.  Visit ALFA’s Web site at www.alfa.org.

Senior Olympics at Excelsior Place prove you’re never too old to play!

We started talking about 3 months ago on how we could get our residents moving more through out the winter months and have tons of fun doing it.  I brought the idea to the Supervisor’s meeting and we discussed what activities

to have that the residents could identify with and most likely participated in when they were raising their families.  It was important to get all staff involved as well because the participation of residents is much greater.  This past week was our initial kick off and let me tell you everyone was having fun.  You could hear hooting, howling and laughter through out the building.  The residents really jumped on board and could not wait until the next day to see what sport they would get to play.  Our staff did a great job in getting everyone excited too.  On Monday, Deb our Food Service Director and her staff started with the game of horseshoes which several residents remembered playing and wondered if they could still throw a good “shoe”.  Tuesday brought us to a new game which residents were not familiar with, bocce ball.  Julie, our Community Life Coordinator hosted this event and  bocce is sure to be a hit.  Then on Wednesday, Jane our registered nurse and her team of care providers brought out an old familiar game of bowling.  Many of our resident remember bowling on teams and the old time bowling alleys–it was very affordable in their day.  As expected our residents were still going strong on Thursday.  Bill our Maintenance Director brought the great game of bean bag toss.  Let me tell you–there were many residents that came and were cheering each other on.  I can not remember how many bean bags actually went through the board hole but from the sounds of congratulations the number must have been high.  Lastly, came Friday and it was time to head to the beach–yes you can go to the beach inMinnesotain January.  Loree led the anxious beach goers to a wild game of beach volley ball–we adapted the rules a bit–you could either hit or throw the beach ball over the net or kick it under the net.

In all of the Senior Olympic activities this past week, our residents were definitely up for the challenge.  They received lots of movement in their arms, hands, legs, feet which will help all of them continue to stay active.  They also, gained strength and outlook on life as they cheered, laughed and can hardly wait until next week.  In fact, at dinner one of our residents, Winnie stated, “ I am too tired to eat but boy I sure did have fun”.  Another resident, Virginia stated, “ good times this week, I enjoyed the variety of activity”.

Marilyn liked the challenges of the many games and she participated all week.  She also asked today, are we going to get to play beach volley ball again?  Lois who loves to participate in many things said “it is a good get together with everyone.

We will continue our Senior Olympics through April and then most likely go into a walking program and other outdoor activities.  Our hopes are that these activities will have an impact on the residents balance, strength, gait and  reduce the risk of falling.  The positive impact and laughter that this last week has brought to our community is awesome.  Always remember, you are never to old to play!!!

Welcome Home honors North Star Leadership nominees by submitting them to Aging Services of Minnesota’s Stars Among Us campaign.

Next week, Aging Services of Minnesota will be showcasing people who work in the senior living industry at their annual Institute.  The goal of their program, called “Stars Among Us”, is ”to shine a light on the people who are the backbone of our support system for seniors in Minnesota.”

The campaign is their effort to share as many stories of individual caregivers and aging services professionals.  Officially launching on February 8th, they will create an online gallery to showcase the stars.  They will also be sharing them on their social media channels and lawmakers.

Here is a link directly to the Stars Among Us campaign page if you’d like to submit someone: http://www.agingservicesinstitute.org/starsamongus.asp

For the past three years, Welcome Home has honored an individual that shows leadership  abilities in their community or in the organization with the North Star Leadership Award.  With Aging Services of Minnesota’s program, we thought it would be a great opportunity to showcase not only our North Star Leadership award winner, but to all of those team members who were nominated throughout our company.

Over the next few days, we will honor those individuals who were nominated for Welcome Home Management’s North Star Leadership Award, and who were submitted to the Stars Among Us campaign at Aging Services.

Adding to our social network

For the past three years, we have been looking at the best outlets for our message and ways for families to see what Mom and Dad or Grandpa and Grandma are doing on a daily basis.

We first dipped our toes in the social media landscape by developing our Facebook page.  You can also find our community’s Facebook pages from our website.

Shortly thereafter, we started this blog.

• In the past year, we’ve moved towards building our space on YouTube.
• For those of you who are on Google+, we are have just opened our page there as well.
• We are also over on Twitter.  You can find us at @welcomehomemgmt
• If you are of the LinkedIn crowd, you can find us here.

In the next year, look for all of our social media channels to increase activity.  Our goal is to give you relevant information that affect our residents and their families.  We also want to show you pictures and stories about our communities and what is help shape them in to such great places.  We also want to share with you video of events and of our residents and what they are involved in.

We think of these places as our daily newsletters to you, our friends and family.

Come along on our journey as we move forward this year.  It’s already looking to be a great one!

Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations

Thanks and Gratitude

The years seem to fly by so quickly sometimes.  It seems like we just wrote our annual Thanksgiving post here on the blog.

Roman Bloemke, Welcome Home Management

This post for me comes really easy every year, because we have so much to be thankful for.  When you work with caring and compassionate people, it just makes coming to work that much more enjoyable.  As many of our residents will tell you, they are all just wonderful – and I agree!

I’m thankful for the care providers who take the best care of our residents.  I’m thankful for the dining services people who prepare the wonderful food we get to eat.  I’m thankful for the Community Life Coordinators who make the community fun and exciting.  I’m thankful for the Maintenance staff who work to keep things looking nice and operating well.  I’m thankful for the marketing people who are there to help families work through what can be a difficult transition.  I’m thankful for the Nurses who are the most compassionate people I know.  I am thankful for the Memory Care Coordinators who hold a special place in so many people’s hearts.  I’m thankful for the Director’s of Resident Services who do such an amazing job.  And I’m thankful for our office team who work behind the scenes to support the communities.

All of you are just like a family to us.

Finally, I’m thankful for my wife and my two boys who have always been supportive in both my career and my personal life.

As you’ll read below, our team members contributed to our annual post.  Thank you for considering Welcome Home and our properties for your loved ones.  From all of our family to yours, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Home for the Holidays

By Todd Corrow, Marketing Associate at Legends at Heritage Place and Lisa Lehmann, Director of Resident Services at Twin Town Villa.

As families gather together during this upcoming Holiday Season, some may face seeing changes in their parents.  Our goal is to assist all families with these difficult decisions.  We have started a support group for all families in which the topics cover how to make the best decisions for everyone involved.  When a family comes to us looking to take that next step, we sit down with all of them and take the time for them to communicate exactly what they are looking for and what concerns they have.  We assist the families with finding the solution that works best for them.

Another area that we emphasize is that even if Mom and Dad come to live with us, it doesn’t have to mean that Mom and Dad can’t host the family get together.  This Thanksgiving we are working with several of our residents to bring their family to the community for their traditional family gathering.  We know this will mean the world to not only the residents, but to all of us here.  We will have an opportunity to visit with the family and all our residents will have the opportunity to share in the joy of family.

We as a staff strive to allow the families to become just that – a family again, with the caregiver role becoming ours.  This way the spouse can again become the husband or wife without the stress of taking care of the other, we want them to regain the smiles and relaxing times that we all cherish.  We want the sons and daughters to be able to bring the grandchildren in and have the smiles brighten up the entire building.  Smiles and laughter truly possess a healing power and create a warm and positive environment.

Coming home for the holiday’s can sometimes be an eye opener when you come home to an elderly parent(s).  Sometimes it is amazing what declines we see this month that we didn’t notice six months ago when we were home last.

Things you might notice or signs that you should keep an eye out for –

•  Your parent seems depressed. Depression is common in seniors who are isolated and alone.
• Dad is reaching for the backs of the furniture while getting around the house, leads us to believe that he is losses his balance more often, making it more difficult to get around.
• You notice frequent bruises, although your parent may try to cover them up. This may be a sign of falling or mobility and balance problems.
• Your parent wears the same clothes over and over again or neglects personal hygiene. This can indicate that doing laundry and bathing is physically challenging.
• Did you notice that mom isn’t wearing any of her favorite blouses?  She is having a hard time buttoning them up.
• Mom seems more confused lately, she maybe having trouble keeping her medications straight.  Mixing up the times and doses can lead to more confusion.
• The house and yard isn’t as clean and tidy as it used to be.
• Your parent forgets things, including doctor’s appointments and when to take medication. This may be due to memory loss.
• You notice strange or inappropriate behavior. For example, your parent may dress inappropriately for the weather. This can be a sign that your parent is experiencing confusion.

So as we gather for the Holidays lets be thankful for the opportunity to come together and create lasting memories.  If you see things that concern you do not fear what the future holds embrace the opportunity to work with a Community which will provide a safe and caring environment where there will be opportunity to create more memories.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Heart and Soul – LCM Workshop

Today, the heart and soul of the care providers visited Welcome Home for their Fall Workshop.

We covered a variety of topics, but the overall goal was sharing information between all of the communities.  What works, best practices, scheduling ideas, taking inventory, and being a leader in the community.

The overall result was a