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

2011 Welcome Home Award Winners

Each year, Welcome Home gives out several awards for excellence in our senior living communities.  Awards for Resident Choice, Employee Choice, Best Community Award, and the North Star Leadership Award were given to communities and individuals who qualified for the awards.

Our teams did such great work in their communities and they need to be honored for doing great things.  All communities really did some amazing things this year, but a few stood out.

The Employee Choice Award is given to the community who scores the highest in employee satisfaction.  Our employee satisfaction surveys are done once per year with our team members.  This year’s award winner, with a score of 90% was River Pointe of Moorhead.

The Resident Choice is the award for the highest resident satisfaction scores among all of the communities.  This year’s totals were really close which shows what a great job all of the communities are doing.

This year’s award went to Potter Ridge with a score of 92%!  This is the 4th time that Potter Ridge has won this award.

The next awards presented were the Best Community Award.  This award goes to the communities that showed excellence in 10 separate categories ranging from overall occupancy, adherence to budgets, resident satisfaction and employee satisfaction survey’s.  Communities must attain a high level in all categories to receive the award.

This year’s recipients included the teams at Potter Ridge Assisted Living (3 time recipient),

Twin Town Villa (3 time recipient),

Orchard Hill (2 time recipient) and,

Excelsior Place (1st time recipient).

Our final award is the North Star Leadership Award.  This award exemplifies those individuals who work in Welcome Home communities for the work that they do with the residents and with their team members.  This award recognizes those team members in our communities who show great leadership qualities.  This award is open to any team member at a property managed by Welcome Home.  Anyone can nominate, from family, to team members, to residents.

This year, we again had fantastic nominees.

Our nominees were (l to r), Blaire Swinarski and Mickie Shutz of Potter Ridge Assisted Living; Judi Durkin and Sharon Humble from Twin Town Villa, and Sherri Schnacki of Thomas Landing.  Dean Bloemke, President of Welcome Home announced the nominations through our YouTube channel.

The 2011 North Star Leadership Award went to Judi Durkin, the Lead Care Manager at Twin Town Villa.

Congratulations to all the recipients of this year’s awards!

Stars Among Us Team Member #3

This 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.

Our next Star Among Us is Linda from Potter Ridge Assisted Living in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Linda is the RN at Potter Ridge and was nominated by two family members, and she states:

“My parents have been residents of Potter Ridge since April 010.  I could fill a few pages of anecdotes regarding Linda and her interactions with my parents in meeting their needs.  Her positive attitude certainly trickles down to the Care Providers, who interact with the residents throughout the day and night.  Linda works at making things work out for the residents, if at all possible.  She has exhibited patience, upbeat good humor, compassion and such a caring attitude in working with my folks and other that I have observed on my visits to see my parents.”

As part of Aging Services Stars Among Us campaign, they asked the following three questions.  What inspires them, why do they serve, and what do they advocate for?

Inspire:

I desired to be with older adults from childhood on.  Older adults are beautiful inside and out.  I’m inspired by their strength, endurance, trust and their life stories. I have been encouraged and motivated by many over the years.  Previous directors, and co-workers, those that believed in my skills when I didn’t.  I have had challenges as many have, I’m able to keep going on tough days by using humor along with my faith.  My husband and grandchildren are an inspiration.

 

Serve:

My career serving older adults has truly been a blessing.  My life is richer because of those I have cared for over the past 30 years.  Taking care of older adults is my passion.  The most meaningful/rewarding part of my job is being part of a very large family.  Older adults desire to learn.  Hosting “Coffee with the Nurse” monthly has provided education and empowerment to our residents, which has been a joy to be a part of.

 

Advocate:

I advocate for attentive medical care for aging adults.  In the past few months I have experienced negative outcomes when sending residents that are ill to Urgent Care of Emergency Room.  Public policy makers need to realize older adults can make decisions for themselves.  The work we do is not work, it is all about serving one another as we age.  This is one of the most rewarding occupations.

 

Stars Among Us Team Member #2

This 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.

Our next Star Among Us is Amy from Potter Ridge Assisted Living in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Amy has been at Potter Ridge since it opened in 2005.  Amy was nominated for the North Star Leadership Award last year by her daughter Rachel and her son Spencer.

“While countless definitions of leadership exist, we firmly believe it describes an individual who helps others achieve their goals.  So when my brother and I first heard about the NorthStar Leadership award, we instantly though of nominating our mother, Amy Anderson.  She has dedicated her entire career to the care of seniors, and we could not imagine her in any other professional role.  While she holds a true passion for the field, she cares most for the residents and the others around her.  Not only does she have a great relationship with the residents, but with her co-workers as well.  She goes above and beyond her required role to make Potter Ridge an exceptional building to work in.  She makes sure all the work is done in a proficient and caring manner.  We can say with certainty she would admit it makes the job seem far less like a job.  Our mother has helped us achieve countless goals in both of our lives and we know she has impacted many, many others.  It would be hard to imagine where either of us would be today had it not been for the leadership and assistance of our mother.  For that and many other reasons, we wholeheartedly endorse her as a candidate for the award.”

As part of Aging Services of Minnesota’s Stars Among Us campaign, they were asked the following three questions:  What inspires you?  Why do you serve? And, what do you advocate for?  Her are her responses:

Inspire:

My inspiration to help others, especially older adults, comes from how I was raised.  “Do unto others.”  My greatest mentors would by my parents.  I also work with an awesome group of people.  Tough days are what you make of them.  That day will never come again, so make the best of it.

Serve:

Helping older adults is my speed, my pace.  They look at the here and now. Make every day count.

Advocate:

Treat everyone fair.  Public policy makers need to understand everyone matters, no matter your lot in life.  It’s the day today that is what makes the biggest difference to most people.

We are extremely proud of all of the accomplishments and leadership she has brought to Potter Ridge and Welcome Home Health Care.

Thank you for being the person you are.

Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations

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North Star Leadership Award Nominee #4

This week, we are honoring team members who were nominated for our North Star Leadership Award.  We are also submitting those who were nominated to Aging Services Stars Among Us campaign.

As we continue to 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, we come to our fourth nominee.

Our third nomination and Star Among Us is Mickie.  She is the Community Life Coordinator at Potter Ridge Assisted Living in Potter Ridge, Minnesota.  This is her first nomination for the North Star Leadership Award.

Mickie was nominated by her fellow teammates at Potter Ridge.  They said:

“I would like to nominate Mickey for this year’s award because she exemplifies what it means to be a leader.  She is organized and has envisioned and made successful dreams of residents as well as her dreams for the residents.

She has the vision to look at the resident as a whole with the realization each human being needs much more than food, water, medication and sleep.  The residents need to give of themselves, to share their gifts, to be of value.  She recognized the strengths and desires of our residents, acknowledging that quality of life maintains the health of our residents.

Having her masters in Gerontaolgy has given her the insight and understanding of what the residents need and can do for an enriched life.  She encouraged them to try new things and tells them they “can do it”.  They listen to her and trust her.

Her leadership skills are a great asset to Potter Ridge and we are blessed to have her as part of our team!”

 Inspire - What inspires you to serve older adults? Is there a mentor or fellow caregiver who motivates or helps you? What keeps you going on tough days?

“For many years I have been serving older adults, volunteering and working areas of care giving for the elderly.  I was a primary caregiver for my mother and father before they died, and I guess I feel that they have inspired me to continue finding ways to encourage the elderly to stay active physically and mentally.  What keeps me going on tough days is first my faith in the Lord and second, realizing that I have the fortune of knowing so many 80 t0 90 year old people that have been through a lot more tougher times than I will ever know.”

Serve - What does a career serving older adults mean to you? What is the most meaningful or rewarding part of your job? The most challenging?

“As a gerontologist, I have chosen the career of serving older adults.  My current job is to provide activities for the residents at Potter Ridge.  I use each day as a learning experience and I am using this experience to enrich my educational goals as a future Doctor of Human Services.  The most challenging part of this job is having to say goodbye to my friends that have lived at Potter Ridge because they have either passed away or moved to another facility because of health deterioration.”

Advocate - What do you advocate for? What do you want public policy makers to know about the work you do?

“I am currently advocating for a Senior Playground to be built in one of our parks in Red Wing.  The Red Wing Area Seniors, Inc. and the Red Wing Public Works Dept. are both supporting my efforts in attaining a grant from one of the local foundations to be able to afford buying the playground equipment that is specifically designed for the elderly.”

Mickey has been an inspiration since joining the team at Potter Ridge and Welcome Home Health Care.  All of us at Potter Ridge and at Welcome Home congratulate her on her nomination.

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.  The North Star Leadership Award winner will be announced at Welcome Home’s Annual Winter Conference on February 23rd.  Watch for more details on our live presentation as our conference date approaches.

Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations

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

Calendar Girls and Guys

Every day, right before lunch, there are about 10 to 15 people that wait in the hallway right outside the dining room doors for seating to begin. This is an excellent time for socializing with each other because sometimes, this is the only time some of the residents get to see each other.

Shirley, who has lived at Potter Ridge for 3 years, always makes sure the conversations flow and offers suggestions for ways that residents can interact more with each other. About two weeks ago, Shirley commented on how nice it would be to have a calendar printed with everyone’s photo on it, but she quickly added that “I know it’s too late and impossible to do this, so just forget it.”

When someone says that, Mickie usually tries to prove them wrong, and this time was one of those times. She started asking who would like to be a “calendar girl or boy” and immediately a show of hands from the other residents excitedly told her they wanted to pose in the calendar on the month they were born.

The Sheldon Theater in Red Wing has a huge costume shop that rented out costumes for special occasions and knew right away that it would be perfect for what they were looking for.  Before long, all the calendar spots were taken and most of the models knew what they wanted to dress up as.

Within a week we had costumes for everyone. Mickie’s daughter, Elyce Jaeger, an amateur photographer, agreed to take the photos, and Design Ink, a local print shop, agreed to get the calendars printed before Christmas. On picture day, everyone gathered around to put on their costumes and makeup. It was just like playing dress-up. Everyone was “oohing and aahing”, and giggling and laughing with each other – it was a sight to see. The photos turned out great and the proofs were already completed by the printer.

On December 21, from 3:00 to 4:00, the models will be having a “meet and greet” event at the Best of Times Book store in Red Wing where you can purchase your own copy of the calendar.

The entire process in planning and developing the calendars has been amazing. The residents are still commenting about the fun they had and how excited they are to be able to see the final calendars. The socialization and camaraderie has kept the residents buzzing with excitement, what a great way to end the year!

Calendars are available for $18, plus shipping and handling (estimated at $5.00).  Proceeds go to the resident’s activity fund.  The fund helps defray costs for events and special community life programs at Potter Ridge.

If you would like to purchase a calendar or would like more information, please contact Mickie Schutz, Community Life Coordinator at (651) 388-1546.

Potter Ridge Assisted Living Community is located in Red Wing, Minnesota and is managed by Welcome Home Management, Inc. of Hutchinson, Minnesota.

Update:  The Red Wing Republican Eagle recently published a story on our Calendar Guys and Gals.

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!