At Home. Mille Lacs Health System Long Term Care newsletter. A Letter From Our Rehab Services Manager. June Upcoming Events

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1 At Home Mille Lacs Health System Long Term Care newsletter June 2018 Upcoming Events Gary Stacken 5th at 6:15 p.m. Memorial Service 7th 2:00 p.m. Alan Godacz 12th 6:15 p.m. Frank Gust 14h at 6:15 p.m. Kickin Karaoke 19th at 6:15 p.m. Father s Day Celebration 21st at 2:00 p.m. Deb Hawkinson 21st at 6:15 p.m. Roy Billmark 28th at 6:15 p.m. Inside this issue: Rehabilitation 1 A Father s Advice 2 Resident Spotlight: 3 Staff Spotlight 3 Events 4 A Letter From Our Rehab Services Manager Mille Lacs Health System s Rehab Department is proud to work together with our Long Term Care Facility to provide Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy services to our residents. We work closely with LTC s entire team to identify the Rehab needs of residents. Although a majority of Rehab efforts are geared towards balance and strengthening goals in order to prevent and reduce falls for our LTC folks, there is so much more that Rehab offers. We see residents with aches and pains that are preventing them from sleeping or enjoying activities during the day, and work with many different types of treatments such as hot, cold and massage to help reduce this pain. Our enthusiastic Physical Therapy staff has set up many an obstacle course or walking challenge in order to make exercise fun and meaningful, while working to keep residents stronger and more mobile for as long as possible. Our Occupational Therapy experts can be found breaking down the sequence of such daily living tasks as dressing, bathing and toileting in order that our residents can successfully do these on their own longer. Our OT staff also administers cognitive testing to help our physicians and LTC team provide the best level of care possible. Our wound care therapists provide the debridement and dressing to heal wounds quicker and avoid the possibility of reoccurrence. We now offer lymphedema services to reduce and prevent swelling and the accompanying negative side effects. Our bright Rehab team serves on many LTC committees, always looking to improve care and services. And, of course, we are always available to consult with LTC staff, searching for a better method to transfer, position, or feed a resident. We top our team off with our amazing support staff who put in hundreds of miles a day gathering our residents out of bed and bringing them to and from therapy bringing a bit a sunshine along the way. Rehab is a motivated group of therapists and support staff working with our LTC residents to help them with such goals as to loved one to the Rehab department at any time and see what goes on. It is a group of folks that value and love their time with our residents, offering treatment with passion, a side of creativity and a large dose of humor. Lifelong relationships and bonds are formed and enduring memories are made. Genuine lasting lessons are cultured by both the therapist and the resident. We welcome you to stop in and see that our time spent with our LTC residents is our favorite time of our day. We sincerely thank you for the privilege of working with your cherished family member or dear friend. Sharon Grassel and the Entire Rehab Team Family Council 5

2 At Home A Father s Advice and Memories of Dad Page 2 Manners go a long way, and they don t cost a dime. Don t count your chickens before the hatch, and if you can t find anything nice to say...don t say anything at all. Ah, fatherly advice, passed down from generation to generation. And some of it WORKS! Listen to what our residents remember about fatherly advice and memories. Be good and be honest to everyone. -Ellie When you work for someone, give them their monies worth. -Lyola Don, one of our residents, has a daughter who speaks very fondly of her father. She said her dad gave great advice: Everyone has a story and if you don t take the time, you might miss out of what others have to teach you. Remember, God loves you, others may fail you, but God will always be there for you. Arlene remembers she was daddy s little girl and recalls their fishing trips together. Duane remembers his dad was a good cook-especially with a BBQ. Ruth said her dad always played baseball with the children and the neighborhood kids...plus he made good pancakes! Rosella said her dad always made her feel special on her birthday. Vera shares that she was daddy s spoiled dolly. Violet said she remembers her stepdad reading stories about the Old Country (Sweden) around the holidays. Ellie remembered that her family had a Model A car they would drive to the ballgames in every Sunday, and her dad would get them candied orange slices. Margaret said her dad taught her good life skills. Enjoy the little things in life for one day you ll look back and realize they were big things -Kurt Vonnegut

3 May2018 Page 3 Resident Spotlight: Margaret Schubert Our resident spotlight is on Margaret Schubert this month. Margaret was born in Minneapolis, MN. She moved to the Wahkon area, later raising their three sons and two daughters with her late husband, Leonard. Margaret worked as a secretary for Honeywell earlier in life and then raised their children and worked on the family farm later in life. Margaret enjoys her family and loves to share pictures and drawings that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren send her. She enjoy activities and loves to come to dice and bingo. Here, Margaret is holding a baby goat that was visiting. Margaret Schubert Staff Spotlight: Gerald Vogtlin Our staff spotlight this month is on Gerald Vogtlin. Gerald has been working here at MLHS since September of He is the Facilities (Environmental Services and Maintenance Departments) manager. He is from the Hillman area. His wife, Judy, also works at MLHS and has been here for 42 years! Together they have two boys, Peter and Thomas. Gerald loves working with the residents and stated that he loves to talk to our residents as they have done and seen a lot in their lifetime and have a lot to tell if given a chance. I enjoy listening to them tell stories like my mom used to. Gerald, we appreciate all that you do! Thank you! Gerald Vogtlin, Facilities Manager

4 We will be honoring residents we have lost in the past six months. Join us for our Memorial Service Thurs., June 7th at 2:00 p.m. Join us to celebrate all fathers at our Fond Memories of Father Celebration Thurs., June 21st, at 2:00 p.m. We held a Churchill Up (as opposed to down ) Derby here this last month. Residents bet on their favorite horse (staff) and enjoyed the show! Important Contact Numbers North Nurse s Station: East Nurse s Station: Memory Care Nurses: Charge Nurse AFTER HOURS: Front Desk: Social Worker: LTC Billing: Activities: Just horsin around!

5 JUNE 2018 Family Council What is it? What does it do? I have recently started to attend the Family Council meetings that are held every three months. I discovered a very small group doing wonderful things for our family members that reside within the Long Term and Memory units. The meetings are informal and welcoming but the council has the power to make decisions and have projects that impact the care of the clients. The first major project has been the reality of the Family Room, which I deeply thank the council for their work, donations and dedication. We use it every week to visit with our family member. More designated parking for visitors came as a suggestion from the Council. By bouncing ideas off of each other, which is the core of the meetings; music therapy is being added, additional infrared heat lamps for shower room is being considered, and numerous small improvements have resulted. A typical meeting also includes an update of staffing, new equipment that has been received or discussion of needs, what staff is doing to improve the lives of the residents example: additional help during evening meals, and updates of reviews and surveys. Meetings lasting only an hour have resulted in improvements. NEEDED are more ideas, so please consider attending the next meeting in August. If you can t attend there is a new sign in and suggestion book in the Family Room where you can write to your heart s content and either sign so a Family Council member could contact you or you can remain anonymous. One member was given suggestions to bring to the May meeting by someone who was unable to attend. We need your input to know what we are missing and what you would like to see for your family members. Suggestions of time and date of meetings to accommodate more to join would be appreciated. Next big projects include a Gazebo and widening the sidewalks and adding something for shade outside the Family Room so residents can be outside more, our outside time is too short in MN and then sometimes too hot if there is no shade. Hope to see meet you at the next meeting, Pat Robb