Ecumen Pathstone Announces Names and Details for Its New Independent Living Offering
Ecumen Pathstone Announces Names and Details for Its New Independent Living Offering
New complex, now offering full continuum of care, scheduled to open in February 2021.
Ecumen | Oct 7th 2020
MANKATO, Minn., Oct. 7, 2020 — Ecumen Pathstone today announced the names for its new Independent Living and Memory Care offerings, as well as the opening of its new sales office downtown. Celebrating its location on the 44th Parallel North, the Independent Living community will be called Latitude. The Memory Care community has been named Landing.
“We’re so delighted to be adding this service to our community, offering residents a full continuum of care, and welcoming new residents in February,” said Jennifer Pfeffer, regional operations director for Ecumen. “Construction is well underway and we’ve begun to take reservations at our new storefront sales office. We’re excited to meet our potential residents in this new space.” Sales office visits are by appointment only, and can be made by calling (507) 381-3255 or visiting ecumenpathstone.org/latitude.
The storefront sales office is located on 600 S. Riverfront Dr., Mankato, and also will house The Ecumen Store. The Ecumen Store’s hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday – Friday. “We wanted to have an off-campus place where we can safely invite our neighbors in to see floor plans, review artist renderings of the space, and ask questions,” Pfeffer said.
Latitude will feature Scandinavian-influenced architecture and furnishings, and the floor plans all named after other cities around the world that are on the 44th Parallel North. Other amenities in the community reflect that theme. The club room — Club 44 — includes a fireplace as well as pool and poker tables. Telescope Terrace overlooks the beautiful Minnesota River valley and bluffs. The Parallel fitness room, Cardinal Point learning center and Compass Corner activity room are among the many shared spaces for safe community and private gatherings. Ecumen Pathstone is near downtown, Sibley Park, and many trails.
“For some time, we’ve been asking what people in this community are looking for in terms of living spaces,” Pfeffer said. “What we’ve heard is that in addition to the location and amenities, people want to live in a welcoming community and in a place they trust — especially at this time. We’re so proud to have been part of this community for more than 80 years, and we look forward to serving even more people at Latitude.”
With the addition of Independent Living, the Pathstone community offers comprehensive care services, including Rehabilitation/Transitional Care, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Adult Day, Care Center, Home Care, and The Ecumen Store. Ecumen, one of the nation’s top nonprofit providers of housing and services for older adults, was founded in 1862 as a Lutheran social service agency and began serving the greater Mankato area in 1937 as the Mankato Lutheran Home.
Named one of six senior living providers to watch in 2020 by Senior Housing News and recipient of NRC Health Customer Approved Award, Ecumen’s mission is to continue serving more people in meaningful, innovative ways. Ecumen develops living spaces, home and community-based services and workspaces that reflect its commitment to exceptional care, advocacy for those it serves and employs, equality and inclusivity. Based in Shoreview, Minn., Ecumen operates nearly 100 properties and services in more than 40 communities in multiple states. Additionally, the company provides consulting services in management, marketing and development.
Lutheran Services in America names Ecumen a Front Line Hero
"We are honored to have been recognized as a Front Line Hero in our ongoing work to fight COVID-19 by Lutheran Services in America. Our caregivers' dedication to those we serve inspires us every day."
- President and CEO Shelley Kendrick
30 senior living organizations recognized for delivering ‘exceptional experiences’
30 senior living organizations recognized for delivering 'exceptional experiences'
Thirty senior living and care organizations have been recognized as winners in NRC Health’s second annual Employee Approved Awards and Customer Approved Awards, the healthcare consumer data and content company announced Tuesday. The awards, which were presented at the 26th Annual NRC Health Symposium, a virtual event this year, recognize organizations from across the country for “delivering exceptional customer and employee experiences.”
Customer Approved Awards were selected based on performance ratings from family and residents, and the awards also were based on net promoter scores, a measure of satisfaction, and a proxy measure for loyalty. Organizations with fewer than 10 eligible facilities were omitted from consideration. Systems were then rank-ordered, and the top 20 organizations were selected for each award category.
2020 Customer Approved winners
- National HealthCare Corp., Murfreesboro, TN
- American Medical Facilities Management, Charleston, WV
- Ascension Health, St. Louis
- Vetter Senior Living, Elkhorn, NE
- Lutheran SeniorLife, Mars, PA
- Schonberg Care, Metairie, LA
- Solaris Healthcare, Orlando, FL
- Berkshire Healthcare, Pittsfield, MA
- Americare Senior Living, Sikeston, MO
- Ecumen, Shoreview, MN
- American Senior Communities, Indianapolis, IN
- Diversicare Healthcare Services, Brentwood, TN
- HCR ManorCare Assisted Living Facility Division, Toledo, OH
- Twin Rivers Health & Rehabilitation, Cleveland, TN
- Covenant Health Systems, Tewksbury, MA
- Providence Health and Services, Renton, WA
- Lutheran Services Carolinas, Salisbury, NC
- Trinity Health Continuing Care, Livonia, MI
- Ethica, Gray, GA
- The Goodman Group, Chaska, MN
Ways To Keep Senior Residents Engaged, Connected During COVID-19
Ecumen Lakeshore gets creative to offer outdoor visits
Shelley Kendrick, president and CEO of Ecumen, shares some ideas (2:59). WCCO Mid-Morning – July 17, 2020
TASHA SAENGO
TASHA SAENGO
Philanthropy Manager
Tasha is awesome. Let me tell you all about her … wait, I can’t — there’s just not enough time in the day to tell you all the awesome things about her. 🙂
Families Enjoy Critical Connection With Loved Ones in LTC Centers
Ecumen Lakeshore gets creative to offer outdoor visits
Ecumen Lakeshore Gets Creative to Offer Outdoor Visits
Ecumen Lakeshore gets creative to offer outdoor visits
The Minnesota Department of Health recently released guidelines allowing one designated “essential caregiver” to enter the long-term facility in order to help with care.
Before long-term care facilities began restricting visitors back in March to keep the new coronavirus at bay, Tim Gilberg of Duluth would join his 89-year-old father nearly every evening for dinner at Ecumen Lakeshore’s assisted living facility.
After work, he’d hop in his vehicle and make the drive from Verso paper mill to the large campus across town on London Road to share a meal with his father, Derry Gilberg.
“Some people thought I lived here,” Tim said. “It worked out well for me. I didn’t have to go home, cook and do the dishes. I got to visit with everybody, all the workers and the residents.”
More than 100 days have passed since the father and son have been able carry out their routines: going for drives together on Saturday mornings, stopping for a bite to eat at Tappa Keg Inn.
“That was a big change for me,” Tim said. “I always enjoy coming to pick him up and take him for a ride. Now I can’t.”
His father, Derry, added: “I looked forward to going fishing and going to breakfast.”
It wasn’t until Father’s Day that the two were allowed to sit down together — face mask to face mask — outside following the Minnesota Department of Health’s release of guidelines on offering outdoor visits between long-term care facility residents and their loved ones. Before that the two stayed in touch through multiple phone calls a day and waves through the window.
On Friday, the health department released additional guidelines that would allow residents of long-term care facilities to be designated one “essential caregiver.” Those assigned individuals will be able to enter the buildings and assist with daily care needs. Facilities like Ecumen Lakeshore have until July 25 to review the guidelines and draft their own plans.
Those caregivers will need to wear eye and face coverings. For some residents, especially those with hearing impairments, communicating from behind masks poses real challenges. Which is why there are now two three-sided Plexiglas booths outside Ecumen that residents can sit in to safely visit family and friends without having to wear a face covering.
From behind a Plexiglas wall, Derry was able to visit unmasked with his son Saturday, and being able to read lips and facial expressions helped.
“Otherwise it’s just mouth mush,” Derry said.
“It’s better than nothing,” Tim said of the outdoor visits he has to schedule in advance online. He estimated the two have visited about eight times since allowed.
Jena Evans, community relations manager for Ecumen Lakeshore, said the visitation booths are especially popular among residents with dementia. Overall, the campus’ memory care residents see the highest number of visitors.
“Connections are important for everybody, for any age, any ability or disability, but for our memory care (residents) they’re incredibly important just for their overall happiness,” Evans said “We see that they’re just overall happier when they have familiar people from their life.”
Under the health department’s latest new guidelines Evans said not all residents will be assigned an essential caregiver who will be allowed to enter the building. Since those guidelines only allow for one visitor, she said the Plexiglas stations provide a way for residents, especially those who have difficulty wearing a mask, to see more than just one family member.
“Having this broad range of choices helps to extend the opportunities for our residents to have these meaningful connections,” Evans said.
Following the recent steps toward allowing outdoor visits, beginning this week, assisted living residents at Ecumen Lakeshore will be able to join in group activities and eat together in the dining room for the first time in months with physical distancing emphasized.
Shelley Kendrick Joins Select Thought Leaders on the International Council on Active Aging's COVID-19 Senior Living Task Force
Shelley Kendrick joins select thought leaders and prominent industry associations from across North America on the International Council on Active Aging's (ICAA) COVID-19 Senior Living Task Force. With a focus on the health, safety, and quality of life of residents and staff, the Task Force will develop, in conjunction with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), guidance for senior living organizations as they plan when and how they will safely reopen. Shelley said, "I was honored to be asked to join this task force and help find solutions to assist those we serve during and after COVID."
Ecumen Named Among 6 Senior Living Providers to Watch in 2020
Ecumen: Leading the way in nonprofit innovation
February 3, 2020 | Published by Senior Housing News | Article by Chuck Sudo
Although nonprofit senior living providers have shown an appetite for growth through affiliation in recent years, they have lost market share to their for-profit counterparts, who have greater willingness to assume risk for the sake of growth and innovation.
One exception to the rule is Ecumen, which has embraced several of the strategies for-profits have used to build scale. The Shoreview, Minnesota-based provider has a portfolio of 30 communities in eight states totaling 2,109 units and ranked 33rd on the 2019 LZ 200 list of top nonprofit providers. More important, Ecumen has transformed .... [Click here to view the full article]