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
Music and Memories on the Jukebox at Ecumen Pathstone Living
A special jukebox brings back memories at Ecumen Pathstone Living.
Pelican Valley Health Center Plans To Add Memory Care Services
The Pelican Valley Health Center, managed by Ecumen, is expanding its services to include a memory care community that will offer specialized care for residents with memory impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
The center’s Board of Directors has authorized bids to remodel the Riverfront Manor assisted living building and convert the top floor into 10 memory care apartments. Barbara Garrity, executive director of the center, said she expects the work to be done in four to six months.
The new memory care community will offer private apartments in specially-designed surroundings to keep residents safe and secure and under skilled 24-hour supervision. Additionally, residents in memory care will have daily activities to help retain cognitive and physical abilities, as well as special attention to complications typically associated with dementia.
The ground floor of Riverfront Manor will continue to be assisted living apartments, and the top floor will become the secure memory care unit. The remodeling also will open up more ground-floor space for community activities.
In addition to assisted living, Pelican Valley Health Center also offers long-term skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilitation and respite care.
Baby Boomers and Home Sharing
Home sharing becoming more popular for boomers and seniors, particularly women.
At Ecumen Lakeshore Music Accompanies Memory Care to Keep the Past Alive for Those With Dementia
The ability of music to unlock memories for those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is well documented. The memory care program at Ecumen Lakeshore in Duluth uses music therapy to reconnect residents to their past and to lift their spirits. Reporter Jennifer Austin of the Northland’s Newscenter (KBJR) in Duluth visited a therapy session and offers the video report posted here showing how Ecumen’s Rita Walker and Melanie Smith use music to help residents remember.
Annual Conference for People With Dementia and Their Caregivers Set for March 1
The annual “Meeting of the Minds Dementia Conference” will be held March 1, 2014 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Saint Paul River Center to inform and support people with dementia along with their family and friends and professional caregivers.
Ecumen’s Maria Reyes, a quality improvement nurse who champions the Ecumen Awakenings™ program, will be on a panel discussing how reducing the use of antipsychotic medications in long-term care improves lives. Ecumen Awakenings is a pioneering approach to dementia care that emphasizes honoring the individual, using non-pharmacological and biomedical techniques, and establishing collaborative care that involves patients, physicians, care professionals, pharmacists and loved ones.
The Meeting of the Minds is organized by the Alzheimer's Association Minnesota-North Dakota Chapter and the Mayo Clinic. Every year more than a 1,000 participants come together to hear national, regional and local presenters provide education and information on Alzheimer’s and other dementias, including strategies for caregiving, legal and financial planning, and cutting-edge research.
People with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia are encouraged to attend the conference, along with care partners, family and friends. Recognized experts will conduct breakout sessions on a wide range of topics and exhibitors will provide information on dementia-related products and services.
For registration details and fees and full information on the conference and session topics, go to the Alzheimer’s Association’s conference website.
In addition to the almost 30 breakout sessions, the following presenters will be keynote speakers:
- Alexander "Sandy" Halperin, DDS, was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer's at age 60. He was relieved to have validation for the cognitive problems that were affecting his professional and personal life. Dr. Halperin has chosen to not allow the disease to define him. He advocates that dignity, respect and inclusion are gifts worthy to each person, with or without a diagnosis.
- Bruce L. Miller, M.D., is a professor of neurology at the University of California-San Francisco and directs the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC). He has a special interest in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and has discovered a subset of patients in whom visual or musical creativity emerges despite the progression of language and social impairment. In other words, when one part of the brain is compromised it may be possible for another part to become stronger.
- Henry Emmons, M.D., is a psychiatrist who integrates mind-body practices and compassion into his clinical work. His teachings and programs combine movement, nutrition, natural therapies and mindfulness to help restore resilience and rediscover joy.
Ecumen, which has 25 memory care communities in five states, is a sponsor of the Meeting of Minds Conference. We invite you to stop by our booth.
Opening This Summer and Now Taking Reservations: Rose Senior Living— Clinton Township, Mich., Managed by Ecumen
Ecumen’s second senior living development project in partnership with Edward Rose & Sons is well underway in Clinton Township, Mich., and is on schedule for a mid-summer 2014 opening.
Ecumen is providing development services and has the management contract to operate the property when it opens. Ecumen and Edward Rose & Sons currently are working together at Heritage at Irene Woods in Memphis, Tenn., which opened in August 2013. Ecumen manages that property for Edward Rose.
Rose Senior Living-Clinton Township, adjacent to the Partridge Creek Mall, is more than 188,000 square feet and offers 178 units of senior living apartment homes including independent living, assisted living and secure memory care. The community will be connected to outdoor gardens and walking trails with easy access to Partridge Creek Mall and other local amenities.
Other features of the new community include three dining venues, concierge services, an arboretum, library and media room, club lounge, fitness and wellness studio, movie theater and chapel.
Building construction is mostly complete, and interior work is progressing on schedule. About 100 full- and part-time new jobs will be created in the area when Rose Senior Living is open.
Edward Rose & Sons, headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., entered the senior housing market with the Heritage at Irene Woods development. The company also owns and operates non-age restricted apartments in Alabama, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin, including The Harbours, also located in Clinton Township.
This is Ecumen’s first managed community in Michigan. Ecumen, based in Shoreview, Minn., is one of the nation’s top 20 largest non-profit providers of senior housing and aging services. Ecumen operates in 37 cities in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Idaho and Tennessee, providing a variety of senior housing options and services including independent living, assisted living and long-term care communities as well as at-home and community-based services.
Rose Senior Living — Clinton Township is now taking reservations. For more information, go to the Rose Senior Living website or call 855-856-3819 or email clintontwpinfo@roseseniorliving.com.
An Unshaggy Dog Story Unfolds at Ecumen Lakeview Commons
Fred had hit bottom. He was homeless and malnourished, living in a godforsaken shelter somewhere in Arkansas. His body was covered in sores, and his teeth were falling out. But even in this depth of despair, there was something about his spirit.
You could look through his eyes right into his beautiful soul. And that’s what saved his life. A stranger saw who he was on the inside and rescued him from certain death.
Now things are getting back to normal. Fred came to Minnesota and found a home with a woman who loves him dearly, and he is ready to give back to others who need support.
Today he went to visit a resident at Ecumen Lakeview Commons in Maplewood, Minn., who is in the last days of her life. He crawled up on the bed and let her know he was there for her.
Fred is an 11-pound, 8-year-old hairy albino Japanese Chin — a breed of dog cultivated by Japanese and Chinese nobility — specifically to live in the lap of luxury. He’s come a long way on his three-month journey from misery to bliss, and now has his own page on Facebook: [Furless Fred a Happy Tail].
Back in October, a rescuer from the Midwest Animal Rescue & Services had gone to a high-kill shelter in Arkansas to pick up a load of larger dogs and bring them back to Minnesota for adoption. As she was leaving, she saw Fred. He was wretched. He had mange, a yeast infection, a bacterial infection, an ear infection and bad teeth.
But that face… She just couldn’t leave him behind.
When Fred got to Minnesota, he settled into a foster home and was put up for adoption. The Facebook page was created to raise money for his considerable medical bills and to find him a home. He got plenty of attention, and people started donating doggie clothes to protect his ravaged body from the Minnesota cold. Fred, who by now was nicknamed “Furless Fred,” loved his new wardrobe and shamelessly mugged for the camera on his Facebook page.
Glory Hill, the housing manager at Ecumen Lakeview Commons, heard about him and went to take an in-person look. “When I first saw him, I fell in love with his face,” she recalls. At that point, he was a hairless, disease-ridden mess. But there was something about him.
That face. “I just couldn’t get him out of my mind,” Glory says. She didn’t adopt him on the spot. She wanted to think about it. And it was all she could think about until she went back and signed the papers.
Now Fred comes to work with Glory and has a good job at the Ecumen assisted living and memory care community. He’s totally off the meds, and his hair is growing back nicely— except on his tail.
Fred’s main job is to make people happy, and he is exceptionally good at it. He’s a champion snuggler. Residents often pop into Glory’s office and say things like: “If it’s OK, I’m going to watch Fred today while you’re at lunch.”
Chins are bred to be easy-going companion dogs. Glory speculates that Fred was somebody’s very special dog before he fell on hard times. He definitely has companionship down. Only a truly evil person could walk away and leave him, so maybe he was stolen and then abandoned.
Whatever happened in the past, it’s surely behind him. Everybody is his friend, and nothing much upsets him. He enjoys going out in the lobby and sitting with all the folks who want to hold him. When Glory picks up his special blanket — the one he was wrapped in after his rescue — he knows it’s time to go to work.
But there is one little complication — another dog at Ecumen Lakeview Commons, named Bauer, who was here first.
Bauer, also a rescue dog, is a Border Collie-Australian Shepard mix, who belongs to Jen Rassmussen, the recreation therapy director. Bauer has his routine of walking around to visit his special friends. Maybe he’ll crawl in bed with someone and take a nap, or maybe he’ll chase a ball if somebody wants to throw it.
Bauer is a herding dog with lots of energy. Sometimes too much. Today he got kicked out of exercise class for being too rowdy. Whatever. He just went to memory care, where the recreational therapy group was falling asleep. Bauer lit up the room.
So Bauer and Fred are slowly checking each other out, literally circling each other when they are together. The staff is committed to making sure that both of these guys fit in.
They both have defined responsibilities, commensurate with their skills. Fred is an accomplished lap dog with superior cuddling ability, and Bauer is an expert on fun with an exceptional talent for frolicking.
It works: two rescue dogs, pleased to be working here at Ecumen Lakeview Commons, taking care of their people.
