WHAT BUILDS TRUST IN YOUR COMMUNITY?
OUR NONPROFIT LEGACY
160 YEARS OF NONPROFIT SERVICE, AND COUNTING.
You’ll find the pioneering spirit of yesterday in our forward-looking approach to providing, developing and operating living spaces and innovative services for older adults. Our history is deeply rooted in the Lutheran Church’s mission of reaching out in mercy and love to address the personal, social, economic and spiritual needs of individuals and their families.
Our sole purpose is to serve the people in our care. We continuously reinvest in efforts to push our mission forward.
An Evolution of Care
1862
Lutheran Conference Relief Program cares for refugees in Minnesota
1865
Vasa Children’s Home for orphans opens (later becomes Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota)
1900
Our first communities serving seniors are built in Mankato, Duluth and Detroit Lakes
1989
Hospice Care services begin in Litchfield as one of Minnesota’s first Hospice providers
2004
We are renamed Ecumen from the Greek word “home”, underscoring our mission to create home for older adults wherever they choose to live
2010
Launched a 5-year pilot program that reduced the use of psychotropic medications in dementia care by 97%, starting the broader use of our award-winning Awakenings™ program
2011
Opened physical location of The Ecumen Store (Mankato) to bring our residents and the local community easier access to durable and non-durable medical supplies that support independence
2016
Groundbreaking for our first boutique Cooperative Living Community, Zvago Glen Lake, created for adults age 55+ with active lifestyles
2020
Acquisition of Abxtracker, an antibiotic and infection control software, the first in a suite of technologies in development and designed to improve quality of life and outcomes for patients/residents
2022
Development and launch of the Peerlytics brand as a new home for our web-based software solutions, including Peerlytics Infection Management & ABX Stewardship (formerly Abxtracker)
MINNESOTA’S BEST WINNER
Minnesota's Best 2021
