Her Cup Runneth Over: Ecumen Detroit Lakes Chaplain Vicki Marthaler Retires After 19 Years
Nineteen years ago, Vicki Marthaler became the chaplain at Ecumen Detroit Lakes — not quite sure what she was getting into. As it turned out, she got deeply into people’s hearts and souls, and they returned the favor, giving her riches beyond her wildest dreams.
Ecumen Century Club: Happy 101st Birthday Anna Holst
Ecumen honors Anna Holst, a resident of St. Mark's Living in Austin, Minn., who is 101 today.
Top Five Blog Posts - September 15
In case you missed out on one of our most popular Changing Aging blog posts, here are the stories our online visitors found most interesting last week:
Ecumen Pedicab Provides New Lakeshore Ride in Duluth
Ecumen New Richland Housing Manager Christina Cauble Has a Passion for Creating Home
St. Croix Hospice Wins Annual Golf Outing, Helps Raise Money for Alzheimer's Care
The Gift of GAB to Young and Old at Ecumen Scenic Shores
To read more Changing Aging stories or to learn morea bout Ecumen, please visit ecumen.org.
St Croix Hospice Wins Annual Golf Outing, Helps Raise Money for Alzheimer's Care
Ecumen hosted its annual golf outing on Monday, Sept. 8, at Midland Hills Country Club in Roseville. Over 80 golfers came out to support Ecumen Awakenings, a nationally honored care approach that significantly reduces the “chemical restraints” and sedating medications often prescribed to people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Ecumen and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Form Partnership to Address Rural Senior Care Shortage
New nursing education partnership and workforce development partnership launched by Ecumen and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities supported by $1.9 million Margaret A. Cargill Foundation grant.
Ecumen New Richland Housing Manager Christina Cauble Has a Passion for Creating Home
Christina Cauble, the new housing manager at Ecumen New Richland, always knew healthcare was her calling. She just knew it. But the career tests she took in high school were not encouraging — nudging her more toward the business world. So Christina found a way to walk both paths.
Her job as housing manager at an assisted living community is tailor-made for someone with a passion for healthcare and an aptitude for business. She has responsibility for making sure every aspect of life at Ecumen New Richland is the highest quality — fulfilling Ecumen’s mission of creating home for older adults.
Healthcare careers run in Christina’s family. Her grandmother and her aunt were nurses, and her grandfather was a doctor. As a child, she was inspired when they talked about their work and always assumed her career would move in that direction. To this day, she keeps her grandfather’s stethoscope as a memento of the time she spent with him.
“I always knew that helping people was a driving factor for me,” Christina says. “Throughout high school when everyone was figuring out what careers they were going into, I knew mine would be something in healthcare.”
Christina went off to college as a nursing major — still haunted by those career tests and not quite sure nursing was the right choice. And, early on, she decided it wasn’t.
“Luckily, I found out my school, Concordia College ,was one of only a handful in Minnesota to have a healthcare administration program that combines healthcare with business,” Christina says. “I jumped into this program my second year and discovered that it was the perfect fit for me. I was able to put all of my business skills to work and stay in the healthcare field, which I was always so drawn to.”
At this point, Christina was sure she wanted to work in a hospital “where all the excitement happens.” But she also was doing course work in long-term care that required an internship in a nursing home.
“That changed my heart,” Christina says. “Coming away from the nursing home internship it was clear that the busyness of the hospital was not what I needed.”
She realized that what she needed was just the opposite of the fleeting interactions in acute care. She needed the deep relationships that can only be developed in a long-term care setting.
“I love that I can look out the window of my office and see our residents playing bingo, or decorating cookies and know that it is my privilege to work for them,” Christina says. “What drives me is a passion for connecting with others and helping provide the best home and best care possible to our seniors.”
Ecumen Pedicab Provides New Lakeshore Ride in Duluth
A new Ecumen Bike Cab hits the Lakewalk in Duluth
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Last Week's Top 5 Blog Posts - September 8
In case you missed out on one of our most popular Changing Aging blog posts, here are the topics our online visitors found most interesting last week.
Follow the links below to read these great stories:
The Gift of GAB to Young and Old at Ecumen Scenic Shores
A Train-Ride Wish Come Truee for 96-year-old Ecumen Bethany Community Resident Evangeline Lund
Ecumen Century Club: Happy 104th Birthday Betty Sampson
National Senior Living Publication Highlights Ecumen Awakenings Program
To read more Changing Aging blog posts or to learn more about Ecumen, please visit ecumen.org!
The Gift of GAB to Young and Old at Ecumen Scenic Shores
Michelle Carlson, the recreation director at Ecumen Scenic Shores in Two Harbors, Minn., kept hearing a common theme when she talked to residents: They wished they could be more active in the community.
This was especially true of the residents who are not Two Harbors natives. They said they would love to go to games at the high school, or be involved in other community activities. But they didn’t feel comfortable going alone.
Michelle had been working with the high school on other things, and she knew that high school kids also were looking for ways to be more involved and give back to the community.
She was also working with “Age to age,” a program supported by the Northland Foundation that funds a summer intern program to promote intergenerational relationships in the community, including sending interns to Ecumen Scenic Shores.
In meetings about the intern program, Michelle mentioned the desire of residents to go places and do things. Everybody started talking, one thought led to another, and in July a new program called GAB was born. GAB stands for Generations of Ages Bonding, and it’s designed to match high school students with Scenic Shores residents and accompany them to activities and events at the school and in the community — including art and music, as well as sports.
Michelle currently is in the process of explaining how GAB will work to each of the 43 residents individually. Her goal is to match every resident with a student who is eager to be part of the program. She says enthusiasm is high among students, teachers and residents.
When school starts this week, there will be a table for students to sign up and a student-produced video [see below] will be showing in classrooms to recruit volunteers. The first football game is in two weeks, and undoubtedly Scenic Shores residents will be cheering in the stands.
Plans also are underway to have quarterly events that gather all participants to celebrate, take stock and just get to know one another, Michelle says.
See the recruiting video below, urging prospective student volunteers to sign up and “learn from the most experienced generation in the community.”
A Train-Ride Wish Come True for 96-Year-Old Ecumen Bethany Community Resident Evangeline Lund
Ecumen Bethany Community resident Evangeline Lund waited 96 years to have her simple wish come true.