From the Administrator's Desk

Finally, summer is upon us! What a wet and soggy spring we had! I’m glad that we can start getting outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. We just sent out our Resident/Family Satisfaction Surveys for the year. Please take the time to fill those out; they are extremely important to us and let us know how we are performing. 95% of the people surveyed last year were overall satisfied with the care delivered by our staff. Our quality measures continue to rank us in the top 5% of all nursing facilities in South Dakota and we have also been a 5-STAR facility for the past six years. 

Jaclyn Boldt has been selected as our new Certified Dietary Manager (CDM). She has previous nursing facility experience in that role and has been a part of the health system for the past few years. Welcome to the team, Jaclyn! Joyce Perry was our previous CDM and has now stepped into a cook role. I want to thank Joyce for her service in the CDM role. 

Nursing home closures continue to plague the industry. This is a very sad reality that is having a big effect in South Dakota towns and cities. Our hearts go out to those residents and families that have been affected by the closures. The Medicaid rate has seen a 10% increase this past year, but it is still well under what is needed for many facilities to sustain operations. I hope that the state maintains its focus on nursing facilities and health care in general or we may continue to see more closures in the not so distant future. 
I hope to see all of you at our Family Picnic in August. Enjoy your summer!

Sincerely,

Jason Hanssen, LNHA
Administrator