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S P E C T R U M H E A L T H C O M P A N I E S

Proudly serving the communities of Babbitt, Brainerd, Burnsville, Cook, Duluth, Ely, Eveleth, Grand Rapids, Metro/Faribault, Orr, Rochester, St. Cloud, Silver Bay and Willmar.

Mesabi Daily News, Staff Report

ORR — Spectrum Health Companies celebrated an open house of its eighth Carefree Living memory care assisted living community on March 7 in Orr.

The event was attended by several guests, city officials, representatives of the IRRRB, local collaborators and excited residents.

“Spectrum Health Companies is very excited about opening up our Orr facili-ty,” said Merle Sampson, owner. “We have received an extraordinary re-sponse from the community, and we look forward to demonstrating our com-mitment to service and raising the bar in memory care and assisted living.”

The $4.1 million facility includes 20 assisted living suites and 9 memory care apartments with the abil-ity to serve 32 residents. The first residents are scheduled to move in March 17.

Carefree Living of Orr offers a welcomed approach to assisted living and memory care. “Many fam-ilies caring for a loved one with memory impairments often need help but postpone assisted living due to the limited options available,” said Robin Pliml, Executive Director of Cook, currently over-seeing the Orr facility. “I am excited to be part of a community that offers these families the help

they need and in a setting and manner they can feel good about.”

The state-of-the-art facility recognizes that social interaction is a vital part of overall good health. Residents are encouraged to participate in a wide range of social, recreational and spiritual activities to enhance their quality of life.

“Not freezing rain, sleet, nor snow could keep the attendees away from seeing the finished product during our open house. We thank the residents of Orr for welcoming us with open minds, encouraging words and the confidence in us to move their loved ones into our newest facility,” said Kris Neff, V.P. of Northern Operations.

Spotlight on Silver Bay CFL…

Residents Celebrate 70th Wedding Anniversary

Reuben and Evelyn Emberson celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on March 16, 2014. They have resided at CFL Silver Bay since December of 2012. When I sat down to talk to them, the first thing Evelyn said was "this is a marriage that was never supposed to last!" Apparently neither one of their mothers were happy about the two of them getting married. Reu-ben's mother did not want him to marry Evelyn because of her name and the fact that two of his brothers had married "Evelyns" and both of those marriages ended in divorce! Evelyn's mother said she was too young! Their story is they "met in a snowbank!" Apparently Evelyn was dating someone else at the time. They wanted to go tobogganing so they invited another girl who had the toboggan to go along with them. Then they realized they didn't have a means of transportation - and invited Reuben to go along also because he had the car! It was "love at first sight" - Evelyn and Reuben have been together ever since. They had three children, one of whom has passed away. Today they are active in the local community and in their church. We are very blessed to have them here at Carefree Living! Submitted by Sue Spies, Assisted Living Manager

Last month I talked about our mis-sion statement and your role in meet-ing and exceeding customer expecta-tions. In addition to our mission, Core Values are guiding principles which further drive our ability to meet and exceed expectations: Integrity, Commitment, and Excellence. By aligning our mission and values, we will succeed in being the best provid-er of services throughout Minnesota. With our aging population, there is a growing need for the kind of services we provide. That’s the good news. The bad news however is that with shrinking household incomes and reimbursements from county, state and federal sources being reduced, because of budget short falls, we are still receiving less money for the same or more services! To survive as an organization we need to seek additional revenue sources (new customers) as well as closely manage our expenses. On the housing side of our business we opened our newest facility in Orr on March 17th. We are in the planning stages for a new facility in Aurora, MN, which we hope to open in December. By meeting the needs of seniors in these com-munities (and where there are little to no services and com-petition today) we are adding additional revenue. As an organization, we are continually seeking out ways to diversify our services to meet the needs of our customers today and in the future. We continue to offer a resident and client referral bonus to employees who refer services to our homecare or housing entities. Please speak with your super-visor. Thank you for your contributions and dedication to those we serve.

Merle

Merle Sampson

H o r i z o n s — P a g e 2

MESSAGE FROM THE OWNER / CEO

Ely CFL Sarah Moldenhauer

Peggy Kainz

St. Cloud CFL Leslie Rogers

Autumn Reischel Haley Dousette

Silver Bay CFL Matthew Lee

Brainerd CFL Briana Stephens

Jessica Heidelberger

Burnsville CFL Jennifer Litchke

Babbitt CFL

Alexandra Hebl

Ely HC Jade Mather

“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably

integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no

matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field,

in an army, or in an office.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

H o r i z o n s — P a g e 3

from www.autism-society.org

ASD is the fastest growing developmental disability with an average 17% growth rate per year. One person is diagnosed with ASD every 20 minutes. ASDs are reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Changes in screening processes over the years have led to an in-crease in screening toddlers for ASD, resulting in a 12-18% increase in diagnosis of ASD for children by the age of three. Individuals with ASD are unique. Each person has strengths and areas of need and no two people with ASD are alike. Coexisting conditions often are associated with ASD. People with ASD have different reactions to their sensory environ-ment than their neurotypical peers—over 87% of people with ASD have

a heightened sensory response to touch, 87% to sound and 86% to visual stimuli. ASD costs the nation over $137 billion per year, a figure expected to significantly increase in the next decade. Individuals with ASD over a lifetime experience violent crime at a higher rate. During school years, 40 percent of

children with autism and 60 percent of children with Asperger’s syndrome have experienced bullying. Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims.

Individuals with ASD and their families are not alone! Since 1965, the Autism Society is the nation’s largest and oldest grassroots autism organization helping countless individuals and families through a network of over 100 local and state affiliates. Spread the word! For more information and the citations, visit autism-society.org/naam2014

IT changes are confusing, exhausting and sometimes… downright painful. That be-ing said, Spectrum is continuously reviewing IT related initiatives to ensure that, as a company, we are equipped with programs that will make daily tasks as efficient as possible. In March, we switched email providers from Rackspace to Outlook. Outlook is host-ed by Office 365 which also gives us the opportunity to release a new employee in-tranet and collaboration platform via SharePoint. Expect to see this available some-time in April. Training will be available via webinar, more details to come.

Over the next few months I will be giving you helpful “tips and tricks” to make these changes a little bit easier…

Brittany’s

How to Change the Appearance of Outlook

1. Log in to Outlook 2. Click the gear in the upper right corner next to your name 3. From the menu, choose Change theme 4. There are several preloaded themes available, click the theme you would like to use 5. You can also change the display of your email by choosing Display settings from the same menu

How to Delete Auto-Saved Contacts

1. Create a new email message in Outlook 2. Start typing the name or address you want to remove 3. Use the down arrow key to highlight the desired (undesired) entry 4.Click red X or press Del key to remove contact from list

Visit help.outlook.com for more Outlook assistance

H o r i z o n s — P a g e 4

SPECTRUM

(S)MILES UPDATE Congratulations to: Glenda Aijala, Theresa Archer, Mary

Bildeaux, Rae Ann Debeltz, Jordan Goedday, Erica

Gorecki, Julie Hogan, Nicole Kappes, Michelle Kos-

nitch, Tammy LaSart, Jan Mahoney, Deb Maki,

Eunice Przubylski, Nicole Shusta, Wendy Varey,

Cheryl Zillmer, Deb Zillmer and Shannon Zupancich who received recognition from their supervisors or co-workers for going above and beyond their day-to-day duties. These individuals will receive points that can be applied towards Spectrum merchan-dise shown in the Spectrum (S)Miles catalog. To recognize someone for their outstanding contributions, request a Spectrum (S)Miles recognition form from your branch office or obtain one from a desig-nated location. Hundreds of (S) Miles have been given to deserving Spectrum employees since the program began in 2010.

Would you like to receive our newsletter via email? Sign up by emailing: humanresources@spectrumchealth.com

Period Ending March 31, 2014

Lost Time Accidents…………………………………..0 Injury-Related Days Lost this Month……………......0 Injury-Related Days Lost 2014……………...…........0 Minor injuries Reported 2014………………..……….10

Please work safely! Lost-time injuries drive up our cost of providing quality care.

humanresources@spectrumchealth.com

DISCOUNT WITH RASMUSSEN COLLEGE

EXTENDED TO FAMILY MEMBERS In addition to the new employee tuition discount program, Rasmussen recently extended the offer to family members for the 2014 Spring semester (spouses, domestic partners, children and step children). Visit www.rasmussen.edu/familydiscount for more information.

St. Cloud CFL Collects Donations For Epilepsy Foundation Submitted by Linda Corrigan, Assisted Living Manager

Spring is finally here (kind of)! St. Cloud CFL is asking residents and staff to clean up and donate anything you no longer wear or need. All items will be donated to the Epilepsy Foundation in memory of Amanda Roos, a former resident and volunteer at Carefree Living. The Epilepsy Foundation is funded by donations and they get paid by the pound for clothing and small household items. Let’s try to raise a ton for the Epilepsy Foundation! Housekeeping will be happy to supply you

with a bag for your donations and a donation box will be available in the lobby on first floor.

Great fundraising idea St. Cloud CFL! If any other sites would like to hold a similar fundraiser, please visit www.epilepsyfoundationmn.org for details.