(The following is taken from the most recent Fairview Haven Jan./Feb. newsletter by Administrator Dave Blunier)
Greetings from Dave’s Desk! As we make preparations for the Christmas holiday, to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, we are reminded that though this humble little babe had such a meek and lowly entrance to this earth, His impact still radiates today!
It is because of this little babe that our mission even exists today. May we never lose sight of our core value: “We value the Holy Scriptures and God’s Spirit among us and will try to uphold them and support their presence in our daily lives. We recognize that we have a blessed privilege to serve our brethren and friends in their home.”
I could spend my space in this newsletter reflecting upon the past year and the manifold blessings of God that Fairview Haven has experienced. Reflection so that we can worship and praise God is good and certainly we have much for which to be thankful! For example, just in the past week, Fairview Haven was promoted on the CMS Nursing Home Compare website to a five-star facility in every area.
Like 152 of the 723 nursing homes in Illinois, Fairview Haven has had an overall rating of five-star for a long time. This new ranking puts us in comparison with only 22 of those 723 nursing homes which means we are in the top 3% of the best nursing homes in Illinois! This speaks volumes about the people who care for the loved ones here every day. Nobody is perfect, but our team truly cares about the residents they serve.
As the administrator of this great ministry, I am proud (in a humble way J) of our team and the great effort they put forth to get this ranking! With that thought, I would like to look to the future. The board and administration of Fairview Haven remains committed to strategizing for the future of care at Fairview Haven.
We are blessed to have Serenity Villa, our state-of-the-art memory support home off the ground and running. This home has provided a haven to 32 seniors since its opening in August 2018. While it can be a difficult transition for loved ones and family members, I believe almost everyone who has made that transition looks back with no regrets. The environment our team is creating there is absolutely amazing!
The board and administration has taken the next step towards creating home care services for seniors within our community. We have created a temporary position, Director of Senior Services, which will be used to continue our commitment to enhance assisted living, as well as spend time developing a business plan for a home care agency.
Surveys have been mailed to attendees of our sponsoring church congregations and research is being conducted into the feasibility of developing such an agency. If things continue to progress, we could possibly be ready to offer home care services as early as July 2020. Please pray that if this is to be a part of the ministry of Fairview Haven, that God will open doors. Likewise, if it isn’t His will, that He will close doors. God has been working already in that He has placed a desire in the heart of our current Director of Nursing, Lila Fehr, to transition to this new position of Director of Senior Services.
While it was with great hesitancy that I surrendered to this transition, two primary factors helped me to accept it. One: Lila will not be wasting her talents or sharing them with another organization, but will continue to use her passion in this ministry at Fairview Haven. Two: We have an Assistant Director of Nursing, Brandon Stoller, that I have full confidence is ready for the challenge of his new role as Director of Nursing. While the final transition of title will not occur until March, I know that both Brandon and Lila would covet your prayers as they both begin to work and learn their new roles at Fairview Haven.
The Director of Nursing of a skilled nursing facility is a wearisome role that requires a lot of commitment and determination. It cannot be done (at least not well) without prayer and support. Please as you pray for our residents and team at Fairview Haven, pray specifically for Brandon in his role! This leads us then to an opening in the Assistant Director of Nursing role.
This also is an important role at Fairview Haven as this person supports the Director of Nursing and helps lead the nursing team at Fairview Haven. While the person must be a nurse (preferably an RN or close to being an RN), the right candidate will have a passion for seniors and a commitment to the ministry of Fairview Haven. If you’re reading this and you are a nurse or you know a nurse that could meet that qualification, I would ask you to prayerfully consider this position. There are many more glamorous jobs out there, but nothing is better than being in the center of God’s will and serving people in ministry.
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