The Boulevard Senior Living – Wentzville Shares a Note of Gratitude

Eight months have come and gone, and while it is not a “long” time, it has given me an opportunity to continue to grow and learn a different way of doing things. I am grateful for the freedom to meet new residents, families, and co-workers and I am grateful that a chance was taken on me. I have had the pleasure of witnessing not only individual growth of staff, but growth of the community. We have had great accomplishments and some failures, but we have learned from it all.

The Lutheran High School “Back to School” event was one of our biggest. It began a partnership that has paid off tremendously. Boulevard Senior Living – Wentzville was able to hire a student who quickly became a dedicated staff member. The residents now are invited to attend chapel services with the students. The residents have been able to share the motto “work hard, dream big, and never give up” with the students.

The Stone Creek Elementary after school program has given the residents the opportunity to have weekly intergenerational experiences with the students that involve crafts, games, and reading. Stone Creek has invited the residents to other events including Veterans Day and their fall parade.

Acts of service this year gave us many opportunities to work with organizations that were supported by our families and residents. Boulevard participated in the Kurt Warner Coat Drive, a food pantry drive, we worked with First Step “Back Home” to assist homeless men in our area, Our Lady’s Inn maternity homes to deliver much needed baby items, monthly Hope Seeds with Emmanuel Lutheran to assist with the nutrition of the poorest countries in the world, and prescription bottles were sent to the St. Louis Zoo to hold prescriptions for over 2,500 animals.

Like anything in life, you get what you give, and our staff have done a tremendous job of putting in the effort, even on mundane tasks. We talk frequently about shifting our mentality from a “have to” to a “get to” attitude. “I get to drive our residents for hours. I get to go to meetings and learn. I get to be further educated through training. I get to send monthly statements. I get to assess our residents’ needs.” Our mind set change has been everything this year and we get to see how blessed we are to have this job.

Loves Health Care has partnered with us to provide a monthly Blood Pressure Clinic for our independent living residents. The Medicine Shoppe has provided our annual COVID and Flu Vaccination Clinics. Premiere Home Health has collaborated with our Director of Wellness to provide continued education with the wellness staff. The education has included proper transfers, lifting techniques, and proper peri-care.

The local fire department has remained a key partner for our residents, and in turn the residents have provided the firefighters with BBQ and steak dinners to say thank you for their continued support and assistance to the Boulevard Wentzville.

2023 will bring more exciting strategies for staffing and stabilization, growing revenue, and improving customer service. The team will focus on completing any rollovers from 2022 in the CAPEX system during 2023. This includes the integration between Point Click Care and Foresite, and the 2022 landscaping plan will be finished as 2023 approaches. We are also excited to have a new Culinary Director starting soon!