“Maria has nothing but praise for Bethesda. She calls the staff “her family” and the nurses treat her as though she were family. They know her needs – and ours. At Bethesda, she is happy, healthy and taken care of.” – Tara, Granddaughter of a Bethesda Resident
When a loved one moves into an assisted living facility or long-term skilled nursing care or requires short-stay therapy services or home health care, it impacts the entire family. At Bethesda, we understand that transitions can be hard, which is why we strive to make the transition from a previous living environment to life at Bethesda as easy and enjoyable as possible. Once an individual has made the choice to move onto the Bethesda campus, we often hear things like “If anyone had told me I could go to a place like this and have such a great experience, I wouldn’t have believed it!”
Bethesda is a community within the community of Willmar and is a great place to call home. The family members of those who reside here also become a part of our community. They get to know the friends their loved ones make. They get to have the opportunity of learning from the wealth of knowledge and life experiences that live in these buildings.
Jon Saunders, Chair of the Bethesda Family Capital Campaign Division shares, “My mom lived in the Sunrise Village independent living apartments on the Bethesda campus. She wasn’t sure she wanted to leave her home before moving in, but once she was here and made friends, all she kept telling me was that she wished she had moved here five years earlier!” Saunders is a Partner at Anderson, Larson, Saunders & Klaassen, a full-service, multidiscipline law firm in Willmar. Jon and his wife, Linda, have three children and reside in Willmar. The Bethesda Family Division is hard at work, holding biweekly meetings for Bethesda’s “Investing in a Healthy Future” capital campaign. Jon has recruited a great team to work alongside him raising funds to benefit those served at Bethesda. Each of the committee members working in the Family Division currently has or have had family members who lived on the Bethesda campus.
“I am helping raise funds for the “Healthy Future” campaign, because I’m familiar with the difficulty some seniors experience in transitioning from the independence of their own home to the care needed in a long-term care facility.” shared committee member Sherri Pool. She continued, “I’m involved because I want to help build on the rich history and many strengths of Bethesda while making improvements that can help make the transition easier. Providing quality, affordable care for the current residents, as well as future generations, is a vision I’m happy to be involved with.” Sherri is a retired teacher who spent her career teaching at Central Minnesota Christian School in Prinsburg. She and her husband Ron have two children, six grandchildren and reside in Roseland. Sherri’s mom is a current resident at Bethesda’s Pleasant View campus.
“As a past board member of the Bethesda Foundation and the Bethesda Board of Directors and someone who has had many family members reside at Bethesda over the years, it is my pleasure to help raise funds for those who currently reside at Bethesda and for those who will reside here in the future,” shared Audrey Nelsen, who is a Certified Preplanning Consultant at Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar. “My mom personally experienced the full continuum of care offered at Bethesda through Home Health Care services, the Adult Daybreak program and when her health needs changed, as a resident of the Pleasant View campus.” Audrey and her husband, Paul, reside in Willmar and have three children. She is an active member of Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar and is active in the community, serving on the Willmar City Council.
It takes a community coming together to provide the wide ranges of services available to those who reside in Kandiyohi County and the surrounding area. Bethesda is happy to be a part of this community and is thankful to the Bethesda Family Division for sharing their time and talents to help raise funds for those served by Bethesda. If you are interested in getting involved in the Family Division, please contact Stefanie Ryan, Bethesda Foundation Development Director at [email protected] or 320-214-5600.
