All About Immanuel

The New Year here at Lakeside Village has gotten off to an exciting start with events, milestones and new initiatives that our residents and staff are excited about.  This has led to the creation of our “Lakeside Top Ten List”.  We’d like to share it with you.

#10 : The two new coyote decoys that have been placed around our campus to deter the abundance of Canadian Geese from “depositing” their excess!  Though we love to look at the beautiful geese, their deposits are not so welcome.  In an attempt to ward them off, our clever grounds crew placed two very realistic looking decoys around the grounds.  The coyote decoys are moved weekly, so as to outsmart these clever birds.  (So far, we have seen limited success.)  The coyotes are realistic enough to scare a few of our residents’ dogs and Executive Director, Mark Carlson, when he found one in his office last week!

#9   Nine is now the total number of raised garden beds that have been installed just outside our Wellness Center.  These beds are the perfect height for easy access to non-bending gardening.  In addition, we continue to have additional garden beds that provide easy “top-o-the-hill” access.  The garden beds allow our residents to enjoy the “fruits of their labors”.

#8   Lakeside staff cooked up a storm on February 21^st at our Second Annual Staff Chili/Soup Cook-Off.  Several staff brought in their favorite chili or soups to be taste tested and rated by hungry staff members.  Congratulations go out to cook-off winners, Alicia DeLuna from Housekeeping in 3rd place, Tanya Lager from Wellness in 2^nd place and taking the top spot in first place, Chris Buffington from Maintenance.  The three winners were awarded a chef’s apron, hot pad glove and, most importantly, bragging rights for next year!

#7   In addition to supporting and caring for our residents, our staff has several opportunities throughout the year to care for others.  This is evident at our monthly Denim for Dollars events.  Most recently, the above mentioned Chili/Soup Cook-Off afforded the opportunity for staffers to wear their denim and contribute to the contest.  More than $120 was raised, which will go to Immanuel’s Helping Hands Employee Assistance Fund.

#6   Love was in the air at our Annual Valentine’s Day Dinner & Dance held February, 14^th.  A ‘love’ly dinner was served to all of our residents and their guests.  Dinner was followed by the music of Lenny G’s eight piece band playing Valentine favorites.  The beautifully decorated lounge was attended by over 100 residents who filled the dance floor throughout the evening.

#5   The Lighthouse Healthcare Residences at Lakeside Village has recently been named one of the best nursing homes in Nebraska, receiving five out of a possible five stars from U.S. News & World Report.  The publication released its annual Best Nursing Homes ratings, which offer important guidance to families and healthcare providers caring for people in need.  The Lighthouse is our long-term care and rehabilitation wing which is operated by Alegent Health in partnership with Lakeside Village. 

#4  Behind the scenes and quietly “off camera” are the two new PTZ (Point-Tilt-Zoom) security cameras that were recently installed at Lakeside.  These cameras are designed to change targets based on movement.  This, along with the new video equipment to monitor 16 different zones, allows for increased security at all the right spots.

#3  Three destinations, six loving hearts, 12 busy hands and countless children blessed gives you a snapshot of our Busy Hands Knitting Group.  This group was initiated through the dedication of one committed resident and Pastor Shari.  Before long several other ladies joined her, and in a very short time they have made and donated over 50 caps, mittens and scarves to needy infants and children throughout the area.  As these ladies meet each week around the fireplace with needles in hand, they enjoy the warmth of the fire, fellowship and also the blessing of knowing they are giving to others in need.  Warm hearts and warm hands make for this double blessing.

#2   Arriving at number two (I suppose you could think #1) is our First Place award for 2012 Best of Omaha in the Retirement Communities category.  Our “Best Dinner for the Best of Omaha Residents” featured a celebratory dinner on February 29^th with a special menu, dinner music and staff from the home office serving.

#1 Topping our list is the accomplishment of 100% occupancy in independent living, assisted living and memory support for 108 consecutive days!  That’s a record for Lakeside and a great cause for celebration!  At 100 days it was a dilly of a day as all staff was treated to a DQ Dilly Bar.  It “takes a village” to fill our Village and provide the events, milestones and activities that truly make Lakeside Village a special place to live and work.

Let them eat meatloaf, beef stroganoff, bread pudding and a whole host of other favorites that come from Immanuel’s culinary and dining department.  We are blessed to have such a talented and dedicated group of professionals that feed our residents on a daily basis.

The culinary department management team is led by Lead Executive Chef, Lisa Lantry from Pacific Springs Village and includes; Executive Chef John Drozek from Immanuel Village,  Executive Chef Matt Bera from Lakeside Village,  Executive Chef Mike Miller from The Landing and Kitchen Managers Cherise Eckel from Immanuel Courtyard and Tim Blair from Trinity Village.  With a combined total of 176 staff, the Immanuel culinary and dining departments create and serve approximately 1,561 meals daily.

The culinary department has several large initiatives that they are currently focusing on.  Lisa Lantry explained, “We are in a standardization mode.  We are working toward standardized recipes, menus and purchasing.”  Lantry explained that it in an effort of being more fiscally responsible. “In this economy, our residents are not getting increases in their income and may have taken hits in the stock market—they are concerned about their finances.  We like to run a lean operation so we don’t have to pass so much of an increase on to our residents”.

Just as each of our residents and our communities are unique, Immanuel’s chefs are as unique.  They are all excelling in different areas.  “For example”, Lantry said, “Chef John, Assistant Chef Roger Hill and Dining Room Manager Shannon Hill at Immanuel Village has done an amazing job of bringing the PACE project on board.  Many people don’t realize that in addition to the normal daily dining that takes place at Immanuel Village, Chef John and his team are also responsible for the daily meals at the PACE Center in Council Bluffs, IA.” “Chef Mike at The Landing continues to exceed resident expectations and, along with Dining Room Manager Kim Williams provide special events that would compete with the best fine dining restaurants anywhere.” “When the noro virus struck Lakeside Village over Christmas, Chef Matt and Dining Room Manager Kathy Lewis could not have worked together better to make sure that residents had the same meal quality and selections while being served in their apartments.” “Kitchen Manager Tim and Dining Room Manager Victoria Ewald at Trinity has made great progress in their focus on resident satisfaction and enhancing the resident’s dining experience.” “Let us not forget about our newest member of the team, Immanuel Courtyard’s Kitchen Manager, Cherise who has really taken a “hold of the reigns”.  Cherise and Dining Room Manager Maria Rios has done a great job of involving the residents to improve their dining experience and is able to actually offer menu choices.” 

Lantry explained that in an effort to standardize recipes they are developing a ‘traveling road show’ that they will bring to all of our communities, and the residents will be able to participate in a blind taste test and have input on favorites recipes.

“This team is really coming together beautifully to share best practices and help each other.  The collaboration is amazing and we are all excited that Immanuel has made dining services a priority,” Lantry said.