Auburn Homes & Services February 2023 Newsletter

In this Issue:

Waconia Staff Spotlight on Lori Cole, Housekeeping Assistant, in Auburn Meadows
New Years Eve Party Highlights
Box Lunch Bingo!
Jan and Harold, a Valentine's Day Love Story
Chaska Staff Spotlight on Auburn Manor's Director of Nursing, Jennifer Hall
Golden Retriever Puppies Visit Auburn Home
February is Life Enrichment and Therapeutic Recreation Appreciation Month
February Activities
Pastor's Corner with Reverend Cathy Kolwey
Staff Birthdays and Anniversaries
AHS Family Information and Notifications

Waconia Staff Spotlight on Lori Cole

Lori Cole

Job Title: Housekeeping Assistant

Key Responsibilities: Clean resident rooms, common areas and make sure the building is well-kept

Family: Husband Brian, Son Jared and his wife AnaLeigh, Grandsons Duke and Mac

Favorite Past-time: Watching my grandkids

Favorite Travel Destination: Anywhere warm

When I retire I hope to: Travel

"I started working at Auburn Meadows in January of 2013 shortly after the building opened. This is my 10^th year in the housekeeping department at Auburn Meadows. I enjoy visiting with the residents each day and working with the awesome staff."

NYE 2023

Auburn Home and Auburn Manor enjoyed New Years Eve festivities complete with party hats, horns and live music. What a great way to ring in the new year!

Auburn Homes & Services 2023 Sponsor of

"Box Lunch Bingo"

We are excited to sponsor "Box Lunch Bingo" at The Lodge, located in the Chaska Community Center, during 2023.

At 11:30am, on the second Monday in March, May, July, September and December, an Auburn Homes & Services representative will be calling the bingo numbers for members of the senior community who come to The Lodge to play. This is a spirited and fun group who love to play bingo!

Everyone is welcome and we will be bringing interested residents from Auburn Chaska to play in March. For more information, please click here.

The Lodge, located in the Chaska Community Center, is a fun and relaxing place where seniors can meet for a cup of coffee, play a game of pool or go on organized outings.

Jan and Harold, a Valentine's Day Love Story

Jan and Harold, a couple living at Auburn Meadows in Waconia, will be celebrating Valentine’s Day together again this year. Jan is from Gibbon, Minnesota and Harold is from Lancaster, Minnesota. They met when they were both working in Minneapolis. It all started at 2620 Dupont Ave S in Minneapolis where Harold and a group of guys from Lancaster lived. Harold and his buddies lived on the second floor and Jan’s friends happen to live on the first floor. Harold and Jan met at one of their parties.

They dated for about a year, got engaged around Christmas time and married in June at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Gibbon, Minnesota. They will celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary this year. They have 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Jan said Harold remembered Valentine’s Day more often than he remembered birthdays and would bring her flowers every now and then. Even though Jan and Harold live in different parts of the building they still see each other almost every day. “It is a real blessing to have memory care and assisted living in the same building, we are extremely fortunate.” Jan said.

Chaska Staff Spotlight on Jennifer Hall

Job Title: Assistant Administrator/Director of Nursing

Key Responsibilities: I am responsible for the services, programs and activities of the nursing department and ensuring compliance with the current rules, regulations and guidelines that govern nursing care facilities.

Family: Husband, 3 boys (16, 15 & 3 ½), 2 dogs and a cat

Favorite Past-time: I don’t have much free time these days between my family, work and going back to school to get my Administrator license. When I do get time to do what I want, I enjoy cooking, baking and spending time outdoors if the weather is warm.

Favorite Travel Destination: Anywhere with white sand beaches, the ocean and sunshine

When I retire I hope to: My husband and I say we are going to move to a beach hut when we retire.

"I love working at Auburn because of the residents and staff. I have always had a passion for working to ensure everyone gets the best possible healthcare for them and being an advocate for that. Walking through the halls here and watching staff interact with residents, it is clear, our staff love what they do and want the best care for our residents. I specifically enjoy working in long term care because you get to build a relationship with the residents and their families."

Golden Retriever Puppies Visit Auburn Home

Auburn Home residents were treated to a visit of Golden Retriever puppies that were brought in by the Wickenhauser family. The pups were only four weeks old and were perfect little visitors by snuggling on our resident's laps.

February is Life Enrichment and

Therapeutic Recreation Appreciation Month

Our Life Enrichment and Therapeutic Recreation staff members serve our residents with integrity, compassion and empower them to live a life with purpose. This month we salute them for all that they do to help enrich our resident's lives through exercise, creativity, fun activities, special events, outings, birthday and holiday celebrations, music, mindfulness and so much more. THANK YOU!

February is here! Along with it's bitterly cold temperatures, February also brings warmth in the way of recognizing the loved ones in our life on Valentine's Day. This month our residents have much to look forward to in the way of activities: Valentine's Day parties; outings to Maynard's, Egg Cetera, Cuzzy's, Chanhassen Legion and Kohl's; Super Bowl watch parties; entertainment from The Singing Cowgirl, Allen Carlson, Bobbie & Christine and Tim Patrick; baking, bingo, cards, trivia, manicures and so much more!

Check out your resident's February's Activities Calendar to see which ones are available to them by clicking on the appropriate link below:

Auburn Home , Auburn Meadows ,

Auburn Manor , Auburn Courts

Pastor's Corner with

Reverend Cathy Kolwey

It’s February, and that means V-Day is just around the corner.

Valentine’s Day.

Among my family and friends there is a wide variety of emotions when it comes to this holiday – for some it is a treasured day, set aside to renew wedding vows and recommit to a long standing love. For others, it is a prefabricated holiday invented by Hallmark cards and other retailers as a way have you spend money and feed the feelings of “not being enough.” And still others spend the day reminiscing on lost love. It is a complicated day to say the least. For some, it is joy. For others… pain. Whether you treasure the holiday, or barely get through it, one thing is for sure. It is a day that is meant to celebrate and honor a message of love.

For me (and hopefully for all pastors out there), the message of love is core to who I am … both personally and professionally. I try my best to live as a person who love others – neighbors, strangers, and enemies. And as a pastor, I tried to spread the message of Jesus’ radically inclusive love. And so, a day set aside to honor the message of love is something I can get behind.

With caveat, of course.

Because all of our human love is imperfect. We love the best that we can, and even when we try our hardest, we will still disappoint others with our own imperfections. We forget important dates, we miscommunicate our needs, and we miss cues from loved ones. Spouses, children, parents, and friends all love us though, despite the times we let them down. And that perhaps is what makes the message of Jesus’ love so valuable. That though we experience imperfect love from humanity, there is a Divine love that is perfect. And all of our relationships here, flawed as they are, point to that perfect love that comes from God alone. It is that love alone, which makes us whole.

So let’s celebrate that day set aside to honor the message of love. But as we say Happy Valentine’s Day to one another, share chocolate and honor the loves we foster in our lives, let us also be reminded that God’s perfect love is available to us all – and fills the gaps of the imperfect love we share with one another.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day…. God Loves You.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Blessings and peace,

Rev. Cathy M. Kolwey

Thank you to our dedicated and hard working staff for their years of service:

Kim Schreiner, CORP 18 years

Mya Pestorious, COURTS 1 year

Gabrielle Wichmann, COURTS 1 year

Ashley Seaver, HOME 3 years

Teresa Schuster, MANOR 6 years

Tiffany Martz, MANOR 5 years

Ellen Cleath, MANOR 5 years

Misty Maxson, MANOR 2 years

Lorena Valenzuela Guerrero, MANOR 1 year

Molly Westin, MANOR 1 year

Brianna Wickenhauser, MEADOWS 2 years

Birgit Schmidt, MEADOWS 2 years

Alexis Pogreba, MEADOWS 1 year

Audrey Nelson, MEADOWS 1 year

Happy Birthday to the following staff members celebrating a Birthday in January:

Erin Kramer, Evan Moran, Melissa Bruns, Judy Gustafson, Tatyana Varvashenko, Tiffany Pommerer, Debbie Kassulker, Barbara Grimm, Ava Harvey, Tracy Hilten, Deborah Steinborn, Jamie Rand, Hailey Lund, Rebecca Sorenson, Breanna McReynolds, David Larsen, Kieran Bora, Nayelli Del Rea, Sherri Boozikee, Kenzie Boozikee, Candy Arvizu-Pacheco