Siena Woods to remain Dayton health care community
Some weeks ago, I reported that the Provincial Council was investigating a possible relocation of our Dayton-area health care facility from Siena Woods to St. Leonard Center.
As some of you may remember, we had been at St. Leonard before shifting to Mercy Siena almost 20 years ago. Since that initial report, there have been some significant developments.
Bros. Ron Overman, Joe Kamis and
Tom Giardino met in St. Louis with representatives from Diversicare Management, the group that owns and operates Siena Woods. They listened to our concerns and offered to work with us to develop a different model for Marianist health care at Siena Woods.
Some weeks later, Ron and
Bro. Paul Hoffman, the community's director, met with an even larger group of managers and consultants to look at specific changes that could be made.
The Siena Woods basic offer is this:
- The entire second floor of the assisted living wing will be designated as "The Marianist Community at Siena Woods." Only Marianists will be located in this area, including the entire support community. This arrangement more closely mirrors the communities in San Antonio and Cupertino. All Marianists at Siena Woods will live in this new community, including any requiring nursing care.
- A dividing wall will be taken down between two existing rooms to create a chapel for the community's morning and evening prayer, and to serve as a space within the community for personal prayer. Celebration of the Eucharist will continue to be in the main chapel.
- A self-service kitchen and a dining area will be installed on the second floor, with food and beverage available to residents throughout the day. Meals can be taken there (from a self-service table) or in the larger dining room with other residents if desired. The community director and the community members will be involved in menu planning.
- Designated health staff will be assigned to this area and a registered nurse will be on call 24/7 for our needs.
These additional accommodations and services will require additional financing by the province, but less than the increase required by a move to St. Leonard. In addition, moving to St. Leonard would also require us to purchase three support community cottages, since rental is not an option at St. Leonard.
Having considered all of these issues, and mindful of the recommendation of the General Administration during the last visitation that a "integral community for health care" is the desirable arrangement for Marianists, the Provincial Council has decided to approve this new option at Siena Woods for the foreseeable future. The Marianist health care team at Siena Woods is fully supportive of this decision.
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Siena Woods
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We will, however, build in a formal six-month and annual review, in addition to the monthly meetings that the community director, chaplain and health care assistant have with the local management.
These decisions have been communicated to the brothers at Siena Woods and to the support community. The changes will take place no later than next April.
Our primary concern has been to provide the best quality health care for our brothers and to build a single Marianist community that models those in other areas of the province. Although the former would have been excellent at St. Leonard, the latter was not an option.
I want to thank the original evaluation committee of
Bros. Charles Johnson, Alex Tuss and
Bob Donovan for their time, effort and support during this important decision-making process.
Marianist Sisters to install new Provincial Council
The Marianist Sisters will install their new U.S. Provincial Council on Nov. 21 in Dayton. The council members include
Sr. Gretchen Trautman, provincial;
Sr. Laura Leming, assistant for religious life;
Sr. Nicole Trahan, assistant for education; and
Sr. Leanne Jablonski, assistant for temporalities. Read the
news release.
Please keep all the Marianist Sisters in your prayers.
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