We invite you to be a part of the Oaknoll Community and pursue your lifestyle with the assurance of Lifecare. At Oaknoll, your costs remain the same even if you need assisted living or on-site nursing care services.
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Video Transcript
Title: What is LifeCare?
Time: 0 min 39 sec
Description:
Steve Roe, executive director at Oaknoll, explains the LifeCare promise.
Transcript:
life care is the problems that we've made to each of our residents it's a financial guarantee it says that regardless of the level of need you will continue to pay the same monthly fee as we paid in your independent of the department so if at some point in your future you would require the services of assisted living or even 24-hour nursing care you will continue to pay the exact same monthly fee as you paid in your independent living apartment and open that in a nutshell is our life care promise
Time: 0 min 39 sec
Description:
Steve Roe, executive director at Oaknoll, explains the LifeCare promise.
Transcript:
life care is the problems that we've made to each of our residents it's a financial guarantee it says that regardless of the level of need you will continue to pay the same monthly fee as we paid in your independent of the department so if at some point in your future you would require the services of assisted living or even 24-hour nursing care you will continue to pay the exact same monthly fee as you paid in your independent living apartment and open that in a nutshell is our life care promise
Video Transcript
Title: Steve Roe
Time: 1 min 0 sec
Description:
Oaknoll Executive Director, Steve Roe, talks about his ascension to the Executive Director position and Oaknoll's CREATE values.
Transcript:
hi I'm speed row executive director at Oklahoma I've served this community since 1999 when I started it open all my job was to run the business office overtime OpenAL has grown and I have grown and most recently I was administrator and chief financial officer in September of 2016 I was promoted into the executive director role I absolutely love my job it is a perfect fit for my personality and my values our corporate values are caring respect enthusiasm awareness teamwork and encouragement those values have the acronym create we use that create framework to teach our employees how to help our residents create home if you would like to learn more about the OpenAL community and are considering making this your home please call me
Time: 1 min 0 sec
Description:
Oaknoll Executive Director, Steve Roe, talks about his ascension to the Executive Director position and Oaknoll's CREATE values.
Transcript:
hi I'm speed row executive director at Oklahoma I've served this community since 1999 when I started it open all my job was to run the business office overtime OpenAL has grown and I have grown and most recently I was administrator and chief financial officer in September of 2016 I was promoted into the executive director role I absolutely love my job it is a perfect fit for my personality and my values our corporate values are caring respect enthusiasm awareness teamwork and encouragement those values have the acronym create we use that create framework to teach our employees how to help our residents create home if you would like to learn more about the OpenAL community and are considering making this your home please call me
Video Transcript
Title: Oaknoll Documentary Celebrating 50 Years
Time: 28 min 30 sec
Description:
The Oaknoll 50th Anniversary piece which aired on KCRG TV9 on Sunday, September 4, 2016.
Transcript:
just thought the record or on the record I don't care and you know the one thing that that if I were talking to somebody out of state I'd say oak knoll is a living thriving active community of people that are that are enjoying life to its fullest and it's not just what's within the sphere of this building we're shuttled around all over town we get involved with various community activities it's a pretty active group so and they stimulate each other for crying out loud you know I want to break every now and then say I'm not going to do this I'm not going to do that but I'm busy with this oak knoll is a continuing care retirement community it's been part of the Iowa City community for almost 50 years we are celebrating our 50th year anniversary and we're really really excited about that so we provide care for about 450 residents we have 250 staff and it's just a wonderful community within the greater community a woman a professor who recently graduated from who recently retired from the University of Iowa she wanted to stay in Iowa City because she loved iowa city and everything iowa city had to offer but there wasn't a retirement community here so she gathered her friends and they started meeting at the Jefferson hotel downtown and then they hired a consultant and really the rest is history this was her way of getting a future that she wanted to have so I think she basically started through the churches and would try and get support that way and they just kept getting the right people at the right time probably you know how things like that work and the next thing we know here we are their building and and they're moving in then so and it's been it's been such a blessing to me well when I was first a appointed to the board the facility had just opened the previous fall there were as I recall 9054 apartment units independent living units and a 32 bed health center shortly after that it was determined to double the number of independent living units since that time there have been more expansions than it than I can count it's been a community-based endeavor from the beginning it does say something for an organization in a field that has undergone a lot of changes in 50 years for it to have remained stable and vibrant and growing if you read the history of Oak Knoll it's very interesting to see what led people to establish something like this which was a very innovative kind of an organization at that time and yet they were very committed to what they saw as kind of a mission and tried to develop the kind of health healthcare as well as residential facility that they would like to have when they would reach that part of their life and I think it's because of all of those committed people that openal has thrived throughout the years and in many ways not deviated much at all from that original mission you know what a story how many residents that we've served here too oak knoll over so many many years and not only residents but generations and and it really is a success story and in what openal means to the iowa city community what Okla means do to eastern iowa and what openal means to to all the residents who have called openal home we would love to have the opportunity to share our story to explain what we do and how we go about how we go about it once people are here as soon as I walk in the door they just have a feeling about this community we've heard that so many times and the biggest thing that I would just encourage people to do is we hear this often that people have put off and put off moving to a retirement community and then when they finally do they wish they had done it five years ago or ten years ago and just we'd like you not to be that person come in now ninety-nine point nine percent of the residents that move here one of the first things they say in the first year or so is gosh I would have done this sooner certainly can understand it's you know it's it's a new chapter for people and it's a it's a significant new chapter a 10 and big life decisions on being made but but first and foremost you just need to to come to oak knoll and and see what it's all about and really spend time in Oakville and really spend time with the residents and get a sense of what this community is all about but we also had our checklist that we went through and as we visited other health care facilities residential campuses around the Iowa City Coralville area oak knoll was the one that really came to the top of the list one of the things from the board standpoint that was always evident and it continues to be now is the commitment to facilities so the programming the reputation brought us here but the facility and especially this opportunity to be in the new addition is just frosting on the cake probably the most significant thing that I've noticed is the attitude of residents in particular how they have blended into the community how they have come to regard this as home many of them had resided in their own individual residents for decades I think were apprehensive as to what this move was going to mean to them how well they would become acclimated to this new living arrangement but you could see almost instantly that this worked well for them that they made new friends renewed old acquaintances and became a part of the community almost instantly and I think that has improved the quality of life of virtually everyone who's resided at openal looking into where we saw ourselves in life and where we expected to be along the way we recognize the mortality that we all deal with and so we we've been looking forward to this move for a long long time and so we we're delighted with work where we settled here we are really we're looking for a place to live not a place to die and I think that sometimes that is misrepresented and this is an exciting invigorating place to live and we found that it's more about lifestyle than it is life care so life care brought us here but lifestyle makes it a lot more fun to be here the one thing that that comes to mind most significantly is that when when I think of open all night talk about Oak Knoll and and I live openal that sense of community that we are people taking care of people and that doesn't necessarily mean that it's it's it's staff providing services to the residents we are a community of people and we are living with each other day in and day out and and that's extraordinary residents and staff alike is something that that I will forever be grateful for and it's that type of thing that intangible when you talk about community in that sense of community you think yeah you know what is that yeah that's a nice buzz word and and people talk about that all the time but when you walk into this community and you can feel it and it embraces you until the moment you leave you think yep yep that that's tangible that that is that is something tangible that happens all day every day within this community within this building on this campus every day that sense of community well that's one that's one of the most important programming aspects i believe i build us i've been listening to a board member for years tell me all about open all the facility and so forth but i'm impressed my background is more on strategic planning and customer service and strategic marketing and what's really great about Oakville is all the employees really working as a team and caring about their people and keeping us moving in and they understand customer service so they they make it a joy to be here whether they're waiting tables are sweeping the floor or giving me directions on how to get from one end of the building of the other and know they're good they're well-trained create stands for art is an acronym for our corporate values of caring respect enthusiasm awareness teamwork and encouragement and it really is kind of how we live our lives here as staff people we try to live up to those values every day and when we do that we we can make some incredible things happen and ultimately ultimately create home for our residents I've considered it such a blessing to have a place that I could call home and have friends and activities and know that you're settled and my family is very thankful as well we had a group come in like it was all access bicycles or something like that and they brought in bikes that residents could ride safely on their own so kind of like tricycle bikes tandem bikes with two-person bikes where we had a staff person sitting next to a resident and just kind of going around the parking lot and then it's like I i was on a bike that we were able to load a person in a wheelchair onto the front of the bike and kind of take them around for a ride so it's pretty neat experience I enjoy being with all of the different people who are here I enjoy hearing about hearing their stories I also enjoy not just working with them on the council but I also enjoy playing with them and so you know we play bridge with I poker we can do we bowling or any of those kinds of things or just sit and talk in the pub or wherever and I think that's really an important thing to to keep life in balance we need to not just work and but we also need to play I think that the existing residents do an excellent job in reaching out to new residents making them feel a part of the Oak Knoll community and one of the Testaments to that I think is the fact that you can essentially count on one hand over the past 50 years the number of people who have decided that this wasn't for them and have relocated to another facility openal is an active retirement community it does mean something first of all and the bricks and mortar it means something in that we have over 300 independent living apartments we have only 36 assisted living apartments and we have a 55 58 bed health center so so as we look at the community and what's most important is providing that continuum of care but but people are active and involved not only in openal but in the community and and continue to contribute to the Iowa City Coralville community and the Oklahoma community in and of itself active people doing active things contributing and in enjoying their retirement years it's just right for more people than they really they just don't realize how nice it's going to be for them and when they go to assisted living people like it down there and people think oh well I don't want to go to something like that but they get down there and they find that they have nice living quarters and they have so much help and exercise programs and the whole thing in it it's it is it's a good place to be as well it's really just about trying to create the environment where our residents can live their lives and basically at whatever whatever level they're at so we have some residents who are truly truly independent and are out traveling the world doing their things all the way to residents who really are dependent on us for almost everything and our job is to try to try to make their lives as full and complete as possible regardless of where they are and that can we both appreciate the fitness opportunities the pool the water aerobics classes the varying opportunities not only in the in the exercise room but through the classes that are offered a london monday actually does a better job the fitness than i do but i've been using the physical therapy facilities to because my my physical condition so they're very good we got a nice room here by being here at oak knoll i'm i'm not confined to these walls and it's easy for me to get where I need to go in the community that with the transportation services etc which I have not needed to use except occasionally for a healthcare appointment but I really appreciate being able to sort of have home here at oak knoll and yet be able to be with my friends and my activities outside in the community and and hopefully can work to help people in the community as well as that open all we've met a lot of new friends and we continue I friendships to all her friends and I was set in and around the state and in fact we have family all over the country and they're they're glad we're here but but it's not like we've we've separated ourselves from our historical relationships in fact we share oakna with many of our friends who who are quick to look at the bright sunlight and sunsets we see out the windows and all the amenities we share to me it's a good investment it's just a great investment and it's just you can't have a better place to live with in your circumstances you know different people have different circumstances and mine was such that this was just the right thing we are known throughout Iowa City as a quality retirement community we have an amazing tradition of providing that quality care one of the things that I think we're most proud of is the number of second generation and sometimes even third generation residents who have chosen to call oak knoll home you know it that speaks to our tradition through the years that's like no 20 or 25 years ago when their parents were here at oak knoll they had a great experience and enough so that no when it came time for them to choose where they're going to live for the rest of their lives they chose to place their trust in us so just a huge obligation but also just a great honor and and we try to live up to that every day I'm Pat Haden executive director at openal retirement residence and I'm Steve row for the last 17 years I've been the administrator and CFO at Oak Knoll after 37 years of service to Oak Knoll it is time for me to step down as director I am delighted Steve will assume that role it is his time now to lead this wonderful community and without a doubt he will lead with honor under Pat's leadership oak knoll has developed an outstanding reputation within the Iowa City Community I'm excited to build on that tradition as we look to serve even more people who want to call oak knoll home you know one of the things that really is really very very important to us as we have planned many editions over the years is to really provide those amenities that are really important to the generation to the residents that we serve and of course since we've been in the iowa city community for more than 50 years we have served a number of generations and in since i've been open for 36 years i have seen that transition of what the expectation is for different generations so today you know we have a pub lounge who would have thought 35 years ago that a retirement community would have a pub lounge where residents can gather and enjoy each other's company the movie theater the the pool the swimming pool the Wellness Center I mean it's it's just it's it's not your grandmother's nursing home any longer it is an active retirement community that really is is honed in to the once and the needs of the generations that we serve I think in all respects pan has exhibited the exemplary leadership and has left a strong legacy so she will be missed but I again have had the pleasure of watching the succession planning and I think that the the future will always reflect the impact of Pat heightens leadership over these past 30 some years she started as a clerk in the business office after getting a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and and shortly thereafter became the business manager then the assistant administrator and for the past 21 years has been the executive director when I first started of course it was it was a lot smaller I've overseen five major additions but but even at that time I remember my first day at work and and I thought that that still it was a huge complex and I thought if I could at least find the time clock I could check in and get paid while I wandered around to find the business office where I was the business clerk you know and and so it it has changed significantly over the years but again you know that's been part of our success because as we've marketed and as we've listened to to new generations to want to call up no home really when you look at open all today and look at the melodies that that are here today it's a result of really what the expectation is so so we've been really really good listeners we've built strong relationships with with people who call local home and and we acknowledge that that you know we're a family and and that we are a community people just trying to take care of one another Pat's been just a fantastic mentor for for all of us through the years she took a chance on me I had zero experience in long-term care or senior housing or anything like that but she must have seen something in me that said that this would be a good fit so for that I am really forever grateful and it's just been a fantastic relationship we really complement each other I think our strengths are in different areas and and it's like she's taught me a lot just watching how she works with residents and difficult situations how she's always so patient and just kind of working through an issue it's no she's been a great role model for me well she's definitely a community leader and we've known her for decades than you Angie I'd say Weiner when she was a little girl learning to trained to perform many different jobs at Hope tall and then playing the role she has in the community so we've seen Pat from different perspectives I admire her ability to to convene with a large variety of residence of community leaders and staff and bring them all together in a productive way in a positive perspective because frankly you know I'm not sure I could do that you know there are a lot of different people a lot of different personalities a lot of different preferences and purses always something had always handles it so pretty well very upbeat positive person I have appreciated Pat a lot I didn't really know that until we came to look at Oak Knoll and see if this was a place that we wanted to be and I have always found her to be knowledgeable to be helpful and yet she knows where she's headed and where she wants the organization to be and is able to stay on track with that I've also appreciated that she's personally interested in me and has shared some of her own personality her own life and the things that she has learned over the years so i think i would call her a friend and I value that friendship she's just going to be great whatever she does whatever she does she's just going to be perfect and I'm hoping I really wonderful different career for her she has I think continued to hire top-notch people to come in as open all employees one certainly being Steve row who who is going to be her successor and again with his long experience his acquaintance with the residents I don't think it's going to miss a beat so to speak when when he takes over and that has been something I think that has caused the residents to have a high feeling of confidence and assurance that their needs are going to continue to be cared for every resident that I have known over the last 36 years has some place in my heart heart and you know has made me who I am today and and each one has been really very very special and has touched my heart so so deliberately that you know I I leave with that and in the staff you know I've had an opportunity to work with just fantastic staff who have always been in my corner and it will always support at me 15 years ago pat was envisioning a project where they would have fitness facilities they'd have a pool they'd have a training program they'd have programming that would provide a totally comprehensive community and now here we are we we've benefited from three different editions really that have been step-by-step building an even richer community then we first saw about 15 years ago it is a huge milestone to be celebrating 50 years and we are so very very excited about that what it says is that we have provided services for hundreds hundreds and hundreds of residents and and provided peace of mind for families and friends of those residents who have called openal home over than many many years you know to be a part of the greater Iowa City community for that long and contribute to the community the residents contributing their time talent and openal as an institution as an organization in tributing 22 agencies and events and that are so very very dear to us it also says that we know how to do what we do and we do it really very very well so we do have 30 acres of land that we purchased in the last couple of years for a potential future second campus there's still a lot of work and thinking that needs to go into into what we intend to do there but but the idea is that we would have an entire continuum of care just like we have on our existing campus at the new new community and I really think that you know we set the standard and people not only and organizations not only in the area but also in Eastern Iowa and and the state of Iowa look at opal and look at what we've done over the last 50 years and what we're planning to do the next 50 years the message that I'm giving here is that that you know oak knoll is just not an entity in and of itself but you know we are an anchor this this neighborhood we are at anchor in this community and and you know we feel that connection in that partnership and to celebrate 50 years it's just it's it's it's just wonderful it's it's it's it's beyond explanation the Life Care part of Oak Knoll is probably obvious to you and the value of that maybe is invaluable but it's really lifestyle so if you want the feeling of being cared for being attended to and being worry free from a lot of the daily challenges of households and daily living this would be a perfect choice for you what she said yes she will be missed and it's like no II can't replace somebody who's been with us for 20 years as executive director in 35 years throughout her career I think we're in a good place though she has built a very very deep bench a number of us that have been around for 15 years plus that are ready to carry on that tradition of quality and we wish her well
Time: 28 min 30 sec
Description:
The Oaknoll 50th Anniversary piece which aired on KCRG TV9 on Sunday, September 4, 2016.
Transcript:
just thought the record or on the record I don't care and you know the one thing that that if I were talking to somebody out of state I'd say oak knoll is a living thriving active community of people that are that are enjoying life to its fullest and it's not just what's within the sphere of this building we're shuttled around all over town we get involved with various community activities it's a pretty active group so and they stimulate each other for crying out loud you know I want to break every now and then say I'm not going to do this I'm not going to do that but I'm busy with this oak knoll is a continuing care retirement community it's been part of the Iowa City community for almost 50 years we are celebrating our 50th year anniversary and we're really really excited about that so we provide care for about 450 residents we have 250 staff and it's just a wonderful community within the greater community a woman a professor who recently graduated from who recently retired from the University of Iowa she wanted to stay in Iowa City because she loved iowa city and everything iowa city had to offer but there wasn't a retirement community here so she gathered her friends and they started meeting at the Jefferson hotel downtown and then they hired a consultant and really the rest is history this was her way of getting a future that she wanted to have so I think she basically started through the churches and would try and get support that way and they just kept getting the right people at the right time probably you know how things like that work and the next thing we know here we are their building and and they're moving in then so and it's been it's been such a blessing to me well when I was first a appointed to the board the facility had just opened the previous fall there were as I recall 9054 apartment units independent living units and a 32 bed health center shortly after that it was determined to double the number of independent living units since that time there have been more expansions than it than I can count it's been a community-based endeavor from the beginning it does say something for an organization in a field that has undergone a lot of changes in 50 years for it to have remained stable and vibrant and growing if you read the history of Oak Knoll it's very interesting to see what led people to establish something like this which was a very innovative kind of an organization at that time and yet they were very committed to what they saw as kind of a mission and tried to develop the kind of health healthcare as well as residential facility that they would like to have when they would reach that part of their life and I think it's because of all of those committed people that openal has thrived throughout the years and in many ways not deviated much at all from that original mission you know what a story how many residents that we've served here too oak knoll over so many many years and not only residents but generations and and it really is a success story and in what openal means to the iowa city community what Okla means do to eastern iowa and what openal means to to all the residents who have called openal home we would love to have the opportunity to share our story to explain what we do and how we go about how we go about it once people are here as soon as I walk in the door they just have a feeling about this community we've heard that so many times and the biggest thing that I would just encourage people to do is we hear this often that people have put off and put off moving to a retirement community and then when they finally do they wish they had done it five years ago or ten years ago and just we'd like you not to be that person come in now ninety-nine point nine percent of the residents that move here one of the first things they say in the first year or so is gosh I would have done this sooner certainly can understand it's you know it's it's a new chapter for people and it's a it's a significant new chapter a 10 and big life decisions on being made but but first and foremost you just need to to come to oak knoll and and see what it's all about and really spend time in Oakville and really spend time with the residents and get a sense of what this community is all about but we also had our checklist that we went through and as we visited other health care facilities residential campuses around the Iowa City Coralville area oak knoll was the one that really came to the top of the list one of the things from the board standpoint that was always evident and it continues to be now is the commitment to facilities so the programming the reputation brought us here but the facility and especially this opportunity to be in the new addition is just frosting on the cake probably the most significant thing that I've noticed is the attitude of residents in particular how they have blended into the community how they have come to regard this as home many of them had resided in their own individual residents for decades I think were apprehensive as to what this move was going to mean to them how well they would become acclimated to this new living arrangement but you could see almost instantly that this worked well for them that they made new friends renewed old acquaintances and became a part of the community almost instantly and I think that has improved the quality of life of virtually everyone who's resided at openal looking into where we saw ourselves in life and where we expected to be along the way we recognize the mortality that we all deal with and so we we've been looking forward to this move for a long long time and so we we're delighted with work where we settled here we are really we're looking for a place to live not a place to die and I think that sometimes that is misrepresented and this is an exciting invigorating place to live and we found that it's more about lifestyle than it is life care so life care brought us here but lifestyle makes it a lot more fun to be here the one thing that that comes to mind most significantly is that when when I think of open all night talk about Oak Knoll and and I live openal that sense of community that we are people taking care of people and that doesn't necessarily mean that it's it's it's staff providing services to the residents we are a community of people and we are living with each other day in and day out and and that's extraordinary residents and staff alike is something that that I will forever be grateful for and it's that type of thing that intangible when you talk about community in that sense of community you think yeah you know what is that yeah that's a nice buzz word and and people talk about that all the time but when you walk into this community and you can feel it and it embraces you until the moment you leave you think yep yep that that's tangible that that is that is something tangible that happens all day every day within this community within this building on this campus every day that sense of community well that's one that's one of the most important programming aspects i believe i build us i've been listening to a board member for years tell me all about open all the facility and so forth but i'm impressed my background is more on strategic planning and customer service and strategic marketing and what's really great about Oakville is all the employees really working as a team and caring about their people and keeping us moving in and they understand customer service so they they make it a joy to be here whether they're waiting tables are sweeping the floor or giving me directions on how to get from one end of the building of the other and know they're good they're well-trained create stands for art is an acronym for our corporate values of caring respect enthusiasm awareness teamwork and encouragement and it really is kind of how we live our lives here as staff people we try to live up to those values every day and when we do that we we can make some incredible things happen and ultimately ultimately create home for our residents I've considered it such a blessing to have a place that I could call home and have friends and activities and know that you're settled and my family is very thankful as well we had a group come in like it was all access bicycles or something like that and they brought in bikes that residents could ride safely on their own so kind of like tricycle bikes tandem bikes with two-person bikes where we had a staff person sitting next to a resident and just kind of going around the parking lot and then it's like I i was on a bike that we were able to load a person in a wheelchair onto the front of the bike and kind of take them around for a ride so it's pretty neat experience I enjoy being with all of the different people who are here I enjoy hearing about hearing their stories I also enjoy not just working with them on the council but I also enjoy playing with them and so you know we play bridge with I poker we can do we bowling or any of those kinds of things or just sit and talk in the pub or wherever and I think that's really an important thing to to keep life in balance we need to not just work and but we also need to play I think that the existing residents do an excellent job in reaching out to new residents making them feel a part of the Oak Knoll community and one of the Testaments to that I think is the fact that you can essentially count on one hand over the past 50 years the number of people who have decided that this wasn't for them and have relocated to another facility openal is an active retirement community it does mean something first of all and the bricks and mortar it means something in that we have over 300 independent living apartments we have only 36 assisted living apartments and we have a 55 58 bed health center so so as we look at the community and what's most important is providing that continuum of care but but people are active and involved not only in openal but in the community and and continue to contribute to the Iowa City Coralville community and the Oklahoma community in and of itself active people doing active things contributing and in enjoying their retirement years it's just right for more people than they really they just don't realize how nice it's going to be for them and when they go to assisted living people like it down there and people think oh well I don't want to go to something like that but they get down there and they find that they have nice living quarters and they have so much help and exercise programs and the whole thing in it it's it is it's a good place to be as well it's really just about trying to create the environment where our residents can live their lives and basically at whatever whatever level they're at so we have some residents who are truly truly independent and are out traveling the world doing their things all the way to residents who really are dependent on us for almost everything and our job is to try to try to make their lives as full and complete as possible regardless of where they are and that can we both appreciate the fitness opportunities the pool the water aerobics classes the varying opportunities not only in the in the exercise room but through the classes that are offered a london monday actually does a better job the fitness than i do but i've been using the physical therapy facilities to because my my physical condition so they're very good we got a nice room here by being here at oak knoll i'm i'm not confined to these walls and it's easy for me to get where I need to go in the community that with the transportation services etc which I have not needed to use except occasionally for a healthcare appointment but I really appreciate being able to sort of have home here at oak knoll and yet be able to be with my friends and my activities outside in the community and and hopefully can work to help people in the community as well as that open all we've met a lot of new friends and we continue I friendships to all her friends and I was set in and around the state and in fact we have family all over the country and they're they're glad we're here but but it's not like we've we've separated ourselves from our historical relationships in fact we share oakna with many of our friends who who are quick to look at the bright sunlight and sunsets we see out the windows and all the amenities we share to me it's a good investment it's just a great investment and it's just you can't have a better place to live with in your circumstances you know different people have different circumstances and mine was such that this was just the right thing we are known throughout Iowa City as a quality retirement community we have an amazing tradition of providing that quality care one of the things that I think we're most proud of is the number of second generation and sometimes even third generation residents who have chosen to call oak knoll home you know it that speaks to our tradition through the years that's like no 20 or 25 years ago when their parents were here at oak knoll they had a great experience and enough so that no when it came time for them to choose where they're going to live for the rest of their lives they chose to place their trust in us so just a huge obligation but also just a great honor and and we try to live up to that every day I'm Pat Haden executive director at openal retirement residence and I'm Steve row for the last 17 years I've been the administrator and CFO at Oak Knoll after 37 years of service to Oak Knoll it is time for me to step down as director I am delighted Steve will assume that role it is his time now to lead this wonderful community and without a doubt he will lead with honor under Pat's leadership oak knoll has developed an outstanding reputation within the Iowa City Community I'm excited to build on that tradition as we look to serve even more people who want to call oak knoll home you know one of the things that really is really very very important to us as we have planned many editions over the years is to really provide those amenities that are really important to the generation to the residents that we serve and of course since we've been in the iowa city community for more than 50 years we have served a number of generations and in since i've been open for 36 years i have seen that transition of what the expectation is for different generations so today you know we have a pub lounge who would have thought 35 years ago that a retirement community would have a pub lounge where residents can gather and enjoy each other's company the movie theater the the pool the swimming pool the Wellness Center I mean it's it's just it's it's not your grandmother's nursing home any longer it is an active retirement community that really is is honed in to the once and the needs of the generations that we serve I think in all respects pan has exhibited the exemplary leadership and has left a strong legacy so she will be missed but I again have had the pleasure of watching the succession planning and I think that the the future will always reflect the impact of Pat heightens leadership over these past 30 some years she started as a clerk in the business office after getting a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and and shortly thereafter became the business manager then the assistant administrator and for the past 21 years has been the executive director when I first started of course it was it was a lot smaller I've overseen five major additions but but even at that time I remember my first day at work and and I thought that that still it was a huge complex and I thought if I could at least find the time clock I could check in and get paid while I wandered around to find the business office where I was the business clerk you know and and so it it has changed significantly over the years but again you know that's been part of our success because as we've marketed and as we've listened to to new generations to want to call up no home really when you look at open all today and look at the melodies that that are here today it's a result of really what the expectation is so so we've been really really good listeners we've built strong relationships with with people who call local home and and we acknowledge that that you know we're a family and and that we are a community people just trying to take care of one another Pat's been just a fantastic mentor for for all of us through the years she took a chance on me I had zero experience in long-term care or senior housing or anything like that but she must have seen something in me that said that this would be a good fit so for that I am really forever grateful and it's just been a fantastic relationship we really complement each other I think our strengths are in different areas and and it's like she's taught me a lot just watching how she works with residents and difficult situations how she's always so patient and just kind of working through an issue it's no she's been a great role model for me well she's definitely a community leader and we've known her for decades than you Angie I'd say Weiner when she was a little girl learning to trained to perform many different jobs at Hope tall and then playing the role she has in the community so we've seen Pat from different perspectives I admire her ability to to convene with a large variety of residence of community leaders and staff and bring them all together in a productive way in a positive perspective because frankly you know I'm not sure I could do that you know there are a lot of different people a lot of different personalities a lot of different preferences and purses always something had always handles it so pretty well very upbeat positive person I have appreciated Pat a lot I didn't really know that until we came to look at Oak Knoll and see if this was a place that we wanted to be and I have always found her to be knowledgeable to be helpful and yet she knows where she's headed and where she wants the organization to be and is able to stay on track with that I've also appreciated that she's personally interested in me and has shared some of her own personality her own life and the things that she has learned over the years so i think i would call her a friend and I value that friendship she's just going to be great whatever she does whatever she does she's just going to be perfect and I'm hoping I really wonderful different career for her she has I think continued to hire top-notch people to come in as open all employees one certainly being Steve row who who is going to be her successor and again with his long experience his acquaintance with the residents I don't think it's going to miss a beat so to speak when when he takes over and that has been something I think that has caused the residents to have a high feeling of confidence and assurance that their needs are going to continue to be cared for every resident that I have known over the last 36 years has some place in my heart heart and you know has made me who I am today and and each one has been really very very special and has touched my heart so so deliberately that you know I I leave with that and in the staff you know I've had an opportunity to work with just fantastic staff who have always been in my corner and it will always support at me 15 years ago pat was envisioning a project where they would have fitness facilities they'd have a pool they'd have a training program they'd have programming that would provide a totally comprehensive community and now here we are we we've benefited from three different editions really that have been step-by-step building an even richer community then we first saw about 15 years ago it is a huge milestone to be celebrating 50 years and we are so very very excited about that what it says is that we have provided services for hundreds hundreds and hundreds of residents and and provided peace of mind for families and friends of those residents who have called openal home over than many many years you know to be a part of the greater Iowa City community for that long and contribute to the community the residents contributing their time talent and openal as an institution as an organization in tributing 22 agencies and events and that are so very very dear to us it also says that we know how to do what we do and we do it really very very well so we do have 30 acres of land that we purchased in the last couple of years for a potential future second campus there's still a lot of work and thinking that needs to go into into what we intend to do there but but the idea is that we would have an entire continuum of care just like we have on our existing campus at the new new community and I really think that you know we set the standard and people not only and organizations not only in the area but also in Eastern Iowa and and the state of Iowa look at opal and look at what we've done over the last 50 years and what we're planning to do the next 50 years the message that I'm giving here is that that you know oak knoll is just not an entity in and of itself but you know we are an anchor this this neighborhood we are at anchor in this community and and you know we feel that connection in that partnership and to celebrate 50 years it's just it's it's it's just wonderful it's it's it's it's beyond explanation the Life Care part of Oak Knoll is probably obvious to you and the value of that maybe is invaluable but it's really lifestyle so if you want the feeling of being cared for being attended to and being worry free from a lot of the daily challenges of households and daily living this would be a perfect choice for you what she said yes she will be missed and it's like no II can't replace somebody who's been with us for 20 years as executive director in 35 years throughout her career I think we're in a good place though she has built a very very deep bench a number of us that have been around for 15 years plus that are ready to carry on that tradition of quality and we wish her well
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