Midlands Business Journal • JULY 9, 2021 •
Senior Living
A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
5
July 9, 2021
Local organizations offer services from education to hot meals for seniors navigation at Hillcrest Health Services, said by Gabby Hellbusch There is certainly not a scarcity of Hillcrest offers a wide array of services for resources for senior citizens in the metro aging adults in the region, including independent and assisted living, memory care, community, local organizations say. Amanda Sindelar, Healthy Living Cen- long-term care, post-acute rehab, home care, ter associate executive director at YMCA of hospice, private duty companion care, adult Greater Omaha, said the adults-only facil- day services and outpatient therapy clinics. ity, the YMCA Healthy Living Center, is a Hillcrest has six campuses in Douglas and Sarpy counties that offer various unique community that focuses on residential and recovery services, the social, physical and emotional and Hillcrest’s home care and well-being of adults, specifically hospice service lines provide care retired individuals and active in 11 counties in eastern Nebrasolder adults. ka and western Iowa. “We have a large variety of “Seniors can move seamlessgroup exercises to accommodate ly through our system depending all fitness levels including Tai on their needs, depending on their Chi, cardio strength, line danchealth or their recovery from an ing, water exercise, yoga and injury, illness or hospital stay,” balance classes,” Sindelar said. Janicki said. “Social groups provide people Janicki Now that vaccination rates with connections and fellowship with people who share the same hobbies and are high, he said seniors and their caregivers interests. Many of our Y facilities offer com- are turning to assisted living to meet care munity-based health programs like LIVES- needs. “There was a trend during COVID of TRONG at the YMCA for cancer survivors, Delay the Disease to help offset some of the delaying the move because of concerns symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and Y about visitation restrictions, but the reducWeight Loss to help individuals find helpful tion of COVID cases and the dominance of information and a supportive community if the vaccine has helped us move forward,” Janicki said. they are looking to lose weight.” Gary Girard, continuing education diRecently the Y launched Virtual Y where members can log in and attend a class vir- rector at Metropolitan Community College, said MCC Explore for Lifelong Learners tually. Carolina Padilla, executive director at serves a vibrant community of diverse learnIntercultural Senior Center (ISC), said older ers ages 50 and older in the continual pursuit adults can participate in arts, language and of knowledge. Students 62 years of age or music classes, exercise, and have a light older are also eligible for half-price tuition breakfast and hot lunch at ISC. Additionally, on most continuing education courses. “Education is important for aging adults; they can also meet with a social worker and a health care coordinator. For those who apart from just keeping busy or staying can’t attend, ISC also offers a food pantry active and social, education sparks curiosity and forces us to think,” Girard said. delivery and case management. “Our mission is to provide a range of “Lifelong learning is connected to improved activities and social services to meet the cognitive function, healthy emotional needs of diverse older adults,” Padilla well-being and positive self-perception.” He noted the aging population wants to said. “Omaha has many resources for older adults, but they can be difficult to access if be connected to their community and mainone is facing poverty, language or cultural tain a vibrant role within their respective barriers, or a lack of transportation options. communities. “One of our goals with the MCC ExBy partnering with other agencies, ISC brings together many services under one plore program is to design communities for roof, with transportation and interpreters to seniors that facilitate social connections,” improve access, so older adults can enjoy Girard said. “Our community of seniors being part of a community, increase their want a higher level of social interaction. In addition, they want advanced learning opindependence, and improve well-being.” Jim Janicki, vice president of customer portunities coupled with social interaction.”
Carolina Padilla, executive director at Intercultural Senior Center. (Photo by Roger Humphries)
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Senior Living — inside JULY 9, 2021
THE BUSINESS NEWSPAPER OF GREATER OMAHA, LINCOLN AND COUNCIL BLUFFS
THIS WEEK ’S ISSUE:
$2.00
VOL. 47 NO. 28
NMC Cat targets small business techniques by Richard D. Brown
Albers Communications Group rebrands as Pappas Marketing Communications. – Page 2
40 er d Un 40 Rich takes on varied projects at Alvine with technical expertise, problem-solving skills. – Page 4
ed lat r e ies k or ur W Inj
Early data shows need for multifaceted, proactive workplace health, safety efforts. – Page 26
NMC Cat, the state’s sole Caterpillar dealership since 1987, is targeting additional development but with stress on small business techniques that complement those plans. By understanding each of the multiple industries served and the job-specific needs, Dustin Weeter — the newly-appointed vice president/general manager of the 650-employee firm — said the company with seven locations in Council Bluffs and throughout Nebraska is poised for growth. “These are trying times but the Midwest was hit later than many parts of the country and we are coming out better than most,” Weeter said. The Omaha-headquartered business with offices at 11002 Sapp Brothers Dr. is seeing an uptick in equipment sold or leased by contractors for projects ranging from data centers to landscaping. Small skids and wheeled loaders are in demand from the Continued on page 10.
Vice President and General Manager Dustin Weeter is aiming for additional development with small business in mind. (Photo by Monica Sempek)
GROW Nebraska gains momentum, nets record membership counts by Michelle Leach
In a departure from a familiar refrain, founder and CEO Janell Anderson Ehrke recalled how 2018 and 2019 were “two tough financial years” for GROW Nebraska, so much so that she noted others would have said, “Well, you had a good run.” Post-onset of the pandemic represented a reversal of fortunes for the nonprofit, which has helped to power a succession of victories on the in-
dividual member/business front, and organization-wide — no less represented by the launch of its Women’s Business Center in May and unique partnerships with the likes of the Nebraska Tourism Commission and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. “The businesses that we had on numerous platforms did phenomenally well,” Ehrke said, as she recalled the early phases of Continued on page 10. Owner Rob Kuhlman brings new gym concept to downtown workers. (Photo by David Kubicek)
Movement Academy provides new fitness option for downtown Lincoln by David Kubicek
From left, founder and CEO Janell Anderson Ehrke and Metro Omaha Women’s Business Center Founder and President, BC Clark, offering new resources with women’s business resource center, partnerships with state agencies.(Photo by Roger Humphries)
Movement Academy opened Jan. 5, 2021, with the aim of providing a fitness option for Lincoln’s Haymarket neighborhood, which includes the large firms Olsson and Hudl. “Now that the YMCA is closed, people who live and work downtown have even fewer options available to them,” owner Rob Kuhlman said.
Because of the pandemic many of the employees in the firm’s target market are working remotely so they are not in their offices. Kuhlman left his job as district fitness manager for Genesis Health Clubs in December 2019, to open a gym. When COVID-19 hit the U.S. a couple of months later, the road forward became Continued on page 24.