21 minute read
Team member of the year
Katelynn Hechel’s team members nominated her as Team Member of the Quarter saying: “Katelynn is one of the friendliest team members at Cedar Community.” “Katelynn is always kind to others.” “Katelynn is dependable and helps in all departments as needed.” “Katelynn takes pride in her work and is the face of what our organization represents.”
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While working at a bank part time, Katelynn attended Moraine Park Technical College in Fond du Lac for administrative assistant. After graduating, she continued to work at the bank full time as an operations assistant, working mostly with behind-the-scenes transactions. While she appreciated the bank opportunity and experience, she wanted to pursue something that was geared more toward her degree. She applied for a customer relations position at Cedar Community’s Elkhart Lake Campus. Katelynn joined the Cedar Community team in December of 2015 as a customer relations associate and did that job solely for about two years. In 2017, a vacant position allowed her to add duties as a sales associate for the Elkhart Lake independent living homes.
Splitting her time between customer relations and sales associate, Katelynn greets guests and residents at the front door, answers the phone, assists residents, and helps wherever else is needed. Rachel Wolfe, Elkhart Lake Campus Director, says, “Katelynn leads by example and always pitches in. She is always exible and takes on any challenge, helping to come up with a solution. She is a huge asset to me and Cedar Community.”
When not serving in her customer relations role, Katelynn works with prospective residents interested in Cedar Community Elkhart Lakes 40 side-by-side independent living ranch homes. Katelynn enjoys the challenges of both jobs and the variety of work. “Katelynn is amazing! If we could duplicate her we would have one of her everywhere at Cedar Community,” says Amy Meyer, Vice President of Assisted Living.
Katelynn enjoys the small town feel of Elkhart Lake. It’s also within close proximity of her home and she appreciates the exibility of her job, working part time, while raising two children ages two and four. “I have really learned a lot working with the older generation. I enjoy coming to work every day and have no complaints. I feel fortunate to be able to say that,” says Katelynn. She also appreciates the amazing team she has to work with and looks forward to a long career at Cedar Community. “It is really nice to feel appreciated and recognized for the work I do,” says Katelynn.
Outside of work, Katelynn enjoys spending time with family, shing, and anything outdoorsy.
Congratulations to Carla Peplinski who was chosen as Team Member of the Year. The winner is chosen by the Team Member of the Quarter committee from all the current year’s winners.
“In a year in which all team members have needed to adapt and contribute to the care and service of our residents, Carla has continuously helped out with some of the necessary additional tasks. She has not only delivered meals to residents, but has also been in the unique position of almost single-handedly acquiring all of the personal protective equipment needed to ensure the safety of all who reside and work in our buildings. She persevered with positivity through supply shortages and skyrocketing prices, vetting new vendors to verify their legitimacy, trying to nd the best pricing, as she always does. We are truly lucky to have her, and I am honored to say that Carla Peplinski is Cedar Community’s 2020 Team Member of the Year,” says Joe Pichler, Vice President of Finance.
Nancy Chevremont
Cedar Community is pleased to welcome Nancy Chevremont as the Administrator of Cedar Community Home Health and Hospice. She has over 18 years of experience in the health care eld, with an emphasis in home health and hospice. Nancy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in public administration and political science and a Master’s of Science degree in Health Services Administration.
While attending the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Nancy was interested in political science until a class in health care policy changed her focus. Her path has led her to a variety of roles including scheduling, admissions, home health and hospice administrator, and supported Medicaid dental plans.
After several years, working as a scheduler, Nancy wanted to advance in her career and decided returning to school for her master’s degree was a priority. She never thought her path would lead to hospice, but a friend working in the eld encouraged her to give it a try. “I really enjoyed hospice care because I felt like I was making a di erence in people’s lives. It was a blessing to be part of the hospice process working with patients and their families, and being their support system,” says Nancy.
At the end of 2020, Nancy was contacted by a recruiter for an open position as the home health and hospice administrator at Cedar Community. She felt like she was coming full circle after having experience working with Cedar Community through a previous job at Heartland Home Healthcare and Hospice. “Knowing the history of Cedar Community and the longevity of the sta , I knew it was a great place to work,” says Nancy. She felt it would be a great t from the moment she met the team and was impressed with the compassion, camaraderie, and incredible teamwork, with everyone going above and beyond at a moment’s notice. “I am excited and blessed to be here,” says Nancy. She especially appreciates working for a non-pro t, mission-based organization. “It’s wonderful to hear morning prayers on the overhead speaker.”
Nancy’s role includes overseeing all the services provided by Cedar Community’s Home Health and Hospice division, which is available to all Cedar Community residents and the greater community. She is responsible for assuring the highest degree of quality of care, while building relationships within the greater community. “Nancy is a great addition to our home health and hospice team and brings a wealth of knowledge in the eld that will allow for continued success and growth. Her energy and compassion are a great addition to the team,” says Kelli DeRuyter, Administrator and Vice President of Clinical Services.
Outside of work, Nancy and her husband are very active in the German community in Milwaukee. They proudly celebrate their heritage and have two adult children who attended the Milwaukee German Immersion School where they became actively involved and have made many friends and connections over the years.
Cedar Community Hospice team members will support you and your family, ensuring comfort, dignity, and the highest quality of care.
home health & hospice
262.306.2691 | cedarcommunity.org
Cedar Community Home Health and Hospice
Home health care provides nursing, therapy, and other specialized services in the privacy and comfort of your home to help you manage a chronic illness or recovery from surgery or an accident. The goal is to help you continually improve, manage your illness or recovery, and keep you at home where you most wish to be.
The Cedar Community hospice team will help you live your life to the fullest, and help you and your family with the many questions and concerns that come at the end of life. Our care team is there to provide care and compassion in your home, whether that is a private residence, an assisted living apartment, or a skilled nursing home.
Thank you to our hospice angels: I’ve been trying to think of how to thank all of you! I just can’t nd the words to explain how much you were all appreciated. For all the precious moments you took care of Bob– thank you! Whatever our request you found a way to make it happen. When I was feeling overwhelmed your hand on my shoulder felt so comforting. You were there for all of us. Thank you. You always asked if you could do something else for us as well as Bob, or if you could help us in any way. Thank you for your concern. There didn’t seem to be anything you wouldn’t do for Bob, or us, nothing was too much to ask. Thank you. You are all incredible, amazing, awesome, and dedicated employees. You are a credit to your profession and the hospice journey. This comes from my heart for all you have done for Bob, I thank you.
Jean Lange
Dear friend of Bob Neumann
Spiritual care at forefront of mission
Dale Miller Tricia Holley
Mary Hernikl
Cedar Community is a faith-based organization providing opportunities to engage body, mind, and spirit. Six chaplains working both full and part time serve the spiritual needs of Cedar Community residents, their families, volunteers, and team members. When a resident moves to Cedar Community, oftentimes, a chaplain will meet with them to learn of their faith traditions, the importance and strength of their faith, where they nd hope or seek help, and their spiritual life history. Conversations may not always revolve around spiritual care, but provide more listening and compassion, based on the needs of each person. The spiritual care team also o ers opportunities to worship, work with others in fellowship and prayer, explore spirituality and diversity, and enjoy the blessing of all faith traditions. Residents are invited to participate in spiritual services at Cedar Community and continue to be active in their local congregation as they desire and are able.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cedar Community’s chaplains have continued to provide one-on-one pastoral care. They have also shared daily prayers and made chapel service and weekly re ections available to residents on Cedar Community’s internal television channel, as well as streaming on YouTube.
Meet our chaplains…
Bob Wells
Robert Teeple
Julie Jennings has ministered in health and human service settings for over 20 years, but chaplaincy is not her rst career. She received her Bachelor of Science in engineering from Duke University in North Carolina and worked as a civil engineer for several years. Her call to ministry came as she volunteered in her local church and agreed to take on the role of leading the youth ministry program. While serving in this role, Julie’s pastor and several members of her church mentioned to her that she should consider the ministry. That’s when she began to realize a new path for herself. “I was aware that something bigger was at work in my life. It was about embracing the gifts that people were seeing in me and continuing to work in service of others and growing myself,” she says.
Julie graduated with her Master of Divinity degree from Eden Seminary in St. Louis, and was ordained in the United Church of Christ. She has chaplaincy experience working with women and children in transitional housing, adults with developmental disabilities, and youth in detention and residential treatment. In 2015, she put her ministry career on hold for a year and a half and became a full-time caregiver for her mother, who was su ering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Julie Jennings
Julie began her ministry career at Cedar Community in June of 2018 and appreciates serving in a historically faith-based organization that has had great vision and expansive practices. Julie serves as the vice president of ministry and enjoys helping the team of chaplains share their many wonderful gifts. “Like the residents we serve,” she re ects, “our chaplains come from a variety of backgrounds with rich histories and diverse interests. They bring their authentic selves to the ministry they o er and the relationships they develop. It is a privilege to serve with these compassionate people.”
Robert Teeple received his call to ministry when he was eight years old. He recalls a recurring dream about a Bible verse saying, “God quali es those who he calls.” Although he didn’t quite understand what it meant, he was riding his bike past a Catholic church and asked the priest. From that moment, he was put on the fast track for priesthood, but realized it wasn’t right for him–feeling he didn’t have enough life experience to counsel people.
It wasn’t until Robert was 40 that while he was sleeping he had a crushing feeling like someone was sitting on his chest. “I truly believe that was my time to answer my calling,” says Robert. While working full time and managing a family, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in religion from Greensboro College and a Master of Art in ministry from Nashotah House Theological Seminary. Robert is a board-certi ed chaplain having completed four units of clinical pastoral education (CPE) which includes 1,600 hours of education, interviewing with the certi cation board, and continuing annual accreditation.
He began his career as a health technician establishing care plans for patients in an outpatient surgical facility; was a long-term substitute art teacher in North Carolina; worked in a Milwaukee hospital as a resident chaplain collaborating with medical teams to coordinate patient services; customer service at a large retailer; and prior to Cedar Community he served as a chaplain at a medical center in Oshkosh providing ministry to the spiritual, emotional, psychosocial, and cultural needs of patients, family members, and hospital sta .
Robert was drawn to Cedar Community having had a motherin-law who lived here and a brotherin-law who was cared for by Cedar Community’s hospice team. “The dedication of Cedar Community to the residents was a really big draw for me,” says Robert. He started in 2019 and sees residents at the skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilitation, and memory care assisted living. “Each time I meet with someone, it isn’t necessarily focused on religion. It’s being able to look beyond at the whole person, their life story, and make a connection. I feel that’s what Cedar Community is really about,” says Robert.
Outside of Cedar Community, Robert enjoys many diverse hobbies including making his own beer, wine, and cheese; processing his own meat; traveling; and painting.
Bob Wells has a very diverse background. His education includes St. Francis de Sales College in Milwaukee specializing in theology with a minor in philosophy; Ponti ca Universita Gregoriana in Rome specializing in theology; and National-Louis University in Chicago with a Master of Art in teaching, specializing in English. Bob has served as an ordained minister in the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Christ, as well as a high school English teacher. “I have been blessed in the journey of life with the opportunity to walk on a professional path that has been interwoven with threads of full-time ordained ministry among various faith communities and full-time teaching experiences,” says Bob.
Bob attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire after high school on a baseball scholarship, majoring in accounting. During his rst year, two important experiences changed his awareness and purpose in life. He spoke with a campus minister about the experiences and this began his journey toward priesthood. He entered the seminary after his sophomore year. During his overseas seminary experience, Bob was encouraged to travel and explore di erent cultures. In 1986, he was ordained in the Milwaukee Archdiocese. He served for 14 years before his path took another direction.
Bob went back to school for his master’s degree in education. He taught for 16 years. During that time, he also explored a return to ministry within the church. In 2009 he received a call to serve through the United Church of Christ. He served as a pulpit supply minister for 10 years. In 2019, he decided to retire from teaching with the hope of returning to full-time pastoral ministry. On his 33rd anniversary of ordination, he learned of the position at Cedar Community in the home, health, and hospice division. “Caring for my parents in their nal years shaped me and I knew that was the direction I wanted to go,” says Bob.
Bob joined Cedar Community in July of 2019. He is grateful and blessed to be serving with a wonderful team of chaplains and home, health, and hospice team members. He has come full circle and appreciates the opportunity to serve once again–supporting our residents and team members with love and prayer. In his spare time, Bob enjoys digging in the dirt in his “naturalized yard,” camping, hiking, listening to music, attending concerts, playing golf, supporting Wisconsin sports teams, and dabbling a bit with writing poetry.
Mary Hernikl has worked in pastoral care for over ve years. Prior to that, her experience was in community relations in assisted living and memory care communities, along with a nonmedical home care company. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Lakeland College and a Master of Arts in ministry from Cardinal Stritch University. She also has
one unit of clinical pastoral education (CPE), which is 400 hours of additional education. Prior to Cedar Community, Mary worked at St. Frances Cabrini and St. Mary’s Catholic Church in West Bend, providing bereavement ministries and pastoral care for both parishes.
Mary started out in business college not knowing where her career would lead. She worked in sales and marketing for a retirement community for ve years and enjoyed the process of moving in residents and helping them adjust emotionally. Mary always had a strong faith foundation, but says it was something that needed maturing. She attended a weekend retreat to do some soul searching and realized, at age 40, she had a calling to be a chaplain.
In 2019 Mary was hired as a parttime chaplain at Cedar Community and oversees pastoral care for both assisted living buildings at the Cedar Lake Campus. “I have never felt ful lled in any job ever until I became a chaplain. I found my dream job,” says Mary. In her free time, Mary enjoys bicycling, hiking, exercising, and socializing with friends.
Tricia Holley earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a major in American studies and a minor in psychology and religious studies. She also holds a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Dubuque Theology Seminary. Tricia has been actively involved in a variety of churches and community organizations assisting with interfaith activities, ministry, and spiritual care. She has worked in home health and hospice settings visiting with patients and providing and coordinating spiritual care services for patients and their families, as well as providing emotional support and education. Tricia has also served as a resident chaplain for a hospital, leading team members on improving understandings of cultural diversity; valuing di erences; the impact of illness on quality of life; and providing support to patients, families, and team members.
Tricia attended college later in life after spending time as a truck driver and working at a window and door company. “When I nally decided what I wanted to do when I grew up, I went back to school for my bachelors and masters in divinity,” says Tricia. She was often the person people came to when they needed to discuss personal issues. It was natural for her, she was comfortable with end-of-life and death, and wanted to work with the older population. Tricia has four units of clinical pastoral education (CPE). She currently works part time in Cedar Community’s independent living and also part time at Zilber Family Hospice in Wauwatosa.
Tricia appreciates the balance of working with residents in independent living and hospice care. She enjoys learning about people’s life stories and also helping them transition to endof-life care. “It’s all about the needs of the people I serve wherever they are in their life, or whatever they may need. I just want to be here if they need to share. It doesn’t have to be about reading scripture or praying with them, it’s about ful lling a need and what they nd helpful,” says Tricia.
When not working, Tricia enjoys riding her motorcycle with her longest trip being 7,000 miles, woodworking, being in nature, and traveling.
Dale Miller attended Lakeland College for two and a half years and studied ministry. When life intervened, he left school, got married, and had a family. He comes from a family of brick layers and took an apprenticeship in 1973, something he did for 44 years.
While Dale misses being outside and building things, he is now building relationships and has returned to active ministry. “I never wandered far from the church and always had felt a calling, a push, or a nudge to serve,” says Dale. In 2004 he learned about the Lay Academy - Wisconsin Conference UCC and enrolled in their four-year weekend program. The process changed the way Dale viewed God and it became a calling for him. “There were intervening moments in my life where God has worked with me, for me, in spite of me,” says Dale. During his training at the Lay Academy, Dale lost his son and feels if it hadn’t been for his faith, he doubts he and his wife would have make it through that time.
Dale has been encouraged to grow in his faith and has served as pastor for two churches in the Plymouth area. He is currently at a small church in Plymouth and also works as a parttime chaplain at Cedar Community’s Elkhart Lake Campus. Dale was familiar with Cedar Community, volunteering as a chaplain since 2014, until he was hired in 2018. He also works as an oncall pastor at three funeral homes for families who have no church a liation. Dale considers himself retired, but three jobs keep him busy and working fulltime hours.
Dale has always been involved in something and enjoys being active. He feels he receives more than he gives. “I enjoy building relationships with the residents, hearing their stories, and learning about and connecting with their families. I also admire and get to work with wonderful team members at Elkhart Lake and also a wonderful group of chaplains,” says Dale.
In his “retired” time, Dale enjoys sports, reading, building, and spending time with family. In the future, he hopes to travel more.
volunteer highlight
The year 2020 will be one we never forget. We will never forget the comfort, encouragement, and dedication our team members provided to our residents and each other. We will never forget the outpouring of generosity and support from our local community.
Cedar Community thanks all the heroes who helped us meet the challenges of the past year. We continue to move forward in 2021 with the same mission we have followed since we began over 60 years ago. We are humbled by the community who also believes in our mission of caring for those we serve. Your steadfast support does not go unrecognized.
Spring’s volunteer highlight salutes and recognizes all those who have stepped up and walked with us through the challenges we have faced as an organization. We are Cedar Community Strong! “When life gives you a hundred reasons to break down and cry, show life that you have a million reasons to smile and laugh. Stay strong.” – Anonymous
Thank you volunteers for all you have done, going above and beyond what we could have possibly imagined!
Operation Winter Wonderland
The idea, developed by Sarah Malchow, Cedar Community Director of Philanthropy, was initiated to actively engage volunteers, while conforming to COVID-19 guidelines. It provided a holiday team building and volunteer engagement opportunity for local businesses who wanted to show support for the community. Regal Ware, Douglas Dynamics, and West Bend Children’s Theatre, Inc., each graciously adopted a courtyard at Cedar Community and decked them out in wonderful Christmas displays and lights for the residents to enjoy during the holidays.
Veteran’s salute
Horicon Bank and National Exchange Bank and Trust donated Christmas trees and decorations, showcasing a red, white, and blue theme in gratitude to our veterans during the holiday season.
Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School provided art and cards acknowledging veterans for their service to our country.
Among all the volunteers, we also thank those who generously donated to Cedar Community through nancial contributions and gifts shared with residents and team members.
“Thanks to the kindness and generosity of donations we were able to share some cheer and joy with the residents. To see the smiles on their faces was priceless. It was wonderful to bring them such happiness during this time of worry and questions,” Erin Faust, Life Enrichment Director.
To learn more about the many volunteer opportunities available at Cedar Community, contact Bonnie Amerling, Volunteer Coordinator, 262.306.4218.
