Business View Magazine
        
        
          
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          Sawatzky: “The selling points at Chinook are the care we
        
        
          take for the residents right from walking in the door. We
        
        
          give them free meal tickets because we want them to
        
        
          try the meals here. We have a tremendous reputation
        
        
          in the community for our kitchen and our cooks and the
        
        
          type of food that they put out. We have a full-time Rec-
        
        
          reation Therapist, a Registered Nurse, Licensed Nurse
        
        
          Practitioners, healthcare aides  - we want to take care of
        
        
          the residents and look after them in all capacities. Car-
        
        
          ing and taking time is really important.” Sawatzky is also
        
        
          quick to point out the benefits of Chinook Village’s prime
        
        
          locale: “Medicine Hat is actually one of the warmest and
        
        
          sunniest places in Western Canada. For seniors, that’s a
        
        
          huge attraction. We attract from two different provinces
        
        
          – Saskatchewan and Alberta - because of our location.
        
        
          Sometimes the waiting list has been as long as two years
        
        
          to get into Chinook.”
        
        
          Kerr: “It takes special people to work with seniors . We
        
        
          have a core group of Licensed Practical Nurses, who are
        
        
          professionally trained; they’re very committed to our resi-
        
        
          dents. We hear that every day from families and the resi-
        
        
          dents. I think they are one of our biggest assets. I like the
        
        
          way they treat our residents. We also have a very good
        
        
          recreation department  and activities for the residents on
        
        
          a daily basis. And we have our own chaplain, here.”
        
        
          Sawatzky also emphasizes the value of the Village’s
        
        
          100-member staff: “As people come into our facility, they
        
        
          say ‘This is the friendliest staff to work with!’ And many
        
        
          people on staff say that this is like being part of a fam-
        
        
          ily. When you have that kind of approach from your staff,
        
        
          it rubs off on how you treat residents and how the resi-
        
        
          dents feel about being here. We work where they live and
        
        
          they live where we work. There’s open communication
        
        
          and good rapport among people. It really does go a long
        
        
          way towards  setting us apart as a facility.”
        
        
          As Chinook Village contemplates its future, it can be
        
        
          confident that its 20-plus years of resident-focused care
        
        
          and concern, combined with its exquisite amenities and
        
        
          varied menu of leisure activities, has already ensured its
        
        
          reputation as one of Alberta’s finest and most successful
        
        
          over-50, senior communities.
        
        
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