Medilodge of Gaylord

Dear Staff + Friends

Just a brief thank you for all of the love and care I received over the past six weeks here. Tomorrow I go home to Pellston. I will miss everyone.

My favorite pastime was watching the fish and garden! I am planning on getting some fish when I get home as they are easy, fun companions!

Keep up the wonderful work, and I will be back to visit soon.

MediLodge Staff,

I want to thank you for the care I had during my stay at Medi Lodge. When they told me that they wanted to transfer me from OMH, I was concerned because of the care people I know had when the same facilities was TenderCare. I must say, after being at Medilodge my concerns were not justified.

The MediLodge staff and facilities were above my expectations. I could not have asked for better care from the Nurses and their supporting personnel. They were all friendly and very professional. You are very lucky to have food service and dining facilities that could compete with the better local dining facilities. Even though you are not connected directly with OMH, that is not a problem since you have a nice bus and driver that will take you to other medical facilities.

I hope that I will not need long term care facilities in the future but if I do, my first choice would be Medilodge.

I wish that I could personally thank every single person here, in every department, on every shift. The staff are tremendous and always friendly. The therapies were terrific, the food was great, five stars all the way.
His wife Barbara added,
They were good, to all of us. That means A lot.

To the staff and workers of MediLodge,

The MacDonald family would like to thank you for the wonderful care of our mom; Carol MacDonald received while living there.

She loved you all very much, and we loved it when we walked in and could hear her laugh because one of you would take the extra time to make her day and make her laugh.
We also liked when we could come, and one or two of you would be comforting her.

We are all going to miss her yaya’s and again thank you very much.

I didn’t know what to expect of MediLodge and all its employees, but I was pleasantly surprised. My first day was busy meeting with silly Della, and then there was Dorothy, social service and the dietician, and the doctor. The days flew by.

As I started to settle in, I started meeting some more fantastic people. The day nurses Alicia and Crystal, to name a couple than night time nurses Lauren and deb, to name a couple. Then there are the CNA’S and CENA’S Kelly, John, Damien, and Tyler. I haven’t learned everyone’s name, unfortunately. And I can’t forget the ladies that give the showers, Sandy and Nicole.

My goal to leave here was the fantastic therapy team, who don’t like taking no for an answer. I worked with just about everyone on there, including Barb, Todd, Tim, Leo, and Ashley. I loved the different activities they offer here, such as Bingo, Bounce Ball, Activities Cart, to name a few. All in all, my stay here was a lot more than I expected. I can’t thank you all enough.

When Daniel Ford came to MediLodge of Gaylord, He had a capped off trach, and a need of therapies to regain his strength physically and confidence in self cares. Although a self-proclaimed “loner”, Daniel spoke of the bond he shared with staff at MediLodge of Gaylord. With tears in both his, and his daughter’s eyes he stated “everyone here has become like family.” His daughter added “everyone is very accommodating, to him, me and my kids. I’m so glad I could bring them in to see him”

Daniel worked hard to regain his strength and was able to walk out the doors of MediLodge of without his Trach! Daniel is a true testimony of strength, hard work, and drive. We are so grateful that we were able to be a part of his healing process. Best of luck to you, and your family, Daniel.

We would like to thank you for the abundance of kindness, care, and concern you provided for Paul while he was a resident at MediLodge. We would also like to commend your organization for putting together a staff to be very proud of. We were blessed to receive excellent care from the staff at MediLodge.

On December 27th, 2019, my mother suffered a significant CVA on the right side of her brain while at home alone, leaving her with full left-sided deficits. She was at an in-patient rehab prior to coming to MediLodge of Gaylord. Although she made progress there, her significant improvement started at your facility.

The person in charge of intake, Della, worked very hard at getting her into MediLodge of Gaylord and kept our family updated on the status of her intake. When she arrived, she had little to no movement on her left arm, and on the day of her discharge (2/22/19), she was able to play cards, hold things with her left hand, and walk with assistance. More importantly, she has hope that she will lead an independent life again. Anyone who has ever had their independence removed from them goes through depression and a period where they wonder if their life will ever again be the same. Dealing with this frustration and keeping a positive attitude is not easy.

The staff at your MediLodge of Gaylord encouraged a positive attitude and made her feel comfortable. Every day that I visited, I would hear wonderful stories about the staff that was making an impact on her life at MediLodge. I would hear about how Ashley, her physical therapist had worked her so hard in therapy that she could barely move, but how much fun she was and how much more fun she made therapy. I heard how her CNA, Nicole, was always helping her with the little things like getting dressed and using the restroom with dignity and other daily things. Your nursing program made sure that she was taking her daily medication on-time and was always evaluating the need for more and/or less.

The weekly care meetings that family was included in were very well done, where my mother was asked what was working and what was not. She was asked if there was anything that MediLodge of Gaylord could do to make things better for her. She enjoyed the daily activities that aided her physical therapy, like the balloon game and bingo! I firmly believe that the environment created by staff and residents alike contributed greatly to her recovery and forward progress.

Although the road to complete recovery will be long, I believe that your facility and staff have laid a stable and firm path to build on and our family is very thankful that she [my mother] was at this facility. From the entire family of Diana Salyers, we thank all of you for creating a safe and nurturing environment that has allowed her to go home. Your staff should all be very proud!

Sincerely, Pete Nicholson and the rest of Diana Salyers family!

This is a little late, but better late than never.

Several months ago, the Herald Times printed a letter about the dedication of a MediLodge of Gaylord employee. I recently experienced a similar situation.

My husband, Leonard, was at Munson Healthcare Otsego Memorial Hospital for five days before he passed away in December. Prior to his hospital stay, he had been at MediLodge of Gaylord for several years.

Dan Peters, another dedicated MediLodge employee, visited by husband every day at OMH. In addition, he called me every night to make sure that I was alright.

I was very appreciative because I have no family close by and I thank him for being such a caring person and friend.

(Taken from Gaylord Herald Times | OPINION: https://www.petoskeynews.com/gaylord/news/opinion/opinion-letter-to-the-editor-medilodge-employee-went-above-and/article_932d1703-b331-5118-83bd-6c566ba6a55c.html)

You gave me a home when I really needed it and the care that I got there [MediLodge of Gaylord] was really great! I made some great friends and met some wonderful people who care about their job and their patients. I would highly recommend MediLodge of Gaylord to anyone! If anything happens to me, I’m coming home, to MediLodge. Love to each and every one of you. I love you and miss you!

“I would like to take this opportunity to give a special thank you to the staff of your vent unit. Can I say what a blessing to have such a wonderful staff and medical facility. My sister was a patient there for the past ten years and your staff from day one of my visit to the last, was OUTSTANDING. It’s not often that you find the complete staff or organization with such a positive outlook and attitude. I must say that is exactly what I observed during my visits. I know in a lot of ways she became a member of your family there, and I am so glad you were able to share part of your life with her.”

“I like the activities we do here. Playing cards is my favorite, but we also do puzzles, games, etc. We even have a coffee hour to just plain talk and really get to know each other.”

“The commitment to quality designated by this award is a key first step to developing systematic, sustainable, person-centered care and services. We congratulate all of our 2010 winners on this prestigious achievement.”