Letters from American Red Cross Employees

The staff is wonderful, PT and OT are great. The CNA's and nurses are awesome, the activities they offer are great. I love everybody!

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.

The whole staff is terrific; they took me in as a long lost son. I couldn't be happier! It's excellent here, you ask for a cup of coffee at Sam, they get you a cup of coffee. The food was excellent compared to the last place. There's no better place to be. I can't thank everyone enough.

"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 chose MediLodge of Gaylord for myself to receive physical therapy and I am happy that I did. I can’t say that there was a specific department or person that stood out amongst the rest because everybody is somebody. Everyone here is very important and wonderful. It doesn’t matter what job they held; Nurse, Kitchen staff, Housekeeping, Office staff or any other job in between. Everybody works hard to do such a great job. I was very well cared for here. Everyone treated me with respect and I would recommend MediLodge of Gaylord to anyone who may need care. I would also like to add that I am very appreciative to every staff member here and they deserve to be given respect, honor and dignity for all of their hard work.

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!

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.

"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."