By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

A change in ownership recently took place at a business with one of the larger-footprints in New York Mills as Mills Manor was purchased by Vitality Living. Five Pines Senior Solutions, who previously owned the assisted living facility, sold the company the NY Mills location as well as locations in Sebeka, Park Rapids, Remer, Upsala, and Kimball.

Tyler Hoemberg, owner and operator of Vitality Healthcare Management, also owns a location in Aitken, which makes for seven total senior living facilities across the state under his management. He emphasized the importance of giving support to each facility, while allowing the executive directors at each facility to find the most effective plan for their location.

“I’ve been in the industry since 2001 and being in healthcare for so long, I see the impacts of poor care being delivered by several other companies,” said Hoemberg. “My main focus has always been providing high quality care to people. I wanted to expand our reach and that’s when the health care management company was developed, so I started looking for places to expand our reach and that’s when the acquisition of Five Pines that previously owned NY Mills and the other five sites.”

Discussion on the purchase started nearly a year ago, but Hoemberg said that things started really picking up in January when the management company came to be. Vitality Healthcare Management oversees all seven sites with Hoemberg at the helm, guiding and supporting each executive director in the hopes that they will find the right path for their individual location.

“Our ability with the management company is giving all of the locations the support that’s needed to essentially run those locations effectively,” said Hoemberg. “And being able to provide good care. I’ve sat in the executive director’s seat for years and know the impact of a corporate entity trying to create all these different programs and things that need to be done in such a cookie cutter method and expecting executive directors to implement things in their buildings that might not work.

“Really, the concept behind the whole management piece is that I’ve sat in that seat and I understand where support is really needed and that’s at the executive director level, so being able to allow them to run their campuses like they feel they should be and we are just providing the support where they feel that they need it,” he continued.

Hoemberg said that this has been the easiest transition in his career and hopes that all future locations that they acquire will go this seamlessly. Between the staff members and the residents, his goal was to continue to provide quality care and to disrupt the lives of those involved as little as possible.

“I think we’ll see some changes going forward, but ultimately, it’s just working with the teams at each one of the sites and understand how they can best be effective,” he said. “From a NY Mills standpoint, it’s really going in there and looking at what we can do to update the space and provide the tools and equipment necessary for the staff to be able to focus on the residents.”

“We really see that NY Mills has a need for senior care and giving people the ability to stay within that region is important for us,” he said. “So investing those dollars back into the community and giving people in the healthcare field a place to stay around NY Mills and give care to people that have been there for a very long time.”

One of the first updates to the building has been the replacement of worn carpeting to new vinyl flooring. Further updates are in the works including updating nurses’ stations, common areas, and unused spaces such as the building’s chapel which, prior to Vitality’s involvement, was used as a dumping ground for the facility’s excess mattresses, furniture, decorations, etc.

“There’s so much potential,” said Executive Director Nicole Sorum. “Seeing the positive change, even from the end of February to now, and seeing the change in staff. Making sure the staff have what they need, they know that when Tyler or I say something, it’s going to happen. It might not happen that day, but give us a some time and we’re going to make it happen.”

Sorum started out in the private sector of the healthcare field before working for a corporate structure where she saw the same processes that Hoemberg didn’t like about the corporate sector of healthcare.

“It was exactly as Tyler said, it was cookie cutter,” she said. “They thought that the buildings in the Twin Cities were the same as the ones in Brainerd and it wasn’t.”

Sorum decided to make a change and applied for the administrator role at Mills Manor while it was still under the management of Five Pines Senior Solutions.

“There was a lot of things happening at this facility at that time,” she said. “They went through so many administrator and the core staff have been through it all, they see that I am here to stay to get us to where we need to be. Vitality came in and it wasn’t a scary change for us, we were excited.”

She said that a big part of the change has been the community involvement and getting the word out that not only have they changed hands, but they are revitalizing the senior living facility. Chatting with people around town has already yielded positive results for Sorum.

“Being proud to be out in the community, that’s a big thing,” she said. “It’s just getting out there, visiting with somebody at the bakery and at the Post Office. Angie, our activities director, is from this area, so that helps a lot too. I think it’s just being out there and building that rapport with the social workers in our area, with Perham Health and Astera. Letting them know things have changed here. This is who we are, this is where we’re going—that has made a very big difference.”

For those who are interested in learning more about the facility they can call Vitality Living at (218) 385-4700, visit their Facebook page and their website at www.vitalityhm.com.