Our Team at BrightStar® Senior Living Madison

Education/Experience

From caregiver to Director, my long term care career has been the most exciting, joyful and life enriching experience.  I have worked in assisted living and specialized dementia care since the early 90’s.  Celebrating five years of service this last year at BrightStar was a delight.  It has been incredible assisting the communities to grow in care and support of older adults.

What attracted you to a career supporting and caring for older adults?

I’ve enjoyed teaching various state required assisted living/dementia classes and mentoring for most of my career. My interest and enthusiasm has grown working hands on with residents and their families dealing with dementia.  There is no greater feeling than seeing a new caregiver fall in love with this honorable work.

What are you passionate about in your role?

I have cherished every day, every resident.  Everyone I meet is a friend. I am proudly starting my fifth year with BrightStar Senior Living as Concierge.  One of the things I love the most about my role is the great pleasure of wearing many hats in our beautiful community. I am motivated to be part of a team providing residents and their families with the highest quality care and upholding high standards for all.

What makes BrightStar Senior Living unique?

BrightStar is very unique in the way that all residents and staff are encouraged and supported to share and enjoy each other’s diverse cultures, beliefs, educational backgrounds, and individuality. Everyone is respected and praised, a feeling that we are all connected and can learn from one another.

What brand promise word do you connect with and why?

They say it takes a village, it really does! I live my passion every day through serving our residents, believing that we can beat any illness or diagnosis by the love and dedication we deliver, everyone receives person centered care for a full life each and every day, and no one is ever left behind. Our care is about the individual.

Education/Experience

I have always known that Nursing was the field for me. Right out of high school, I received my Certified Nursing Assistant certificate from Madison College. I first worked as a CNA at St. Mary’s hospital on an orthopedic/urology unit and then moved to Agrace Hospice on the inpatient unit.  During this time, I finished my nursing degree through Herzing University. I worked at Agrace Hospice for a year as a Nurse before coming to BrightStar Senior Living.  Entering my third year with BrightStar is an exciting experience, I feel confident about the quality care we are providing and enjoy helping others find success in their role.

What attracted you to a career supporting and caring for older adults?

Quality of life and individualism is something I have always been passionate about. As individuals age, become ill, or advance in a disease process it can be hard to maintain quality of life and individualism. I have always been passionate about helping older adults maintain both of those things as they lose control of something that they have no power over.

 

What makes BrightStar Senior Living unique? 

The small community! It is a very personable place to work, everyone is family and is treated like it from the second you walk through the door. 

What are you passionate about in your role?

I am passionate about learning every individual resident’s life story. What they used to do, what is important to them, and what I can do as the Nurse to ensure the important things stick with them. I want every resident to feel at home, to ask questions when they don’t understand, and feel comforted knowing they can trust me.

What brand promise word do you connect with and why?

Dignity is the brand promise word I connect with because I believe that regardless of the stage in an individual’s aging or disease process they should be treated and respected like the person they have always been.

Education/Experience 

I received my B.S. in Marketing from Edgewood College in Madison, WI in 2005. Here I learned the importance of strong community involvement and making sure that each client, individual & party alike were heard and valued. I was a Family Service Counselor at Roselawn Memorial Park in Monona, WI for over 8 years and an Advanced Planning & Aftercare Specialist at Gunderson Funeral Home for 2+ years here in Dane County. 

What attracted you to a career supporting and caring for older adults?

Working within the Senior Advocacy Profession for the past 10 years + has allowed me to help and support families at there deepest time of need. Being able to create a lasting memory does not only help those closest to the loved one, but all those that they have had an impression on. Seeing families come together to find the positives is beyond gratifying. 

What makes BrightStar Senior Living unique?

BrightStar is unique in so many ways. The close-knit family feeling you get when you enter our community, the high quality compassionate care provided with personal connections and the peace of mind we can give loved ones.

What are you passionate about in your role?

I am most passionate about providing a better quality of life for everyone. This gives me the opportunity to not only provide a comfortable, safe and at home feel for our residents, but peace of mind to the family knowing that is what we do, and will continue to do.

What brand promise word do you connect with and why?

Though I connect with all of them, Connection would have to be where I relate the most. By being able to connect with not only the residents, but all parts of the family allows me to be a part of what is needed for the entire family. Peace of Mind, safety, healthy living and day to day interaction is a key role of everyone’s’ everyday lives. 

Education/Experience

I have a Culinary Arts/ Management degree from Southwest Technical College. I have worked in the Food service field for 25 years with 20 being in a healthcare setting.

What attracted you to a career supporting and caring for older adults?

Growing up as a child I was always in the kitchen cooking with my grandma’s. They both taught me different tricks of the trade.

What makes BrightStar Senior Living unique?

Bright Star is a unique place because it gives that warm in the home feeling. Being able to provide home cooked meals with passion and pride brings back the memories with family.

What are you passionate about in your role?

The most passionate part of my role is guiding my staff and giving them knowledge a constructive criticism to bring the best for our residents and the communities.

What brand promise do you connect with and why?

The brand promise that I value most is Dignity because there are so many stages of Dementia and I want to offer my knowledge and work with families to keep this at its best through their journey of illness.

Education/Experience

I graduated from UW Oshkosh with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor focused in Social Work.  After graduation I have been lucky to have opportunities working in a variety of settings.  A move to upper Michigan brought me experience working at Trico as a Community Support Director assisting those that live with disabilities to find employment in the community.  After a few years in Michigan, I headed back to Wisconsin to take on a limited term position with Shawano County as a Social Worker assisting elders within their homes.  For the next five years I was the Program Services Director in Green Bay at Van Buren Hall which was an intermediate care facility for people that live with mental illness and developmental disabilities.   The last 20 years of my career I worked at Brewster Village; a skilled nursing home operated by Outagamie County.  While there I started as the Staff Development Coordinator and then eventually took on additional roles as the Volunteer Coordinator and lastly the Life Enrichment Director.  Brewster Village provided me many years of experience overseeing staff education, activities, volunteers, staffing, housekeeping, person directed living, CPR training and Person First training.  I’m now excited to be part of the BrightStar team and bring my experience to those that live here, their families and team members.

What attracted you to a career supporting and caring for older adults?

Once I graduated from college I was like most students and said, “what now.”  My first job working with those that live with disabilities opened my eyes to the possibilities that exist within my area of study.   I developed a fondness for assisting those that live with disabilities, mental illness, and the elderly.  My first trip to a nursing home occurred when I was 23 as part of a volunteer group that was helping elders celebrate Christmas.  Unfortunately, what I saw at that nursing home, opened my eyes to the needs of our elders.  During that visit I saw sadness, disengagement, and lack of dignity for our elders.   This experience fueled my passion to assist elders and to assure that they have the same quality of life as any other citizen.  I have spent the last 20 years dedicated solely to assisting the elderly.  I have been trained in Person First and have promoted person directed living in all aspects of a person’s life.  I was part of an amazing team that advanced person directed initiatives that ultimately led to being asked to present at a national Pioneer Network conference in Louisville to train others about advocating for our elders.

What makes BrightStar Senior Living unique?

Upon moving to Madison, I was excited about the possibilities associated with working in a small, assisted living environment.  My previous place was the home to 204 people, so the idea of working in a smaller environment intrigued me as I knew this would give me an opportunity to really form relationships with those that live here, their families and the team.  Working within a small community allows us to focus on everyone’s individual needs and function like a family.

What are you passionate about in your role?

As the Community Director at BrightStar I’m passionate about making this the best home for those that live here.  Providing high quality services, compassionate care, and a dignified experience for each person is truly important to me.  I’m passionate about working with a team that is open to learning, expanding their skills and implementing person directed living that focuses on each person’s individual needs.  Finally, I’m passionate about being part of the BrightStar community that wants to excel in senior living services.

What brand promise do you connect with and why?

The brand promise that I connect with most is “Embracing Individuality.”  Assuring everyone can live their life how they want is a driving force for me.  Everyone that lives here has a story to tell, which makes them unique.  It is my goal to know their story and assure that I help them continue to thrive in their individuality while they live at BrightStar Senior Living.

Education/Experience

I received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with an emphasis in Human Services from St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.  My first job out of college was in Evanston, Illinois where I was an Activity Assistant.  A few months later, I began working for Brookdale Senior Living as an Activity Director.  Over the next 18.5 years I worked my way up through the company and took on various roles in Independent Living/Assisted Living/Memory Care Communities.  I worked as an Assisted Living Manager, Resident Services Director and an Associate Executive Director.  In 2011, I became an Executive Director of a 60 apartment Memory Care community in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  In December of 2014, I moved to Madison and was the Executive Director of a new Assisted Living/Memory Care community.  Now a member of the BrightStar Team, I am very excited and look forward working with all the residents, families and associates.

What attracted you to a career supporting and caring for older adults?

Senior living has always been a passion of mine!  My Junior year of high school my grandfather moved in with our family.  I loved having him around and spending many of days talking and hearing about his life story.  From our conversations, I thought there was so much more I could learn from our elders.  I began volunteering in skilled nursing homes so I could meet others and hear their stories too.  I knew then, and even more during my years in college, I wanted to work with seniors and one day become an Executive Director.

What makes BrightStar Senior Living unique?

The small, close knit community, the compassionate care, and the peace of mind our residents and families gain are what I truly believe makes Bright Star unique.  I have worked in communities that are 100-300 apartments of residents, and it’s hard when you are that large to really make a personal connection with every resident.

What are you passionate about in your role?

I am passionate about our residents and making sure they get the best quality care.  In addition, I am passionate about our associates and providing them with the best resources, tools and support they need, to deliver on our promise to our residents.

What brand promise do you connect with and why?

The brand promised that I relate to is connection.  Knowing and understanding our residents, their families and our associates is very important to me.  As I listen and learn about their life story, it builds the foundation of trust in our relationship and allows us to connect and grow as a community and as a team.

Owners Jeff Tews and Susan Rather became the first BrightStar Senior Living franchisees by taking ownership of the Madison, WI community in February 2015. In November 2018, they opened a 36 suite BrightStar Senior Living in Waunakee, WI.