From The Bottom Of Our Hearts

Photo of Jennifer Stanley

Photo of Jennifer Stanley

We are over the moon. For the fourth year in a row we have been awarded Best of the Best. This year we were lucky enough to win in all three categories of Best Assisted Living, Best Retirement Facility and Best Place to Work. Thank you so much!

I want to send a huge thank you to our incredible staff here at The Willows. Thank you all, for your dedication, your deeply caring personalities, your humor (which is very important!) and your collective vision in embracing this Willows family and this culture of putting residents first. You are the ones who win this award every day, showing up and giving so much of your hearts to this place and these residents. You make The Willows the wonderful community that it is.

I want to thank our founders, The Daniels Family, and our Management team, Brenda, Blake, David, Danielle, Felicia, Hailey, Tina, Esmerelda. All of you, thank you for your support in building this place and this team. We have created something different and special together here and I could not have done this without you all.

And I want to thank the community of Marshalltown. Thank you for seeing us and for recognizing the unique place we have built. It means so much to us to show up at work every day with the appreciation of this community at our back. Any storm that comes our way, we feel ready to face with this team and this community behind us.

We will not let you down. We pledge to keep working every day to do justice to this award and strive to be the best of the best; by supporting one another, by working to create the best quality of life possible for seniors at The Willows, and by honoring this great community we are lucky enough to live in.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Love,

Jennifer Stanley

Executive Director

 

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Why “Be Prepared” is a Great Motto

Photo of Jennifer Stanley

Photo of Jennifer Stanley

If you’ve been reading my columns for a little while now, you’ve gotten a snapshot into the way my mind works.

As you might have noticed, I try to think of everything. You may be just like me in that regard.

The other day, I got to thinking about the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared.” Remember that one?

I realized that as Executive Director of The Willows, that’s a motto I use often too. And you know what? That is a great motto for every senior and their family.

“Be Prepared” for a Boy Scout means having what you need for whatever terrain you enter into.
For a senior, “Be Prepared” means much the same thing. But as we age, we realize that the terrain can change a lot, sometimes in a short time.

Every day in my job I take calls from seniors and their families who are facing the difficult challenge of building a whole retirement plan for Mom and Dad immediately after a fall or after finding out their health, their memory, or their quality of life has taken a steep decline. The road back from those unplanned-for challenges can be tricky.

But those families that prepare and have a plan for when Mom and Dad might need to transition to Assisted Living or Memory Care, often find themselves in much better shape when these challenges present themselves, making the transition so much smoother for everyone.

But hey, even if you’re in a tough spot, if you have the right trail guide (that’s me!) we can find a way through together.

So be like a good Scout, Be Prepared. Give me a call at 641 485 1672. This week, tomorrow, or anytime soon.

This gives us time to make a great plan for Mom or Dad to navigate the territory ahead with ease. I look forward to meeting you.

Love,

Jennifer Stanley
Executive Director
The Willows

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Read the entire July 2022 Willows Life Newsletter (pdf)

Jumping into July!

Summertime and the living is easy. Fish are jumping and the cotton is high. This Ella Fitzgerald song bumps through your mind, doesn’t it? Can you believe it is July? If anyone grew up on a farm in Iowa, July meant garden harvest. My grandparents had a large garden and would plant several different vegetables. My sister and I…

Read the entire July 2022 Willows Life Newsletter (pdf).

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