Dec. 29, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Dow Rummel Village.

After eight years, Patti Hanson thought it was time to move on from her role at Dow Rummel Village.

She understandably was experiencing COVID-19-related fatigue as she balanced taking care of residents at work with taking care of her own father when not working.

“I got whisked away by a big pay increase at another facility,” she said.

But after two weeks in the new job, “I realized there was something special about being at Dow Rummel I just couldn’t overlook,” she said. “It was within my heart I couldn’t do the other job.”

She reached out and asked if she could be hired back.

“And it’s never been more obvious this is where I’m supposed to be,” said Hanson, who works as a life enrichment associate.

“The culture of care here is superb, and I was welcomed back with open arms by the staff and by residents.”

For Lazette Finley, who began at Dow Rummel in November, it came down to two job options.

“The other paid more, but I still chose Dow Rummel because it just felt good when you walked in the door,” said Finley, who had her own medical billing business and decided to semiretire to find a part-time job in medical billing.

“The other place you felt tension, and you don’t have that here.”

While both women chose their jobs at Dow Rummel despite a gap in pay, that changed shortly after Finley started and Hanson returned.

With support from its board of trustees, Dow Rummel recently announced a historic wage increase and significant improvements to benefits. The minimum wage is now set at $15 per hour, and all employees received at least a $1-per-hour increase, with many receiving a bigger increase based on the competitive job market.

“Our staff are such a huge component to our quality of care,” CEO Darla Van Rosendale said. “And it’s so important to have consistency. That’s how you build relationships with residents and families. Especially during the pandemic, our staff were family to our residents. So when turnover occurs, that’s especially hard.”

Dow Rummel also increased its referral bonuses, paying up to $400 for employees who help recruit other employees, improved a paid time off formula for new and recently hired employees and continued an increased Christmas-bonus formula to recognize the good work that has been done in the past year.

“There’s no question it’s gotten harder to work in health care, including wearing personal protective equipment and going through testing,” Van Rosendale said. “The environment has changed, and it takes a strong person to work in it, and we expect that we need to pay accordingly.”

But it’s also the environment at Dow Rummel that attracted and keeps people like Hanson and Finley – and that’s something that brings value beyond a bigger paycheck.

“It’s a culture of caring, and there’s an ability to shine here,” Hanson said. “There’s camaraderie between the residents and the staff and us as colleagues, and it’s not cold. It’s not sterile. It’s family-oriented. I can’t explain it any better.”

If you’re considering where to work, just take a walk around the place, Finley encouraged.

“See how they treat their residents and how they interact with each other, and you’ll just see that it’s a different atmosphere,” she said. “It’s a beautiful place, and people are open to you. They know when you’re new, and they reach out to help. Everybody is pretty much always happy. There’s laughter and pleasant exchanges in the hallways, and it’s just fun.”

Van Rosendale actually did the same walk when she joined the team 24 years ago.

“There was something about the warm, friendly atmosphere that intrigued me,” she said. “And I’m glad I came because that remains today.”

For Hanson, whose job in life enrichment allows her to do just that – enrich the lives of residents – a day at work can mean anything from driving a bus tour to show residents what’s new in Sioux Falls to providing manicures or leading in Christmas carols.

Being able to do such meaningful work is “overwhelming,” she added. “You really do get to enrich their lives, and they enrich yours in return.”

And while she once thought she wouldn’t stay, now “I will retire from Dow Rummel,” she said. “As long as I’m physically able, I see myself being here several more years, and if I don’t retire until I’m 70, I’d feel great.”

Since the increased pay and benefits were announced, interest in open positions has increased, but there are some openings still available.

“We’ve been pleased with the new hires we’ve been able to make, but we do still have opportunities,” Van Rosendale said. “Pick a shift, and we’ve probably got an opening or two.”

To learn more about opportunities at Dow Rummel Village, click here.