BELLE FOURCHE—The end of the summer is here, so what better time to have a party to celebrate that? At least that was Rolling Hills Healthcare decided to do on Saturday, September 6.
Inviting the public to the facility to celebrate the season and hosting a BBQ with yard games was the plan. This is a new event for the center and a way to open the doors to the community. “Most of the administration here is really new, fresh. We’ve had a lot of change in the last year or so and we wanted to give the community an opportunity to kind of just come meet some of us and see what we’ve got going on and have conversations, if they want,” explained Alissa Kuka, Director of Nursing.
For lunch there was a variety of salads to choose from, along with a shredded pork, sloppy joe or hot dog sandwiches and drinks. A cotton candy machine for fresh cotton candy was available.
For the kids there was a huge assortment of games and activities for them to explore. “We wanted to make it where parents could come up and visit—a lot of our family members, for our residents, are in that in between where they’ve still got younger kids and they’re also helping with their folks—so we wanted them to have an opportunity where they could come and enjoy and have some free food and let their kids kind of burn some energy,” said Kuka.
To get the bouncy houses and games for the kids to enjoy, they made a trip to the Rapid City area. Kuka shared, “The Air Force Base offers discounts for military folks to actually rent these castles—a couple of our veteran staff members went over there and we rented those for the kids!”
The Vitalant blood donation truck was onsite and free wellness checks were provided to those that wanted to participate.
Rolling Hills administration was excited with the turn out and look forward to more community engagement. “It is just really encouraging! We know it’s been kind of hit and miss, as far as administration and leadership in the building, and we just want to open the doors for anybody who’s inquiring to come and meet us and see us and see that we genuinely are caring people want to do good by our residents,” explained Kuka. “So we’re inviting the community to come and establish a relationship with us again!”
Rolling Hills Healthcare is a skilled nursing home that specializes in short-term rehabilitation for those recovering from hospitalization, as well as long-term care services focused on the elderly 24-hour nursing care in-house. According to Kuka, they provide therapies, dietary management and medicine management.
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