$8.5 million Holland Home Breton Rehab & Living Center overhaul to bring 10-15 jobs with new center

Construction is finally underway for the new $8.5 million expansion project at Holland Home's Breton Rehabilitation & Living Center, scheduled for completion in late 2015. 

When finished, the privately funded overhaul will include a 4,560-square-foot rehabilitation center and a 13,390-square-foot, 15-bed memory care assisted living unit and bring 10-15 new jobs to accommodate the increased capacity. 

Mina Breuker, chief operating officer of Holland Home, says many of these new positions will be in the new memory care assisted living unit for what she calls "universal workers," who are expected not only to work with residents from both a customer service angle and clinical knowledge base, but also know food service techniques and light housekeeping. 

"They do everything," Breuker says. "It's like a home – we do everything, our own laundry, cleaning and that type of thing. Employees take ownership and for the right person, it's a very rewarding work environment." 

Part of the nonprofit's Breton Woods campus, the memory care assisted living space will be a "deinstitutionalized version of the typical nursing home," with more spacious private rooms and bathrooms with communal dining and living areas and a residential style kitchen. The new assisted living facility will also house a den, spa, nurse station, staff office, and separate clean and soiled linen rooms. 

Breuker says the assisted living unit will also feature a built-in ceiling track lift system that will make it possible for a single person to perform a safe transfer of a resident from the bed to a chair or to the bathroom, making the personal care process much easier on both staff and residents.  

She says with completion slated for fall 2015 she expects Holland Homes will be filling up those assisted living facility positions over the course of next summer to allow for any in-house training required for the new hires. 

To learn more about openings at all of the Holland Home locations, visit http://hollandhome.org/employment/. 

Written by Anya Zentmeyer
Images courtesy of Holland Home