The Continental Care Center at Seymour, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation community in Seymour, Iowa, continues to raise the quality-of-life bar in the long-term care arena. On October 27th, 2009, the residents and staff joined forces to make popcorn balls in preparation for the upcoming Halloween night festivities. Lorie Jellison, Assistant Administrator/Activities, who organized the event stated, "It was an amazingly fun time! The staff and many of the residents pitched in and made over 100 popcorn balls for visiting Trick-or-Treaters." Facility Administrator, Elizabeth Owens commented, "Senior living activities are often one of the most valuable segments yet often prove one of the most difficult. Quality of life has a great deal to do with length of life. It distracts attention from other less pleasant facts of life and reminds our residents and their families that there are still bright spots that we can capture and enjoy together."

The Care Center in Seymour is, at first glance, a typical senior living community; however, when inspected more closely, visitors find there is more at work here than first meets the eye. Lorie Jellison explained, "The current owners are local and they purchased us when we had basically lost hope. Everyone said it was over and that our community was going to be closed!" however, the naysayers had not met Morgan Cline or Bill Burch! Morgan and Bill purchased the business and, to use a rather trite saying, breathed new life into it, helping us become once more a community in the truest sense of the word. Bill and Morgan's philosophy is that our primary responsibility is the physical and emotional well being of the residents; then...we will turn our focus on making improvements to the physical plant. According to Jellison, one of the first major improvements Morgan Cline and Bill Burch instituted was a wireless call system that allowed calls for assistance from residents to be monitored. Lorie states, “Everyone knows that when Bill walks in, his first question after saying hello to everyone is, 'What was the average call response time during the past 24 hours?' If the answer is more than 3 minutes, Bill starts asking questions!. Bill made the following comment, "We are beating the odds. There are a few basic reasons why we have been able to do what we are doing in a town of less than 500 people. Everyone is dedicated to providing the residents of The Continental Care Center in Seymour with the best possible care, period! We have fun but we take systems and direct care very seriously. Everyone dislikes waiting, whether you are the one waiting or the person waiting is someone you love. Our per-patient-per-day staffing ratio is higher than any care facility in our region. So, when you combine the staff-to-patient ratio and the insatiable desire of our employees to respond to our residents' calls as quickly as possible, our response times are typically four times faster than the competition and sometimes better.

Now..combine the care initiative with the fun activities that we try to pattern after those our residents probably enjoyed when they lived in their own homes and the result is a wonderful quality of life. We constantly strive to improve the quality of our residents' lives, and as a result, families are often willing to drive long distances to make sure their loved ones receive the best care available. The Continental Care Center at Seymour comprises as much as 10% of our local population, something that is unheard of. Bill further states, "...and we are not finished!!"

It is obvious that the staff and residents of The Continental Care Center at Seymour have come up with the winning combination that results in everything from hard-to-beat response times to homemade popcorn balls for the local children. I might add that when the children took home the popcorn balls made by the residents of The Continental Care Center at Seymour, parents knew they could allow the children to enjoy the treats with their only concern being sticky fingers on the furniture! Only at The Continental Care Center at Seymour does one find the care of the residents to be so comprehensive and complete!