St. Paul Elder Services celebrates 80 years of caring

Sue Grossardt

Contributor

October 3, 2023

KAUKAUNA – Over the past eight decades, St. Paul Elder Services (SPES) has been an integral part of the Greater Kaukauna community.

Now, the organization is celebrating 80 years of care.

“We are excited to celebrate this milestone with the community that has helped build our reputation as a caring and compassionate provider of care,” Sondra Norder, president and CEO of St. Paul Elder Services, said. “We have always been ingrained in the fabric of Kaukauna, and it is that deep-rooted relationship that has allowed us to continuously evolve to meet the needs of those who need our services.”

SPES has two campuses – one in Kaukauna and at the McCormick Home in Green Bay.

Norder said the facilities offer a full continuum of care to include community memory care programs, center of rehabilitation, assisted living, memory care assisted living, specialized memory care, long-term care, skilled nursing and hospice.

She said SPES can be described as a hidden gem as they have grown over the last 80 years. 

“Between both campuses, we can care for 311 people living with us,” she said. “We touch an additional 1,800 lives annually through our home training services and short-term programming.”

A bit more history 
The history of St. Paul Elder Services dates back to 1890, when Oscar Thilmany, founder of Thilmany Pulp and Paper Company in Kaukauna, built a mansion, which today holds a place on the historic registry.

Monroe Wertheimer, the second president of Thilmany, purchased the home in 1910.

It remained in the Wertheimer family until 1939 when Monroe’s son Robert gave the mansion to Bishop Paul Rhode of the Green Bay Catholic Diocese. 

Norder said the Bishop accepted the gift without a plan for its eventual use and sought out a religious order to take the home and use it for some kind of charity.

She said the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity of Manitowoc responded to his request – which eventually established it as a visiting nurse center for the poor.

The St. Paul Home for the Aged, Norder said, quickly evolved into St. Paul Elder Services, providing a safe and comfortable home for elderly women, including Edith Grignon, the last living member of the historic family.

Edith moved into St. Paul Home on Sept. 13, 1943, marking the official beginning of St. Paul Elder Services, which Norder said is now celebrated as Founder’s Day. 

Focused on senior care
Norder, who has been in her role at SPES for 13 years, said just as it is for SPES, senior care is a personal mission of hers. 

“One of the reasons I chose to go into this line of work is because my mother is handicapped,” she said. “She lost her left leg to bone cancer when she was 22 years of age and she was pregnant with me at the time. I remember, when I was growing up, she said, ‘please don’t ever put me in a nursing home – I’d rather die than go into a nursing home.’”

Norder had never stepped foot in a nursing facility at that point but said her mother’s plea inspired her to look deeper.

Sondra Norder said it is St. Paul Elder Services’ mission to provide the best possible care possible for its residents. Submitted Photo

“People shouldn’t be terrified to go into a nursing home,” she said. “When it came time to choose a career path in high school, I found that the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire had a healthcare degree that focused on nursing home administration. I definitely wanted to work in health care. I knew that being any sort of clinician was not in the cards for me because I cannot handle the sight of blood. I faint when I see it.”

Recognizing that at some point her mother would need long-term care, Norder said she made it her mission to change the image of nursing homes. 

“I feel passionate about wanting to change the image and perception of nursing homes so that if and when my mom ever does need such a level of care, she’s not terrified of it,” she said. “That’s where my passion stems from, and as soon as I got into the world of working in long-term care, I fell in love with serving others. As soon as I started working in Catholic nonprofit health care, it became a true mission for me.”

Some unexpected hurdles 
Norder said families are repeatedly affirming the care and trust they have in SPES.

“We have heard repeatedly that we are such a hidden gem,” she said. “Once their loved one got here, they felt so certain and comfortable that they got the care they needed, they were (finally) able to be a visitor again and they could enjoy time with mom or dad. They no longer had to put on that constant caregiver hat – what a relief that offers.”

Norder said she thinks about that aspect of things a lot.

“I think about the trust and faith people put in us, and it motivates me as well as our team,” she said.

Norder said the COVID-19 pandemic hit the SPES communities hard – losing 31 residents between the two campuses. 

“We had families try to comfort us with flowers and treats because they knew how dedicated we were to protecting their loved ones,” she said. “They knew this virus was more than what any organization could handle until the vaccine came along. That tells a big story about how families know that their loved ones are in the best hands.”

Like many organizations today, staffing, Norder said, has been a struggle – but said they’ve been improved some lately.

“We were in an all-hands-on-deck situation,” she said. “A lot of effort went into promoting the certified nurse assistant (CNA) caregiving profession and improving that caregiving pipeline not only at our level but at regional and state levels as well.”

Norder said SPES has seen success with programs like the WisCaregiver Careers Program, a Wisconsin workforce development initiative helping to address the shortage of CNAs in nursing home facilities. 

“The WisCaregiver Careers Program pays for getting students into CNA training and gives them credit once they have completed the training,” she said. 

Norder said finding licensed nursing staff is an even greater challenge.

“That’s been a well-known crisis well before the pandemic with many nurses retiring out of the workforce and not being replaced – largely because of the lack of nursing instructors to get new nurses trained and placed into the workforce,” she said.

Though SPES has struggled with staffing vacancies, Sondra Norder said the organization has strategically utilized its current staff as effectively as possible. Submitted Photo

Norder said SPES has strategically pivoted to improve staffing issues.

“We have done creative things to manage that situation, including getting many of our CNAs trained to pass medication,” she said. “Fox Valley Technical College offers a course on the subject freeing up our licensed nurses to focus on tasks that truly require a licensed nurse.”

A focus shift
Despite the struggles, Norder said the future is bright for SPES as it completes its comprehensive strategic planning process.

“The couple of key areas of focus include a shift in our care philosophy and care-delivery model from a person-centered approach to a resident-directed life,” she said. “The key component to that will be a renovation to a more home-like environment.”

Over the next five years, Norder said SPES is looking to redesign and reposition its Kaukauna campus.

“We are looking at a significant capital project where we would essentially rebuild our long-term nursing home to make it more of a household design versus institutional long hallways we have at this time,” she said. “We are also looking to add more assisted living to our campus, as we know that is a market need and is another way we can meet the needs of people requiring long-term care services with the staffing we have available to us.”

The plan also includes the possibility of additional facilities, as well.

“Which is what we did in 2018 when we acquired the McCormick home from the Green Bay Catholic Diocese,” she said. “That is within our strategic priorities, as well as analyzing any opportunities that may come our way to grow.”

For more information on St. Paul Elder Services, visit stpaulelderservices.org.