WEDNESDAY, march 17, 2021 | SENIOR LIVING | PAGE 1
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Thorne Crest is owned and operated by American Baptist Homes of the Midwest, a not-for-profit provider of senior health care since 1930.
SENIOR LIVING
Gabrielle Studier is the director of nursing at St. John’s Lutheran Community’s Luther Place campus. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune
‘It’s like home’ for St. John’s Lutheran community’s new director of nursing By Sarah Stultz
sarah.stultz@albertleatribune.com
The new director of nursing at St. John’s Lutheran Community off of Minnesota Highway 13 has a long history with the Albert Lea care center. Gabrielle Studier said she started as a community assistant there when she was 16 and through the years became a certified nursing assistant, got trained in medication administration and then became a licensed practical nurse. She worked for a year in Blooming Prairie and came back to the nursing home for a year after having her oldest child, and then worked as a nurse at the Freeborn County jail for seven years before returning
once again. Upon returning, she first stepped into the role as nurse manager and then became director of nursing. “Every time I come back, it’s like home,” Studier said. “This is where I started my journey.” As director of nursing, she oversees all the nurses, CNAs, TMAs and community assistants — she estimated about 50 people over all of the shifts. She said she enjoys working in the senior care setting because she enjoys hearing the residents’ stories and learning where they came from, along with meeting all of their families. During her time at the jail, she said there were a lot more mental health needs there and
“Every time I come back, it’s like home. This is where I started my journey.” — Gabrielle Studier, director of nursing at St. John’s Lutheran Community, Luther Place campus the turnover was more frequent. “It’s nice to get to know the residents,” she said. She talked about the challenges care centers have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and said she was proud the facility went all of 2020 without any positive cases of COVID-19 in their residents. In January, they had an outbreak in the facility — even
one positive case is considered an outbreak, she said. They had to open their COVID unit — an area in the facility that was not previously being used — to help isolate cases. “It helped having that,” she said. She said they were in “an outbreak” for three weeks and were successfully able to keep the virus from spreading to the
rest of the building. Now, about 95% of the residents and about half of the staff are vaccinated, and they are looking forward to spring. She said there is some remodeling happening on the first floor of the facility, where a former nurses station is being turned into a sitting area for residents. They also look forward to starting the garden. Studier and her husband, Troy, have three children — Cahston, 13, Ledger, 11, and Kinley, 9. She said they enjoy sports and noted that they are looking forward to baseball and softball in the summer, as well as camping. Born and raised in Albert Lea, she is the daughter of Fred and Laurie Valdez.
Albert Lea woman’s grandson part of protecting the president By Sarah Stultz
sarah.stultz@albertleatribune.com
While most people watch the festivities surrounding a presidential inauguration on the television or online, one local woman’s grandson got to take part in them first-hand as a member of the Secret Service for President Joe Biden. Colleen Ingvaldson, who lives at Thorne Crest Senior Living Community, said her grandson, Nick Wadding, has been in the Secret Service for about 12 years and spent Christmas a few years ago with former President Barack Obama. “He’s been all over,” Ingvaldson said. Wadding is the son of Kim and Judy Wadding and grew up in Iowa. She said her son was a chief of police in Dubuque, Iowa, and when her grandson grew up, he went to college and decided he
“It’s amazing. I didn’t ever dream it.” — Colleen Ingvaldson wanted to be a police officer, too. After time working as an officer in Iowa, he decided he wanted to work for the Secret Service and was accepted. The grandmother said her grandson spent his first years in the Secret Service in Nebraska and then has spent the remainder in Washington, D.C. She has a picture of him walking next to the president’s vehicle during the presidential motorcade on Inauguration Day this year. “It’s amazing,” she said. “I didn’t ever dream it.”
Colleen Ingvaldson holds up a picture of her grandson, who took part in the presidential motorcade as a member of the Secret Service in the recent presidential inauguration in January. Provided