By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Lonoke Health and Rehab at 1501 Lincoln St. showed off its brand-new look Thursday with an open house.
More than 200 backpacks filled with school supplies were given away in 45 minutes. Door prizes were awarded, and visitors enjoyed refreshments, including desserts from Charlotte’s Eats and Sweets in Keo. Even Elvis stopped by.
The long-term care facility is licensed to house 80 residents, according to administrator Ashley Thomley. It serves 55 now.
“Our mission is to give better quality care to improve the lives of the elderly, to make it feel like home instead of feel like an institution or something like that, (for them) to still be treated as people instead of numbers,” she told The Leader.
Activities — bingo, bunco, other games and more — are offered several times a day and the staff’s goal is to allow the residents as much independence as possible while meeting their daily needs, Thomley continued.
Other services include physical, occupational and speech therapy.
All but four of the center’s rooms are semi-private and designed for two roommates, but any semi-private room could easily be converted into a private room if needed, she noted.
The facility also offers a state-of-the-art whirlpool bath and a beauty salon many residents enjoy, she continued. Many residents are Medicaid recipients, Thomley confirmed.
Ann Pratt, who has lived there for 21 years, said, “All these renovations just blow me away…This is very, very nice.”
She added that the Lonoke Health and Rehab staff is excellent.
Thomley said CNAs and LPNs are on duty 24 hours a day. RNs are there for eight-hour shifts. There are about 80 people on staff, but a full house would require 120.
The administrator noted, “We can do that. That’s not a problem.”
Resident Marsha Kendrick has lived there almost a year. She said, “(The remodel) makes it look like a resort room…If you’ve got to be in a place, this is the place to be. I enjoy being here. I think of it as home now.” She added that the staff is congenial and here to help the residents.
