The Holland Tulip Time celebration is a special tradition for the city of Holland, Michigan, and the surrounding areas, including Zeeland. Jeff Zylstra, Community Manager at Royal Park Place, our Retirement Living community in Zeeland, shared the following: Over the past 25 years, I have had the privilege of attending many funeral services. As I enter the funeral home or church, I am almost always greeted by beautiful bouquets of flowers–some elaborate, some simple, but all given by someone special, in memory of someone special. But, like all living things, the time comes when even these gestures of remembrance fade and die. That is, unless, the flowers given in memoriam are not living! This is the story of one man’s lasting memorial to his parents. When I joined Royal Park Place in 1993, Alvin and Sena Dirkse had already lived here for a few months. They welcomed me immediately and we got to adjust to our new “family” together. Having moved from 31st Street in Holland, their son David recalls, “Dad was against the move from the beginning, but I can tell you after a year, you could never have moved him again. What a great place to live.” Three […]

Providence Life Services is pleased to announce that Asad Zaman, MD, FACP, CMD, has recently been named Medical Director of Providence Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Downers Grove. Dr. Zaman also serves as medical director for Providence Hospice and Park Place Health & Wellness Center in St. John, and his group sees patients in clinic at Victorian Village in Homer Glen, Village Woods in Crete, and Saratoga Grove in Downers Grove. As medical director, Dr. Zaman is responsible for the quality assurance of clinical practice and overall care provided to short-term Rehabilitation patients, Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing residents at the facilities. “I am honored to partner with Providence because I feel that the organization’s high standard of ethics and quality care aligns with my own,” says Dr. Zaman. “His passion for quality improvement is one of the many reasons we asked him to expand his expertise as medical director to our Downers Grove campus,” says Megan Tengerstrom, Vice President of Operations. “He really sets the tone for other physicians in our facilities to think outside the box when it comes to providing care.” Dr. Zaman is active in helping the facilities develop and manage quality and safety initiatives. He […]

Scott Studebaker’s father Wendell ran a successful senior living community in Zion, Illinois, and his motto was simple. “Treat the residents like kings and queens.” It has stayed with Scott throughout his 34 years of service to Providence Life Services, the place he has chosen to spend most of his professional career. Scott had been involved in the senior living business since he began helping with his father’s company at age 12 and continued to serve there into his adulthood after getting his Nursing Home Administrator’s license. Soon afterward, Scott’s father-in-law told him about a new non-profit Skilled Care building opening in Downers Grove. Scott called Richard Mulder and met with him and Rich Schutt to discuss the opportunity, and Scott was soon hired as Assistant Administrator at Rest Haven Downers Grove, and later Administrator over both the skilled nursing care building and the Retirement and Assisted Living additions that were added. Scott has served in various positions during his tenure with Providence, but his heart is still strongly tied to our Downers Grove community. “I remember when we built the dining room, the parking lot, and the Saratoga Grove portion,” Scott says. “Groundbreakings are so exciting because you get […]

As we think about our memories, we tell stories. But once we are gone, our memories will go with us unless we’ve found a way to share them beyond our time on earth. At Park Place of Elmhurst, residents are encouraged to lead activities and groups surrounding their personal passions and interests. When Michael Harrington moved in with his interests of genealogies and memoir writing, no one could predict the impact his class would have. Mr. Harrington describes what pricked his interest in offering a memoir writing class. “After I retired from work, I got into writing my genealogy stories. As I was doing my genealogy, I came to a point wondering ‘Where did my mother and father meet?’ I have no clue – I’ll never be able to fill that part of their story. Isn’t that sad?” But not all hope is lost. “When I came here, Lisa really encouraged me to keep going. I think the people taking the class really enjoy it.” Life Enrichment Director Lisa Stoik remembers the conversation she had with Mr. Harrington. “He said to me, ‘At some point, I might be interested in exploring memoir writing to see if it would be appropriate […]