Category: Seek On Blog (Consumer)

Fred and Noreen had spent the day doing things they loved—seeing live theater, eating dinner outside at a favorite restaurant, and going for an evening stroll. “It was just a beautiful, normal, perfect May day,” Noreen said. The couple, who were married six years ago, enjoyed an active lifestyle that included concerts and plays, walking, […]

After Grace, 98, was hospitalized for pneumonia in 2022, her daughter, Gail, started researching hospice and home care providers. This wasn’t new territory for her. A decade earlier, she had looked into home care agencies when her father’s health started failing. Her sister, Geri, who lived with their parents in the Twin Cities, was able […]

When Dr. Ben Bache-Wiig, MD, Lifespark’s Executive Medical Director, began practicing internal medicine some 30 years ago, primary care physicians were given the time to get to know their clients, build long-term, trusted relationships with them, and follow them from clinic to hospital to rehab—wherever their care took them. “That model of care doesn’t exist […]

Since the death of her husband, Marla* had been living on her own with some help from her adult children and her power wheelchair. But between her atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, edema, and ongoing difficulty finding reliable in-home care providers, she knew she needed more support. So, in early March 2023, she moved to […]

It was a postcard that arrived in September 2021 that prompted Delia* to pick up the phone and call Lifespark.  As Ridgeview patients, she and her husband, Carl*, had access to additional services, thanks to a joint partnership between the two organizations. After learning more about Lifespark COMPLETETM, she agreed to meet with Jen Wiley, […]

In September 2021, Denny, 83, collapsed in the home he shares with his younger sister, Judy. “I saw a bright light and then my brother-in-law, who died in March, walked over to me and said, ‘It’s not your time,’” Denny recalled, adding that if his sister hadn’t found him and called for an ambulance, he […]

Ever since Bob had heart valve replacement surgery in 2016, his wife, Sharon, has been managing his care, staying on top of his medications, taking him to clinic appointments and, with increasing frequency, to the ER. For Sharon, 71, and Bob, 87, there was a silver lining to yet another hospitalization in October 2021: thanks […]

For the past seven years, my 91-year-old mother has lived fairly independently in a little apartment in a senior living community. As her dementia has progressed, we’ve added services, like medication management and a dinner escort, but so far, that seemed like enough, in spite of her inability to make new memories and, in some […]

It was February 2020—ten months before the presidential election—and Ron was on the campaign trail working 20-hour days on behalf of a candidate whose platform included improving health care for families. He was meeting with business leaders, talking to voters at the Iowa and Minnesota State Fairs, giving speeches, and knocking on doors—with no evidence […]

When residents of Eagle Point Senior Living, a Lifespark Community, were introduced to the concept of the Spark Challenges in 2022, they thought the staff had completely lost their minds. And in a way, they had—ditching the age-old mindset of ‘We’re here to take care of you’ and replacing it with ‘You’re capable of extraordinary […]