A Bittersweet "Fond Farewell" For On With Life

A bittersweet “fond farewell” breakfast Thursday morning signaled the end of a nearly 30-year partnership between the Glenwood community and On With Life, the long-term skilled care facility located on the campus of the Glenwood Resource Center.

On With Life’s Glenwood facility will be shuttered in June in conjunction with the closure of the GRC.

Several officials and staff from On With Life joined members of the Glenwood community at Thursday’s breakfast.

“You’ve given so much to our community for almost 30 years now,” Glenwood resident and On With Life board member Diana Hoogestraat said. “This has been such a great win-win marriage with our facilities.”

Later this month, On With Life will begin moving the 31 persons being cared for in Glenwood to its new facility in Polk City. The transition is expected to take about three weeks, On With Life CEO Jean Shelton said.

“We’ll only move two or so a day,” Shelton said. “Why? Because we’re moving people that may have been with us in this facility for 20-25 years. We don’t want them to have too traumatic of an event, so we’ll have therapeutic staff with them, nursing team members – several people to help them transition. We don’t want any unintended consequences.”

The On With Life residents being transitioned will move from the 32-bed facility in Glenwood to a 40-bed skilled care center in Polk City.

Shelton said On With Life wanted to remain in the Glenwood community, but staying on the GRC campus wasn’t an option the State of Iowa was willing to consider.  On With Life also looked for other locations in the area.

“We tried so hard to find another location in this vicinity but the stars didn’t really line up for us,” she said. “We want quality of life, meaningful life for the individuals we’re serving. One thing I’m really happy about the relocation is that they’re going into a more homelike environment, less institutional than what we have here.”

Shelton praised the On With Life staff members who have continued to work at the facility in Glenwood, despite knowing its closure is on the horizon.

“Probably the saddest part of this is that throughout the transition, we’ve had 44 staff that have remained with us, even today,” she said.

One of those staff members, recreational therapist Jeremy Davis, spoke at Thursday’s breakfast. Davis said he’s worked at both On With Life and the GRC over the past 13 years and had high praise for the care provided at both facilities.

“There’s great work being done on this campus. It’s just been a blessing,” he said. “I really am going to miss working here because I just know what’s out there and it just doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, it’s going to be moving to Polk City.”