Once a week, Kellie Plutowski shows up at a little house in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and provides home health care to its owner, Thor Sannes.
Sannes is 96 years old and fiercely independent. Despite suffering a stroke, this veteran of the Korean War still lives alone in the same house he’s owned for nearly 40 years.
“While we’re doing that, we’re visiting, you know? You multitask, and that’s what I love about my job,” said Plutowski, a certified home health nursing assistant at Good Samaritan.
“It’s nice. It’s like somebody visiting you,” Sannes said.
Plutowski schedules her visits with Sannes, and while she’s there she checks his vitals, provides personal care, and helps lead him in exercises to keep up his strength.
“I had a stroke, and then Kellie comes and she does everything in here, so it’s really nice to have her,” said Sannes. “It’s nice to try and get walking again.”
After working with Sannes for a while, Plutowski noticed that his furnace was acting up. It made a lot of noise and frequently kicked on and off.
“Had another furnace but it was 16 years old,” Sannes said.
“His was kind of skipping a beat,” Plutowski said. “So I just asked him, can I nominate you?”
A furnace for your service
Plutowski’s husband works at CL Linfoot, a local heating and cooling company that donates one new furnace each year to a local veteran in need. Plutowski wrote her nomination for Sannes to try and take care of him in a different way. Sannes says he wasn’t sure what to think.
“I never heard of nothing like that. Giving it away?” Sannes said.
In fact, it was real. Chuck Savage works at CL Linfoot, and he was able to sit and visit with Sannes during the nomination process. When Sannes was chosen as this year’s recipient he came back for the installation. Savage says it’s an honor to provide service to a service member.
“He’s a neat, neat guy, and I could sit all day and listen to his stories. It is pretty amazing,” said Savage.
He also made it a point to check on the new furnace.
“Top of the line furnace, very quiet. Should be much more efficient than the furnace he had in here before,” Savage said. “It’s working good. It’s nice and warm in here. Thor likes to keep it at 74 degrees.”
For Plutowski, the nomination was yet another act of service for a patient in need. It wasn’t health care, but it was just as important.
“I’m just excited for him because he’s worked so hard,” said Plutowski. “96 years. Back then you pinched pennies. You lived under your means. So to be awarded a furnace? Wow.”
