Inside Crane Meadows Assisted Living at Good Samaritan Society – Grand Island Village in Nebraska, there is always someone around to show you the ropes. In fact, there are two.
“I can talk to about anybody, I guess,” says resident Carolyn Retzlaff.
“Yeah, you can,” adds resident Diane Geis.
Carolyn and Diane are known as “Welcome Ladies” at Crane Meadows, complete with nametags and all.
“I'm kind of a talker. So when they'd come in, I'd say, ‘Did you know this? This is over here. We do this.’ And these little things just kind of slipped through the cracks,” Carolyn says.
“She helped me a lot,” Diane adds.
A guide can be helpful for new residents navigating the hallways and activities. That’s where the Welcome Ladies come in.
“I thought, well, we could do it together. Neither one of us wanted to do it alone,” Carolyn says.
They’ve been on the unofficial job for a couple of months, showcasing everything Crane Meadows has to offer. Everyone is invited to join, whether they know it or not.
“Carolyn especially has been known to give a tour without being asked,” says lead medication assistant Andrea Robertson with a laugh. “She’s like, ‘Come on, I'll show you where everything is.’ She would do that with a family that walked in. I think that that was noticed by the upper staff.”
Feeling like family
First impressions can open the door to new friendships. Carolyn had been living at Grand Island for more than a decade before Diane moved in just across the hall.
Both of them are retired secretaries, once stay-at-home moms and military widows. They hit it off right away.
“You came over and you said, ‘Do you know how to do this? And do you know how to do that?’ And I said, ‘No.’ She says, ‘Well, let me show you.’ And we just became best friends. I was kind of like her little tag along,” Diane says, recalling their first meeting.
“I probably wanted you to help me do something,” adds Carolyn, leading to a shared laugh.
Where you see one, you’re likely to see the other.
“They became pretty close, pretty quick,” Andrea says. “They eat together. They play bingo together. Carolyn calls bingo. If Carolyn can't call bingo, Diane jumps in and helps her.”
You can usually find this show and tell tag team out and about, trying the center’s newest activities, checking on fellow residents or just taking a walk.
“If you walk around this whole section here so many times it’s a mile. But I forgot how many times it is,” Carolyn says with a big smile.
Every bit of outreach is aimed at helping new neighbors feel like old friends.
“I think it means a lot, especially for the people coming in because it's almost like a friend already. Somebody's reached out to them and is showing them things,” Andrea says.
Those little things help the transition to a new home.
“We try not to let them feel alone. Try to make them feel like they're family because we feel like we're a family here, and we try to bring them into the family,” Diane says.
‘I love meeting new people’
There’s typically some sort of introduction, the Welcome Ladies bridging the gap for newcomers – whether they’re residents or staff.
“You know who those two are the day that you start,” Andrea says. “They just become almost like grandparents, just a family. They are extended family.”
Both Carolyn and Diane say their work around Crane Meadows feels meaningful.
“You feel like you’re helping,” Carolyn says.
But their favorite part is making new friends and hearing new stories.
“I'm from California and I don't even know what a farm looks like,” Diane says with a chuckle. “And these ladies, they tell the stories of their farming and their kids growing up on the farm and they just tell the most wonderful stories. It's like Little House on the Prairie.”
Carolyn, the self-proclaimed talker, agrees.
“Getting to know them,” she says. “That makes them feel like they’ve got a place or they know somebody.”
