Providing hometown care

A local woman who performed at a senior center in Forest Grove, Ore., as a teenager, is the director of admissions and marketing at Prestige Care and Rehabilitation, in Camas.

When Dianna Kretzschmar was 16, she received a Rotary Club scholarship for her service project of playing a piano at the senior center dances. The other band members were older than 70.

Prior to joining the staff at Prestige Care, Kretzschmar served as director of business development at Home Instead. Her other previous titles have included health services liaison at Fort Vancouver Convalescent Center and program coordinator for the Clark County Elder Justice Center at the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.

Kretzschmar has also worked as a health services liaison at Fort Vancouver Convalescent Center and Waterford at Fairway Village.

From 2000 to 2002, she was the director of social work and admissions at Highland Terrace Nursing Center, in the same building that Prestige Care now occupies.

A remodeling and expansion project was completed in January 2012.

“This building has served nearly 4,000 people over our 30 years,” Kretzschmar said. “We are getting ready in the next few months to admit number 4,000. We have cared for some of the oldest families in this area.”

There is a long term care wing for people who need 24-hour nursing care, but Kretzschmar said Prestige Care is striving to do more post-acute care work.

That includes providing rehabilitation and nursing care after a stay in the hospital for a stroke, recovery from a surgery, after an illness or for management of a chronic disease.

Services include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and restorative nursing.

“It saves so many of our frail seniors from having to drive into Vancouver for services,” Kretzschmar said. “I left all my years of working in Vancouver to come and work in my hometown to give back to my community.”

Her responsibilities include helping people transfer from hospitals and communicating with doctors, social service departments, lawyers, insurance carriers and guardians. Kretzschmar also coordinates customer service programs and supervises the completion of admission paperwork.

Prestige Care was awarded five star status by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Nursing homes with five stars are considered to have much above average quality,” according to the website, www.cms.gov.

Kretzschmar’s involvement in the community involves serving as board president of the Friends of the Elder Justice Center. The center responds to reports of abuse of elderly citizens and other vulnerable adults in Clark County.

Kretzschmar received an Iris Award in 2013, from Clark College, the Clark College Foundation and the Vancouver Business Journal. The annual award honors women of achievement in Southwest Washington.

Prestige Care and Rehabilitation is located at 740 N.E. Dallas St. For more information, contact Kretzschmar at 834-5055 or dkretzschmar@prestigecare.com or visit www.prestigecare.com.