Expressions of caring: Facility carries on legacy started in monastery off Montana Highway 40
<p>Expressions Inc. is located on 12 acres of land outside Columbia Falls off Montana 40. The facility consists of a former monastery, left, and a new 10,000-square-foot building that can house 26 people in need.</p><p></p>
<p>Memory boxes, filled with the resident's name as well as pictures of family and friends, are placed outside of each resident's room.</p>
<p>Owner of Expressions Inc., Patricia Zinke, right, hugs resident Liz Nelson Thursday afternoon. Expressions Inc. is a care home specializing in helping people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.</p>
<p>Fern Wilson, a resident at Expressions Inc., sits in her private room Thursday afternoon. Wilson tells Expressions Inc. activity director Kindy Strowbridge she loves everything about her room — she just wishes it had a private shower.</p>
<p>Pam Burns curls Judy Grady’s hair at Expressions Inc. Thursday afternoon. Burns, a stylist at Sheer Perfection in Columbia Falls, comes to Expressions every Thursday to work on the hair of residents who want it.</p>
As a young nursing student in Toronto, Patricia Zinke knew she wanted to care for the elderly, even as the other students opted for careers in operating rooms or pediatrics.
Later, having moved to Montana and worked in extended care at North Valley Hospital and other nursing homes in the Flathead Valley, she knew she wanted to start her own business to follow that passion.
Life put that desire on hold for a while, as Zinke took 10 years off to raise her little girls, but the desire persisted.
“I just saw my white shoes there and thought, boy, I sure do miss it,” she said of her decision to start Expressions Inc., a specialized care home for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The goal is to give elderly people with dementia — a growing population — a homelike place that meets their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.
“I just figured, I’m 52; if I’m going to do my own thing, I better do it,” Zinke said.
She applied for a Small Business Administration loan to “see if God had a plan for a nurse who wanted to take care of old people.”
There was a plan. In fact, there was even a place for that plan to unfold.
In February 2010, Zinke and her husband, Ed Blackwell, bought 12 acres of land that included an old Catholic monastery tucked away in a scenic meadow off Montana 40 outside Columbia Falls.
Run by Benedictine nuns, the former monastery had a history of being used to care for the elderly.
Zinke and her husband moved into the former monastery and, utilizing four bedrooms with private bathrooms downstairs, they started housing people in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
But she had a bigger vision.
And Blackwell, a general contractor by day, helped make it happen, constructing a specially designed 10,000-square-foot building that can house as many as 26 people who need more assistance.
“Her heart is what made all this happen. She said, ‘If you build it, I’ll fill it.’ And I said, ‘OK, let’s do it,’” he said.
The new building opened in January. Less than one year later, it’s already filled. Several people are on a waiting list.
The facility and the care services are an interesting mix of building design, technology and good, old-fashioned human compassion.
Residents are free to roam around the square-shaped building. It includes a party room, a dining area where they can get a snack or something to drink, even a salon with a beautician who visits every Thursday.
And among the 40-some staff in all, an activities director works to make sure there’s always something to do.
“We have staffing at such high ratios that we can shower them every other day, do their nails, use heated towels. The ladies can have their hair curled. The food’s good, too,” Zinke said. “We give them lots of love.”
Memory boxes on the walls outside each resident’s room hold pictures from the past, to help them find their way back to their rooms and make conversation with other residents and staff.
People are free to come and go about the building, even by night.
Pressure-sensing mats that are put out under beds at night alert staff whenever anyone gets up to wander around, and video cameras throughout the building help staff make sure no one has fallen or gotten hurt.
“When you say good night, get their pajamas on, tuck them in and say God bless, you pull out the mat by the bed,” Zinke said.
“Those call lights are going all night long. But we have an understanding that if someone gets up, it’s not a matter of trying to get them back to bed. You invite them to have a cup of coffee or a piece of pie or whatever their little heart desires,” she continued.
“If I come in at two in the morning, there might be six people up.”
With Expressions holding its annual Christmas party today, Zinke said she has found the perfect place for her passion.
It’s helped by the serene meadow, the surrounding woods, the view of the mountains and the former monastery.
“There is a peace here,” she said.
“One of the nuns who was here said she thought this spot was blessed always for caring for people and doing God’s work here. It’s needed and I feel blessed to be able to do it.”
Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.