Letter From Our Executive Director

Welcome to Riverside Health Care Center website. Riverside Health Care Center is a unique facility tucked in against the mountains here in the Missoula Valley. We encourage a home-like environment and specialize in making our residents and families feel at home. Our resident animals include three cats, numerous birds throughout the facility, as well as various visiting dogs. It is not uncommon to see other visiting animals as well, including horses on occasion.

At Riverside Health Care Center, our focus is on the resident. We work closely with therapy, whether it is physical, occupational or speech therapy to assist the resident in regaining strength or abilities so that they are better able to care for themselves. If the goal is for the residents to return to their own home, our Social Service department will work with the resident and their family members to make that happen and see that outside services such as Home Health are set up to make the transition back home as smooth as possible. However, while they are here, they are family.

Our residents and their families quickly become part of our family and are cared for in the same manner that we would care for our own family members. Many of our staff members have been with Riverside Health Care Center since the building was opened in 1988. The commitment to our residents is apparent in the professional attitude and the genuine caring that they show every day.

The staff at Riverside Health Care Center works closely with our primary physicians to see that our residents receive appropriate care to regain or maintain optimum health. This is done through monthly medication reviews by our pharmacy consultant, daily status reports to our management team, weekly meetings with the therapy department and quarterly family meetings.

We know how important communication with our families is and we are also committed to keeping our families informed of any change in our residents’ condition. This is accomplished with face-to-face meetings, phone calls or telephone conferences. For our residents that are terminal or nearing the end of their life, staff have been specially trained for end-of-life care and pain management. We work with Hospice agencies when needed, as well as our local Caritas group. Caritas is music thanatology and the music thanatologist will come to the facility to provide special music therapy. We have found that the harp music that they provide is a great help with anxiety as well as pain relief. This service not only helps the resident but the family members that wish to attend as well.

While at Riverside Health Care Center, our residents keep busy. In addition to physical, occupational and speech therapies to help regain physical strength and abilities, we offer a wide variety of life enrichment activities. These activities include:

• Art classes where many of our resident enter their creations in the annual Missoula County Fair
• Music programs that include singing groups, listening to the piano, guest performers and dancers
• Special meals. We also have a private dining room for families that would like to have some family time.
• We even have a kitchen available for families to prepare that "homemade" meal.
• During the warm weather, we have barbeques. The barbeque is also available for family use
• Our annual Pig Roast each September has a wonderful turnout of 200-500 people
• Van outings are also something that our residents enjoy, whether it is a shopping trip to the mall, a tour around town to look at Christmas lights, a ride to look at the fall colors or a trip to watch the Missoula Osprey play a game at the ball field.
• Riverside Health Care Center has our own chapter of the Red Hat Society. This group meets monthly and has frequent lunch outings, teas and coffees.
• Of course, some of our residents just like to sit and relax in our sun room that overlooks the river. From here they can watch Eagles and Osprey that nest along the river.
• For the residents that are unable to leave their room due to medical status, our activity department will assist with acquiring reading materials, books on tape, movies, or just visiting one-on-one.

I hope you enjoy your virtual tour of our facility and I look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

Tammy Talley
Executive Director