Care That Feels Like Family

When Carole Telly moved to Brookridge about a year and a half ago, she wasn’t sure how quickly she’d settle in or make friends.

But it turned out she had nothing to worry about, with team member Danie Haefele as her move-in coordinator.

“She just made me feel very comfortable from the beginning,” Carole said. Normally when moving in you’d have lots of questions, she said, but instead Danie anticipated them all and made the process so smooth.

She and Danie have kept up their close connection since move in, while Danie has become the Independent Living Social Worker. It’s a role that keeps her in close contact with residents, supporting them and helping them live their best lives, a job that Carole’s daughter Bethany Mills says she excels at.

“Danie is incredible at her job, but I use the word job very loosely because she never makes any of her daily decisions or requirements with either the residents or their family members seem like a ‘job,’ rather she truly exemplifies the patience, love, compassion and knowledge that Christ has asked of us,” Bethany said. She’s watched her mother settle in so well at Brookridge. Carole has made friends and enjoys an active lifestyle involved in the community. She’s been a Mary Kay representative for 49 years – earning not just one but three pink Cadillacs – and she’s still repping them.

Bethany doesn’t live in Winston-Salem, so it’s been impactful to her to know Danie and the rest of the Brookridge team are caring for her mother so well.

“She gives me such a sense of peace (when it comes to knowing my mother is exactly where she is supposed to be), and that she will be loved on and cared for with the integrity and grace that we expect,” Bethany said.