Residents of the Spring Mill Health Campus resident homes have many reasons to be thankful. From the 24-hour nursing to restaurant-style dining, on top of a host of other amenities supplied to residents, there are many reasons to consider Spring Mill for your family members.
One of the key people behind the satisfaction of residents is Lisa Bondi, Spring Mill’s Director of Life Enrichment.
As the director of Life Enrichment, Bondi’s daily work involves a lot of planning. “I am in charge of Life Enrichment in the building as well as fun things residents do,” says Bondi. “I make a monthly calendar that has exercises, crafts, outings and seasonal specific events.”
Those events range from casual get togethers to more intricate affairs. “Over the last summer, we had a Mad Hatter tea party where we had entertainment in the courtyard where our flowers were blooming, and we set up an area with different teas and sweets for residents, and the whole thing was decorated like Alice in Wonderland,” says Bondi.
Events, like the tea party, are open to residents all throughout the year; Bondi and the Spring Mill crew have already begun to look ahead at the coming months for things for them to do. “We’re going to start doing our evening rides, which is something the residents like a lot,” says Bondi. “Every Thursday, we go out for ice cream or just go to a different area of town. We’re also planning an English tea party in the courtyard to celebrate the royal wedding in May.”
All that work and planning that goes into the events and activities for residents comes from a place of care from Bondi as she sees the work as vastly important to the residents that stay at Spring Mill. “It’s in my job title, Life Enrichment. We want to continue to enrich their lives even though they live in a long-term care facility. Half of them chose to live here and the other half didn’t, but we want all their lives to be great even though they’re not living at home anymore. So we try to make this their home and get them to do things they want to do to keep them living their lives,” explains Bondi.
Outside of her work at Spring Mill, Bondi’s life has taken many interesting paths. Originally from the south suburbs of Chicago, she moved to Northwest Indiana ten years ago where she learned just how much Indiana had to offer. “People always assume I live so far away being here in Indiana, but it’s still like living in the suburbs of Chicago. We have all the same things, and it’s not just farmland. We have great communities like Crown Point and Schererville which have great events year round,” Bondi says.
Bondi also has an interesting hobby that she partakes in after hours. “I am an avid crocheter,” Bondi says. “I started an Indiana/Illinois crocheting group in fact. We meet monthly and crochet and just have social time. Of course I spend a lot of time with my friends and family as well.”
So be it, with a crochet needle or Mad Hatter tea cup, the life of Lisa Bondi is always built to foster a greater sense of community among those she is with. For more information on Spring Mill Health Campus, visit their website.