Celebrating National Women’s History Month at Terwilliger Plaza

Mar 20

In recognition of National Women’s History Month, we celebrate the women in our lives, those who have had an impact on us and our families, and to the women of Terwilliger Plaza and their contributions to history, culture, and society.

LEGACY

Here at Terwilliger Plaza we honor our founder, Lesta Hoel, who as a retired teacher had a vision to create a retirement community for retired teachers. Through her dedication Terwilliger Plaza was incorporated in 1959 as a non-profit, opened in 1962 and continues to this day as a single-site non-profit Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) which offers independent living and a continuum of care to support and maximize an individual’s independence including assisted living and memory support for those with cognitive decline.

Another significant woman in the evolution of Terwilliger Plaza was Keren Brown Wilson. While not directly connected to Terwilliger Plaza, her work influenced us greatly as we transitioned into a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). In the 1980s Portland, Oregon became the birthplace of community-based care when Ms. Wilson created a new way to care for her aging mother rather than entering a nursing home. That lead to the development of what came to be popularly known as assisted living.

The people of Oregon and Oregon State Health Services embraced the idea of community-based care encouraging health services that center on the individual receiving the care. This new model for assisted living was an alternative to traditional institutional care and was comprised of supportive housing communities specifically designed to promote privacy, choice, and independence. In approaching health services from this perspective, Terwilliger Plaza, which became a CCRC in the 1990s, has become a leader in Oregon and the nation in community-based care.

EXPANSION

In the late 1990’s under the leadership of then President and CEO, Dee Sellner, Terwilliger Plaza purchased an aging nursing home that was adjacent to our campus and built The Terrace which opened in 2000, embracing the groundbreaking health services CBC/assisted living model. In so doing Terwilliger Plaza became the first CCRC in the state of Oregon and most likely the nation to turn from nursing home to community-based care to care for residents with heavy medical needs through end of life. In recognition of her many accomplishments during her tenure from 1998 - 2016, Ms. Sellner was honored with the title of President Emerita. Upon her retirement, Ms. Sellner also joined our community as a resident Member, and currently lives at Terwilliger Plaza.

BOARD LEADERSHIP

A defining feature of Terwilliger Plaza is our representative self-governance board structure. As we celebrate National Women’s History Month, we would also like to recognize Linda Mather, former Board Chair, and resident-Member who led with the philosophy that there is “an understanding and acceptance of what we are all facing together, making deliberate choices, and as a community continuing to strengthen the foundation of Terwilliger Plaza.”

To our current Board Chair, Kay Moran who believes that if you are in a community it is important to participate in how it works. In her words, “there are many people here at Terwilliger Plaza who have served on the board at some point, and it is a component to our success to have active Members as Board Members. You live your responsibility.”

TERWILLIGER COMMUNITY

Women have always had a strong and influential voice here at Terwilliger Plaza, including our amazing staff, of which 66% are women with 68% of our leadership positions held by women, including those who work alongside me on the Executive Leadership team, CFO Judy O’Donnell, COO Andie Fitzgerald, VP of Health & Wellness, Mandy Brenchley, and VP of Human Resources, Angela Doms. I would also like to recognize Teresa Ohmart, our Sales and Marketing Director who leads the team that advances the broader public awareness of Terwilliger Plaza and offers individual guidance and expertise to those considering joining our community.

While, as a nation, we celebrate March as National Women’s History Month, here at Terwilliger Plaza this reverence is year-round. Many of you may be familiar with the community profiles that we feature in each newsletter. This month, we would like to highlight several of these past profiles for their extraordinary achievements and have provided links, below.