Meet our Life Enrichment team!
Our Life Enrichment (LE) team is comprised of four wonderful individuals who provide one-on-one activity for our residents in Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing, and Memory Support. Depending on the interest of each resident, our LE team spends time with them having spiritual discussion, socializing, reminiscing, and providing enrichment through reading, activities, coloring pages, card games, and more. The LE team also plans hallway events, and special activities that the whole floor can enjoy. During the pandemic, these one-on-one interactions and hallway activities provide much-needed engagement for our residents. We are so grateful to our entire team for all that they do to help support our residents. It takes a special, fun, caring type of person to do what they do. Let’s get to know our Life Enrichment team!
Christine Van Kempen
Christine is an adventurer who brings her passion for life to her work here at Beacon Hill. The residents love to hear stories about what she’s been up to, especially stories about the world’s largest pinball tournament. Christine is an avid competitive pinball player, and she has even played in Pinburgh, the world’s largest pinball tournament in Pittsburgh, PA. Christine has worked at Beacon Hill for the past 2 years, and continues to come to work each day with fresh enthusiasm. She’s a hard worker; graduated from Calvin College with a BA in Therapeutic Recreation, and she loves interacting with seniors. Her hope is to make a positive impact and provide meaning to the residents through her work. When she’s not at Beacon Hill, she is spending time outdoors biking or going to the beach with her husband of 12 years, Jake, and her two children, T.J. (age 4) and Hailey (age 5). While COVID has dampened this summer’s fun, Christine and her family don’t let the pandemic get them down. They still adventured to visit all 8 of Michigan’s drive-in movie theaters. It’s no wonder why the residents all love Christine, she brings a positive and enthusiastic energy, kind and lighthearted nature, and a sense of adventure that resonates with all of us.
Miranda Swan-Dontje
Miranda is innovative, creative, and engaging. She has lived both here in Michigan and in New York, and now she’s been here at Beacon Hill for over 2 years because she loves the direct interaction with senior residents. What she loves most about her job is the relationships that she builds through play. “I see residents in the happiest parts of their days, and bonding through joy and general good feelings leads to such a feeling of good connection.” The passion and creativity that residents love about her also applies to her life outside Beacon Hill. When Miranda is not at work, she is planning and learning new things with her 9-year-old autistic son. He even has his own YouTube channel where they work on science experiments that are kid-friendly. Together, they craft and create fun interactive opportunities for their own neighborhood, including making a 60-ft. Chutes and Ladders game with sidewalk chalk in their driveway! The passion and creativity that Miranda has about life clearly runs in the family.
The creativity gets even more fun around Halloween. She makes all her own costumes, and she and her son always dress as a duo. To date, they’ve never had a repeat costume! “My favorite so far was 4 years ago when we dressed as Sara and Jareth from Labyrinth in the ballroom scene at Grand Rapids Comic Con.”
Stephanie Kline
Stephanie is easygoing, friendly, and caring, with a lot of varied interests. She keeps our residents on their toes with new activities that are both appealing and have a positive impact on their wellbeing. Stephanie joined Beacon Hill in 2018 after graduating with her B.S. in Recreational Therapy from Central Michigan University, for her first opportunity to practice as a Recreational Therapist. Each day she loves working with her colleagues to enrich the lives of the residents at Beacon Hill. She believes firmly in the roots of recreational therapy, which is a person-centered approach to assisting individuals of varying abilities to make the most out of their lives physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially through leisure. And it shows when she provides thoughtful and engaging activities for our seniors. When Stephanie is not at Beacon Hill, you could find her at home cooking, or curled up with a good book or watching a movie. Or maybe she’s out and about exercising and spending time with her Shih-Tzu named Teddy. Her passion for life and deep care for our residents shines through every day. “I am beyond grateful that my job consists of getting to know your loved ones and facilitating opportunities that bring light and joy into their lives.”
Erica Gritter
Erica is our newest team member, who just started with us on September 1st. She has heard great things about Beacon Hill, and wanted to get to know more of our wonderful community. One of her favorite parts of her job is listening and sharing stories with residents. When she’s not at work, she loves to go to the lake, go shopping, biking, eating, and spend quality time with family and friends. What she is most looking forward to about being part of the Beacon Hill team is forming new relationships and getting to know our loved ones. “Their quality of life and happiness is very important to me!”
Discover Your Best Life at Beacon Hill at Eastgate
