While the community of Medina offers beautiful natural surroundings and many conveniences, adding a community tailored to the needs of older adults can enhance all the city has to offer. That’s why Dean Lunski purchased land for a new luxury continuum-of-care community to be called Okalee. The community is under construction between Chippewa Road and Highway 55 in Medina. It will offer independent and assisted living, memory care and care suites for more comprehensive care.
Opening is anticipated to be in August, 2019 and a recent article about the community was published in the Crow River News (below). Whether you are an active older adult who wants to enjoy life without the burdens of home maintenance or need additional assistance, Okalee can offer a broad range of services to meet your needs.
The name Okalee was chosen to reflect the wetlands and marsh area that will surround the care community. It evokes the sweet song of the local red-winged blackbird, and was chosen because “we want to create a very stress-free environment,” Lunski says. Okalee’s balconies will overlook the wetlands, and walking paths will invite people to enjoy the community’s rural, peaceful setting.
Okalee residents will not only find peace and beauty; they will be able to stay in the community they love and have lived in many years. This will enable residents to be close to family and enjoy grandchildren, friends and neighbors who don’t have to travel long distances to see loved ones.
To learn more about the needs of Medina’s older generations, Lunski reached out to Maxfield Research to conduct a full market study that guided the services needed for the Okalee community. He also spent a lot of time getting to know Medina residents at a local restaurant to discover what kind of housing would appeal to them. “I asked them what they would like if they were going to move to a community that serves older adults,” he recalls.
Lunski listened to a lot of people’s opinions, and wrote those opinions down to help him in the creation process. “People are very proud of being from Medina, and they should be,” says Lunski. “It’s an exceptional place. Residents who move in to Okalee will find housing that will make them feel proud too—a kitchen that looks more like a restaurant, a pub on the third floor, grand entries, oversized hallways—a place that they can really call home.”
Lunski chose Cassia (an Elim-Augustana affiliation) to provide care and services because he was impressed by the longstanding history of the organization’s successful management services for more than 120 years. “Cassia also has a strong grasp of startup business development and its presence on the west side of the city corresponds with ours,” he says. “The affiliation with Elim Care strengthens the organization. I also like the fact that Cassia is a faith-based nonprofit.”
Okalee’s new marketing director is Karen Mandile. To learn more about the community currently, and how it can help you or a loved one, please contact her at Karen.Mandile@cassialife.org or call 763-296-2020.