MBK Senior Living announced today the promotion of Diana Engle to Vice President of Health & Wellness. Engle will oversee resident care services and signature wellness programs to deliver a holistic approach to resident care.
"Resident wellness and clinical services often are managed incongruently in senior living," said Michael Bardelmeier, Senior Vice President of Operations for MBK Senior Living. "Under Diana's supervision, we will interlock clinical and wellness programming to fully support our residents and their changing needs."
According to Engle, this re-alignment contrasts with outdated senior living models that focus on addressing medical needs as a freestanding effort without considering the whole person.
"At MBK Senior Living, we're putting residents' total well-being first, encouraging their passions, helping them find purpose every day, and focusing on human services that enhance health and longevity while also addressing medical needs," said Engle.
By flipping the script at all levels of care (independent living, assisted living, and memory care), there will no longer be a separation between resident psychosocial and physiological care needs. Care will be a human development-based plan with one service plan with a focus on wellness.
"Our goal is to emphasize the greatest potential in each resident, help them create an active lifestyle, and collaborate with our culinary team to provide menus that nourish the body and experiences that feed the soul," said Engle.
Engle has 27 years experience in the senior living industry and joined MBK Senior Living in September 2018 as the Regional Director of Resident Enrichment. Last May, she was promoted to National Director of Wellness Programming. She has been instrumental in developing enrichment programming, implementing new systems and technology, providing department training and policy updates, and supporting the resident enrichment teams across the company's portfolio of 35 communities. Engle holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Sonoma State University and a Master of Science in Family and Human Development from Arizona State University.
Active in the senior living industry, Diana is a member of the California Assisted Living (CALA) Association Education Committee (2022) and presented at the Fall 2021 CALA conference: A proactive approach (behaviors and dementia care). In 2019 she presented at the Utah Assisted Living Association conference “Beyond Bingo” – Good to Great programming.
With Engle's promotion, the company has also created a new Regional Health Services position to support the Health Services teams and work hand-in-hand with Operations teams to provide training and employee development, stay up-to-date and in compliance with Public Health and licensing regulations, and allow community teams to focus on providing compassionate, high-quality care and developing lasting relationships with residents and families.
"We're excited to bring services and team members together under the umbrella of wellness to effectively deliver a comprehensive and genuinely holistic approach to resident care and meet their human needs," said Engle.
