Callaway is known as the Heart of the Seven Valleys, and no place in the community exemplifies that motto more than the Callaway Good Life Center.

The Callaway Good Life Center is a 35-bed skilled nursing facility that provides 24-hour nursing care for its residents. Making sure it all runs smoothly is Administrator Roni Boeser, who assumed that role on April 13.

Boeser is an occupational therapist by trade, and actually worked at CGLC about 12 years ago. “This was one of my first OT jobs, so it has really come full circle,” she quipped.

Prior to coming to CGLC, Boeser served for two years as the administrator of Brookstone View in Broken Bow. “I’ve lived in Callaway for about 10 years and my kids go to school here, my husband works here. So when this opened up it just felt like the right thing to do,” said Boeser. “It’s just been really nice being back in the community.”

Boeser originally hails from western Kansas. Just a couple of years after she and her husband moved to Callaway, her parents followed. Her mom worked as a nurse at Callaway District Hospital until her retirement a couple of years ago, and she is now helping out with doing some sprucing up projects around the nursing home.

She attended Pratt Community College in Kansas on a rodeo scholarship, where she met her husband Chancey - a fellow rodeoer from Stapleton. After getting married the young couple moved to Casper, Wyoming, where Boeser earned her occupational therapy master’s degree.

After becoming an occupational therapist, Boeser went into business with Alicia Hermsmeyer. When the two decided to sell the business, Boeser joined the team at ESU 10.

“I liked it, but I just felt like I was missing a piece in my life. I was really feeling a push to go back more into the administrative side of it,” she explained. “Brookstone had an opening and that’s what prompted me to go down the path of nursing home administrator.”

Boeser said she is very happy to have the opportunity to now work in the town she calls home, especially in the rare setting of a community- owned nursing home. “We have to have this place continue to succeed, for our community and for our residents,” Boeser shared. “It is an integral part of our community.”

The biggest difference between this job and her last administrator role, Boeser said, is the community-owned versus a large corporate- owned facility. In just her second week on the job at Callaway, the nursing home had its annual state inspection, and Boeser said all of the things that were found were very fixable, which the staff is currently working to address.

“They all did a really great job with having different administrators and directors of nursing in keeping it going. There are just some little things that we need to tidy up now,” she added.

Staffing is a major issue for all businesses right now, and with the hit the nursing industry took after Covid, Boeser said that it is a continuous struggle. However, there are positive developments, as CGLC is now fully staffed in the dietary department and has been able to drastically reduce its reliance on agency nursing.

“It is a goal to not have agency here - we want our local staff that the residents know on a daily basis,” Boeser said. “We are headed in the right direction.”

As is typical with nursing homes, the census at Callaway Good Life Center ebbs and flows. “We are always looking for referrals,” said Boeser. “The dynamic is changing, and more people are staying home as long as they can, or going to assisted living facilities.”

Callaway Good Life Center accepts Medicare and Medicaid, though Boeser said Medicare Advantage does not work well in this or most other facilities. CGLC works closely with families to help find financial solutions to provide the care their aging loved ones need.

“We also work really hard to make sure and provide that socialization that they may be lacking or needing in that next phase of life,” Boeser said.

Her husband Chancey works at Custer Public Power District right in Callaway, and the couple has two kids, Quinton and Taygen. Boeser is involved in the Booster Club, church groups, and is eager to get back into TeamMates now that she is back in town.

“From the time we moved here to now 10 years later, there is not a day that goes by that I have not felt welcomed in this community,” Boeser said. “Everybody knows everybody, and they are just all very, very friendly.”

One of the things that really excited Boeser is the partnership that has developed between CGLC and the school. “The school brings kids out and gets them involved with our residents pretty often,” she said. “Getting to see those interactions and relationships being built really helps set those fundamentals for the students. And the residents love it.”

Boeser continues to work on expanding those opportunities and doing all she can to make sure the Callaway Good Life Center remains a vibrant part of the community for a very long time.