“We really care about our people and their families,” noted Sherry Lake, RN.  She has been taking care of residents at the Kingston Residence of Sylvania’s skilled nursing center for the past 18 years. “Most of the nursing, nursing assistant, and rehabilitation staff have also been here for a long time. We all get along very well and we make a great team,” she related. “This is a wonderful place to work.”
Resident Lillian Forbes is in agreement with Lake. She first stayed at Kingston in 2005 when she had a knee replacement. “I liked it here then too. I was in therapy for three weeks as I had to learn to walk again,” Forbes pointed out.
When circumstances required Forbes to find a skilled nursing living facility she immediately thought of Kingston. “I chose to live here. Kingston seems like my home. I really like it here. Everyone takes good care of me. The nurses and aides treat me well and I have fun, too. We all kid around a lot. Sometimes they give me static but I give it right back,” she chuckled. “I would never go anyplace else. And the food is pretty good, too,” noted Forbes, who should know as she spent 37 years as a cook for the Mel Berman restaurants.

Not one to stay idle, Forbes finds much to do every day at the residence and elsewhere. She takes care of the plants inside and outside making sure all are fed and watered regularly. She helps out in the activity room and usually has a jigsaw puzzle in progress. She also organizes an occasional trip to the casino with other residents.
“I really like getting around this place and the assisted living facility and talking to other residents. I enjoy meeting and talking with everyone,” the gregarious woman said. “And I think residents are happy to see me come by and they enjoy talking with me as much as I do them,” she said.
“Lil talks to everybody and brings a lot to the lives of those she encounters,” Lake observed. “Lil is a great example of the way people care for one another here and how they make an effort to get to know each other. This is what creates the homey environment we all experience,” she said.
According to Lake, there is an ideal staff-to-patient ratio in the skilled nursing center, which allows them to really get to know their long-term residents and their families. “And because we as a staff are so close that feeling continues,” she added.

Lake pointed out how this caring extends throughout the facility. “We see how those in rehab encourage each other. People have actually been able to go home when there did not seem to be a chance they could, thanks to the support they received throughout their rehab process.”
Kingston  Rehab offers a full complement of rehabilitation specialists including respiratory, speech, physical, and occupational therapists. The Care Center, or Skilled Nursing, provides a nurse practitioner who is on staff Monday through Friday;  24-hour nursing care; a physician who makes rounds two to three times per week; a podiatrist, dentist, opthalmologist, and audiologist who have scheduled visits to Kingston. “We also work with any hospice group when that extra care is needed,” Lake reflected. “That’s what we do here. We provide the best care possible for everyone here.”
Kingston’s Independent Living is ideal for residents who are capable of managing almost every aspect of their lives, yet prefer the convenient services and benefits of daily meal preparation, medication management, housekeeping, and more. In addition, assisted living and memory care facilities are also incorporated in the Kingston Residence.

Kingston Residence of Sylvania opened in the fall of 2001 and its first resident moved in on Nov. 4. The second floor of assisted living was renovated for the memory care unit in 2015. Kingston Care Center was constructed in 2004.
Kingston Healthcare company was founded in 1989 by George Rumman, Frederic Wolfe, and Bruce Thompson. Originally the company was formed to manage three facilities and has grown steadily ever since. Today Kingston owns and manages 14 nursing and rehabilitation centers, as well as assisted and independent living and memory care communities with locations in Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, and New Mexico.