Amid a name change, rebranding and several expansions, one aspect of a Dubuque senior living center has remained: It has always been about the community.

“This is what we do,” said Gretchen Brown, president and CEO of Stonehill Communities. “We’ve been a part of this community for 117 years. There’s also a confidence in Stonehill, if we step forward and take initiative in providing one of these services, you know it’s going to be done with the Stonehill mission and in the Stonehill way.”

Stonehill Communities — known previously as Stonehill Franciscan Services — recently underwent a rebranding and continues to expand its services in the assisted living sphere.

Brown said that the word “communities” always has defined the Franciscan values that have been in place since Stonehill’s founding more than a century ago.

“Not only did it bring all of the services on our campus under one (umbrella) … ‘communities’ really highlights the fact that we are all our one big community and that we have all the diversity in services,” Brown said.

The change, according to Brown, has been a well-received clarification for the community — particularly the logo.

“The logo really shows the person at the center and then it kind of looks like hands surrounding that individual,” she said.

Since 2021, Stonehill has added assisted living memory care and increased the number of assisted-living apartments.

“The post-acute care unit is something that is a very vital part of this whole continuum of health services from health to home,” Brown said.

What has been “entrenched” in staff from the sisters, according to Brown, is looking ahead to the “next need” for Dubuque and the surrounding communities.

That ultimately led to conversations with Jim Theisen — a caregiver himself — and a gift through the Theisens Endowment that aids the caregivers who use the recently opened Caregiver Resource Center.

“We’ve seen over 120 caregivers already … (We) have support groups, they have music in motion for loved ones who are struggling with memory issues … social services consulting if they need it,” Brown said.

Caregivers also receive a free membership to the wellness center.

In the roughly seven years Brown has been with Stonehill, she said there have been several changes or updates to help the community, including internal renovations to nursing areas in the health center, renovating the second-floor chapel, installing a skywalk from the health center to Assisi village, adding apartment to assisted living memory care and more.

“We’ve literally transformed what was already a really wonderful thing … (into the) most comprehensive continuum of services here in Dubuque,” Brown said.

Brown said the assisted living area and assisted living memory care will be an “ongoing need,” as people search for affordable senior living housing.

“It’s something that is going to be a national need and certainly going to be a need for our area here,” Brown said.

SeniorLiving.org reports that average home health care costs average roughly $4,500 per month, while adult care is roughly $1,360 per month and assisted living facilities for seniors cost roughly $3,700 per month.

Brown said Stonehill is evaluating where they need to partner with other organizations to provide services.

“We certainly are looking at home-based services and what our role could be there… (We’re) wanting to let dust settle from activity over the last five years, but we can’t sit on our laurels either.”

But Brown said that the Stonehill reputation in the community couldn’t exist without the employees.

“You don’t have an organization that has a reputation like Stonehill without having the employees that work here,” Brown said. “They have been part of such a great employee culture, and I believe that it’s a testimonial to why we received the state award for excellence in the workplace.”