Happy Anniversary to Lasata!!

September 6, 2011 marks the 45th anniversary of Lasata Home for the Aged admitting its’ first residents. On September 6, 1966 Anna Luber was the first resident to come through our doors. Later that day 5 other residents joined her and our reputation for caring began. The next day 5 more residents came and on the third day another 3 more were admitted. By July of 1967 all 96 beds were full.

On September 3, 1966 the Lasata Home for the Aged ‘Program of Dedication’ was held with officials and dignitaries from all over the County and the State of WI including Mr. Ray Blank the Chairman of the County Board; Mr. Loren Fritz, the Chairman of the Lasata Board of Trustees; and Mr. Wilbur Schmidt, the Director of the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare. The State had approved the building of Lasata Home for the Aged under Chapter 49 of the State Statutes for ‘County Homes, Infirmaries and Hospitals’.  

Lasata Home for the Aged opened as a state of the art 96-bed nursing home and was also the first county nursing home to offer Adult Day Care with room for 18. Those first nursing home residents paid $7 per day plus an extra $1 per day for a private room. By 1968 the rates charged were increased to $14/day plus an extra $2 for a private room.

The first Medical Director was Dr. Alan Misch. Florence Preston, an RN was the first Administrator and she had a salary of $700/month. The Assistant Administrator made $500/month and the ‘Office Helper’ made $1.50/hr.

In 1968 Marian Bruederle was hired as the first Director of Nursing. An RN made $2.40/hr, an LPN made $1.88/hr and a CNA made $1.39/hr. The Maintenance Supervisor-Bill Murray, made $500/month and the ‘janitor’ and ‘yardman’ made $385/month.

The Cook made $1.88/hr, a Cook’s Assistant made $1.62/hr, an Activity Aide made $1.45/hr, the ‘Domestic’ made $1.39/hr and the Occupational Therapist made $5/hr.  

Here is an excerpt from the dedication program back in 1966:

...’As long as you live, actually from the moment of conception, you continue to age. When the maturation cycle has been reached and senescence begins (at about age 65) many persons find that it is their advantage to remove themselves from our complex rapidly moving society to a simpler living arrangement. The pace here at Lasata is geared to slowly moving footsteps’…

In 1972 the west wing with another 108 beds was added. In 1987 the 60-unit Lasata Heights apartment building was opened and in 2010 the 60-unit Lasata Crossings assisted living facility was opened. Today we are a 300 bed/unit senior living campus with services for independent seniors, assisted living services and skilled nursing home care.

We are still located on the same 25 acre site that was donated by Mr. William Kasten (Kasten Hall) ‘for the express use of building a home for the senior citizens of Ozaukee County’. Our mission has changed to provide service not just to the ‘infirmed and aged’ but to provide a total continuum of services for the elderly and disabled.

Ralph G. Luedtke, campus Administator