Treemont Retirement Blog

Spotlight on Houston Assisted Living Manager Jennifer Case

The Treemont Campus is fortunate to provide an excellent continuum of care for the residents who live here and this month we are delighted to announce the return of Assisted Living Nurse Manager/Infection Control Specialist, Jennifer Case LVN, who manages the Treemont Assisted Living Program.

When people talk about our Assisted Living community, they are immediately talking about Jennifer because the quality of the program is a result of her leadership. When families and residents talk about an employee and consistently use the word “Love,” you realize that you have someone very special. Jennifer was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska and moved to Houston 14 years ago. She is a mother of four children: a son living in Saudi Arabia and another son and two daughters living in Houston. She loves being a mother and, when raising her children, realized how much she loved being a care giver. When the children were all in school she decided to go to nursing school and found that it was a natural career transition. She wants to make a difference in the lives of people. In addition to nursing, Jennifer loves music, gardening, camping, fishing and geology. She describes herself as a “Rock Hound.”

Spotlight on Houston Nursing Admissions Director Crystal Marie Luna

Crystal Marie Luna, Admissions Director is the first point of contact for Independent Living residents to transition to Treemont's Health Care Center full-time, or temporarily, for rehabilitation.

Residents often come to skilled nursing, rehab or assisted living following medical setbacks, such as a complicated infection, a fall resulting in a fracture, or a stroke resulting in the need for retraining in daily living tasks. One benefit of residing at Treemont is that there is a Health Care Center (HCC) on the campus, just off Building B, to provide rehabilitation after a hospital stay. Crystal is responsible for sharing our historic community with families of seniors who are searching for strong short-term nursing and rehabilitation services or transition to an assisted living setting.

Crystal has 9 years of experience in Nursing Homes, initially as a Receptionist, then as Assistant Business Office Manager, Medical Records, and then as an Admissions Director. She was attracted to Treemont due to the family environment and culture.

New Administrator Laura Winegeart says, “I believe Crystal has the skills to work with our families so they are comfortable with all the options the Treemont Campus has to offer for

Spotlight on Houston Nursing Home Administrator Laura Winegeart

The post of Administrator is a key role and sets the tone for quality of care, resident engagement and morale among staff. We are absolutely delighted to have Administrator Laura Winegeart at the helm of Treemont Health Care Center. With 15 years of experience in long-term health care, starting at age 16 with receipt of her CNA license in high school at age 15, Laura, age 31, has worked in just about every area of a nursing home: as a CNA, in Medical Records, Human Resources and 10 years in Marketing/Admissions. Laura also has experience working in home health and hospice care but has always returned to her passion of caring for seniors in a nursing home setting.

As a relatively new Administrator, Laura has already successfully guided her previous community through a Hurricane and Electrical outage. Knowing health care from the bottom up is a strength valued by our Owners and a key reason Laura was selected for this key leadership role on the Treemont Campus.

Residents often come to skilled nursing, rehab or assisted living following medical setbacks,

Spotlight on Houston Assisted Living Receptionist Deante' Sigears

Residents and families can feel a bit overwhelmed when it comes time to seek information about transitioning to an assisted living and nursing center, or doing short-term rehab. That’s why it’s key to have a warm and enthusiastic person such as Receptionist Deante’ Sigears at the Front Desk, to greet and be the first point of contact.

As Receptionist, Deante greets and checks in visitors, manages family essential care visits, answers phones, keeps our reception area clean and organized, distributes mail, maintains files, orders office supplies, among many tasks for Administrator Cynthia Lamison. “Deante’ is an amazing person. She is extremely organized and able to provide support to both families and visitors. She has the right temperament to successfully manage a busy front desk. She’s a keeper!” says Cynthia.

Like many others, Deante’ moved to Houston from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Deante’ says, “My Mother raised three girls, including me. Since I was the eldest, the taught me responsibility at a young age, so I guess you could say I was her little helper. Looking back, I am happy she did, as it helped to make me into the person I am today, and I thank her so much.”

Spotlight on Houston Assisted Living Manager Antoinette Wiggins

Treemont is a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) which means our residents move into Independent Living, but have the option of additional care options on campus. This might be Personal Assistance or Medicare Home Health through Senior Allegiance Home Care. Alternatively, residents might have the need for a short or long-term stay in Treemont’s Health Care Center for Assisted Living or Nursing Care. Meet Assisted Living Manager Antoinette Wiggins who oversees Treemont’s Assisted Living Community. Under the leadership of Administrator Cynthia Lamison, Treemont has seen a growth in independent living residents transitioning to assisted living care.

In this role, Antoinette is responsible for the care of all residents in Assisted Living

• providing customer care to everyone
• ensuring all staff is trained according to Treemont guidelines and regulations
• providing medical care as needed
• communicating with her resident’s doctors and nurse practitioners on a weekly basis.

Spotlight on Houston Nursing Home CMA Roma Habtestsion

Treemont is a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) which means our residents move into Independent Living, but have the option of additional care options on campus, including with Senior Allegiance Home Care. If you visit Treemont’s Health Care Center (HCC) for a short-term Medicare Rehab visit or a long-term assisted or nursing stay, you’ll likely meet Certified Medication Aide Roma T. Habtestsion. Roma is one of our dedicated caregivers at HCC who passes medication to residents, following state rules and according to individual resident schedules.

Roma is from Eritrea, located in East Africa, by the Red Sea Coast. She moved to Houston via the Diversity Visa lottery, with her two boys and two girls, and parents who have since passed away. In Eritrea she earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting and went to the international Italian school in Eritrea. In the U.S. Roma has worked one year as a Certified Nursing

Treemont Honors Residents' Rehab Achievements, Return to Independence

Seniors main motivation for a move to a retirement community is to seek a more supportive environment, with meals, housekeeping, transportation to doctor’s appointments and shopping, activities, entertainment and an overall maintenance-free lifestyle. Seniors might be living in a home that is hard to maintain, especially after a spouse has passed. Mom might no longer drive and feel isolated — no longer able to get to church or play bridge or mah jongg with friends as she used to. It’s also a plus to have staff and fellow residents around to keep an eye on one another. 

Because Treemont Retirement Community has multiple care levels on campus, there’s more peace of mind, knowing that if you have a health setback, you can get a helping hand through Treemont’s on premise home

Spotlight on Houston Nursing Home Activity Director Jeanette Mitchell

As Activities Director for Treemont Health Care Center (HCC), Jeannette Mitchell’s job is multi-faceted. Jeannette develops all activities programming for assisted living and skilled nursing residents. Programs are designed to enhance resident’s overall well-being. Jeanette’s monthly calendar of events reflects a balance of activities that are reflective of physical, social, sensory stimulation, parties and special events. Jeannette also manages the HCC volunteer program.

Jeanette is a Certified Activities Director with a specialty in activities for residents at different levels of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Jeannette also serves as a valued member of the Treemont Interdisciplinary Team, representing the activities and social department as a clinician.  She assesses residents in this area.

Jeannette is new to her Activity Director position, but not to Treemont. Jeannette is one of Treemont’s notoriously long-tenured staff, serving our residents as a CNA since 2008!! “I attended Texas Health School and performed my training and clinical at Treemont. I fell in love with the residents and I’ve been here ever since.  On her