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Lasting Impact

Subhead
Wieneke honored for 18 years at hospice cottage
Lead Summary
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By
Mavis Fodness

Sanford Luverne’s Hospice Cottage on North Oakley Street provides a homelike setting for terminally ill persons who need round-the-clock care.
Central to the care at the four-bedroom cottage are the hospice workers who involve the family members in patients’ care.
One hospice worker — Brigitte Wieneke — has become like a daughter, sister, mother, aunt or personal confidant to the more than 500 patients and their families who came through The Cottage since it opened in 1998.
That’s the same year Wieneke began working there.
On Thursday, March 24, hospice employees and volunteers gathered to thank and bid good-bye to Wieneke, who officially retired the following week as the cottage’s certified nursing/trained medication aide.
Co-worker Bridget Mann has known Wieneke for decades, first as a babysitter and more recently as the caregiver to her mother-in-law, Pat Mann, who died at the cottage in 2015.
“Literally the place won’t be the same without her,” Mann said. “Everything was done with a sense of humor and a smile.”
In working in the home-ike atmosphere, Wieneke often felt at home and would sing as she cleaned, prepared meals or completed laundry chores.
She didn’t, however, let those household chores get in the way of the patient’s needs.
While she could be silly, Wieneke also knew when compassion was needed.
Hospice manager Tammy Moeller said Wieneke instinctively knew when to provide a smile, a kind squeeze to the hand or lend an ear to patients in the cottage.
“She helped them know it was OK to give up,” she said.
As for Wieneke, she never thinks about death.
“I think about all the right things I did today,” said the soon-to-be 65-year-old.
Wieneke’s decision to work at the hospice cottage was influenced by the care for her own late mother in Germany.
It was also in Germany that she met Mark Wieneke.
“It was a classic story of falling in love with a soldier,” she explained.
The couple married in 1971 and moved to the United States in 1973.
They have a daughter, Astrid (John) Rittenhouse, and two grandchildren, Nick and Melanie Rittenhouse.
Decades after leaving Germany, Wieneke’s accent can still be detected as she speaks.
Laughter was prevalent at her retirement party as attendees asked who would take over the speaking German words or the singing of songs at the cottage.
“I am an asset to the place,” Wieneke responded amid more laughter.
Moeller said the normally modest Wieneke was tricked into attending the retirement gathering.
Since Wieneke did not want a party organized in her honor, co-workers scheduled a staff meeting with Wieneke’s approval to recognize her 18 years of service to the cottage.
Expecting a meeting at the cottage, Wieneke was instead greeted by co-workers and hospice volunteers who brought cake, balloons and an inspirational wall hanging with “Friends” written on bold cursive lettering.
On the back of the wall hanging, party attendees wrote their appreciation for Wieneke’s work, best wishes in retirement at a cabin in Bemidji and what her lasting impact will be at the cottage.
One such message read in part, “Thanks for showing me the ropes. You were meant for this job and truly touched so many lives!”

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