Editor’s Note: The McKnight’s Senior Living Daily Briefing and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Daily Update e-newsletters are profiling each of the McKnight’s 2019 Women of Distinction in July. For more coverage, visit the McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News websites and read the August print edition of McKnight’s Senior Living and July print edition of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
After moving from Washington to North Dakota, Kari Dick became the administrator at Good Samaritan’s Souris Valley Care Center in Velva, ND, while simultaneously serving as administrator for Good Samaritan Society-Mohall in Mohall, ND. She also found time to help administrators-in-training at Good Sam, reflecting her commitment to helping others grow.
Each summer, Dick teaches a long-term care class at Minnesota State University–Moorhead, which has resulted in many students pursuing internships at Touchmark, where Dick now is the executive director. She also serves on the Minnesota State University Moorhead Community of Interest/Advisory Board for the school’s Health Services Administration Department.
At Touchmark, Dick oversees 215 residents and 150 staff members. She also developed plans to keep residents safe during the floods of 2010, 2011 and 2013. The college professor who advised her to pursue senior living now lives at Touchmark, as does her preschool teacher.
of McKnight’s Senior Living at a May 16 ceremony. Photo: Social Snacks.
Among the continuing care retirement community’s innovative programs is speed dating for seniors — the first in the state to offer such a program. Dick established the Red River Valley’s first ROMEO (Retired Old Men Eating Out) Club, offering men throughout the area an opportunity to socialize over a meal, and initiated annual St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawls.
A mother of three daughters and a son, Dick has been a weekly lunch buddy for an elementary school fifth-grader and is a regular classroom speaker. She completed her MBA at the University of Mary last year.
McKnight’s Women of Distinction is a joint program of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program’s exclusive Platinum sponsor is PointClickCare.
