For over 40 years the La Solana Care and Rehab Facility located on San Antonio Ave. has been a viable part of the Douglas community providing quality care to its residents.

La Solana resident Hermania Conary and volunteer Esperanza Mendez take part in one of the many activites avilable to the residents at La Solana Care and Rehab. Trisha Maldonado/Douglas Dispatch

Ana Altamirano, Social Services Director, said La Solana currently has 51 residents and room for 13 more. They offer nursing care, skills services, IV therapy; wound care, physical and occupation therapy.

La Solana is a 24 hour seven day a week care and rehab center offering its residents’ outstanding medical care along with a seven day a week activities program. They also provide their residents with full service housekeeping, laundry services, and transportation to and from appointments outside of the facility.

La Solana currently has a staff of 60 employees, which includes a dietitian who plans healthy meals for the residents. In February of this year La Solana went to electronic medical record charting which is a federal mandate.

Altamirano said La Solana also offers both short and long term care and the staff is dedicated to family centered care. “We do not have visiting hours, family members can come visit at any time” she said.

The staff of La Solana views the quality of the life of its residents as their responsibility and knows that residents are the happiest when family members participate.

“All of their needs will be met, but that we are not a hospital, in skill nursing facility the staffing is less…. It’s more like a home setting,” she said.

With the nations nursing care facilities seeing larger cuts in reimbursements, Medicare 11 percent and Medicaid four percent, La Solana still thrives to provide excellent and efficient care to their residents.

The stability that La Solana has had since 2002 is pretty good, which is pretty lucky in health care today , Business Manager Karen Lindemann, said.

“We still have to provide everything according to regulations,” Lindemann said. “We can provide the services here; you don’t have to go to Sierra Vista you don’t have to go to Tucson, it is really important to meet the needs in the community.”

“We have good positive things to offer and we continue to be positive, Lindemann added. “We have a small town atmosphere here.”

Volunteers are very important to La Solana. They help provide a variety of activities for residents. They also help residents stay involved in community activities and community life.

“They love to see pets and children, their faces light up,” Altamirano said.

If you would like to volunteer to spend some of your time at La Solana, contact Altamirano at (520)364-7937.