Sioux Falls / South Dakota / United States
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society owns or manages Christian Communities of Care in 25 states, employs 24,000 staff members and serves more than 28,000 residents. The vast majority of those the Society serves are elderly, but it also serves others in need. Good Samaritan offers housing options that include nursing beds, assisted living, basic care, congregate living and independent living (individual homes, apartment units, HUD units, duplexes and mobile homes.) Health-care services include skilled nursing, boarding and subacute care; home health care; and outpatient, physical, occupational, speech, respiratory and intravenous therapies. Other special services include adult day care, Alzheimers special care units, respite care and hospice care. All Society centers are organized to provide spiritual ministry to residents, families, and the surrounding communities. The Society began partnering with church leaders in small, rural communities in the early 1920s, responding to the call to care for their forgotten people - those who had no other options for care and no one to care for them. The Societys founder, the Rev. August Hoeger, opened the first Good Samaritan center for epileptic children in a six-room home in Arthur, N.D., in 1923.
