Eric Tetzlaff, Lake Terrace

Lake Terrace has provided assisted living services for area seniors since 1988. Eric Tetzlaff was named administrator of the facility this year. He replaced his father, James Tetzlaff, who founded the organization.

“We’ve been undergoing a transformative change,” Tetzlaff said. “We’re positioning Lake Terrace to offer the best quality of care, and making significant strides forward.”

Lake Terrace consists of three facilities on one campus, which is off Loomis Road in Greendale.

Since taking charge, Tetzlaff has made changes that have exceeded expectations of quality in programming, staff and resident care. He has spearheaded the addition of more and better programming to enrich the lives of the residents at Lake Terrace.

“It starts with the culture of the organization. This industry is known for a lot of turnover, and we wanted to buck that trend,” he said. “We set out to find people who thought of this as their calling, not just a job. We’ve done that. Our residents are thought of as family, not just patients.”

Residents at Lake Terrace can take advantage of new programming, including Wii games, sing-alongs and live entertainment. Tetzlaff has even gone so far as to make special arrangements for residents with individualized requests.

Despite significant challenges in the industry, Tetzlaff and his team have addressed concerns of deferred maintenance on the facilities themselves, enhanced programming for residents, added hospice services to increase the quality of care and are working to gain diamond-level accreditation from the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association.

“Day-to-day, we continuously strive to do things better as an organization,” he said. “Our emphasis is on teamwork and servant leadership. It’s our staff that makes the difference and makes all of these improvements possible.”