OVATION HEARTWOOD PRESERVE IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Stephanie Grade

Stephanie Grade is a born and raised Nebraskan. Growing up in Crete, just about an hour outside Omaha, Stephanie looked at life through a different lens. Her passion for exceptional service drew her to the hotel and services industry, allowing her to travel the U.S., open hotels, and serve on the Board of Directors for the Omaha Restaurant Association and Metropolitan Hospitality Association. After 20 years of hospitality experience and award-winning program development, Stephanie has brought her expertise to Ovation Heartwood Preserve.

“Ovation is such a reinvigorating and wonderful new development,” Stephanie said when asked why she chose to join and lead the Ovation team. “I look forward to sharing my background in hospitality with my fellow team members.”

Ovation Heartwood Preserve offers exceptional, residential living and experiences, as well as innovative technology options that allow guests to communicate with family and the world around them.

Stephanie has a degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management from Iowa State University. She’s also a proud mother, wife, and owner of an English Bulldog named Lola – who gets all of the family’s attention. When she’s not earning an ovation for her hard work, she enjoys attending concerts, theatre performances, traveling, supporting the Joslyn Art Museum, and exploring Fontenelle Forest just outside Bellevue.

Collette Mieres

To say that Collette Mieres knows how to care and provide for those under her watch is an understatement. This professional is an Assisted Living Administrator (ALA), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) with training as a Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP), and as a Certified Montessori Dementia Care Professional (CMDCP). She has brought all her knowledge and experience to Ovation Heartwood Preserve as the Assisted Living Executive Director.

Mieres knew she wanted to work with the aging and those who need added assistance from a young age. She watched her grandfather go through life changes and took mental notes about the care he received.

“It became my passion and I wanted to be part of the aging gracefully process,” she said about the experience. “The philosophy of care and core values at Ovation achieve those goals. We’re helping residents embrace the lifestyle they want and remain as independent as possible. The goal is to help them live full, productive lives with dignity.”

Ovation Heartwood Preserve helps families and those they care for sleep better at night with around-the-clock options and security. That includes added attention for those within memory care. Here, life changes are embraced, and the Ovation team is ready to help with fitness, nutrition, family communications, and anything else to help residents feel at home.

When she’s not caring for those at Ovation and guiding her team, Collette likes to cook world cuisine, paint, craft, read, and spend time with her family. Together, they enjoy visiting local parks and gardens, as well as entertaining friends.

Ginger Apprich

Ginger Apprich has a passion for being early. It’s one of those traits that people really appreciate, especially in a Community Relations Director. This 20+ year industry veteran has seen and lived all over the world, thanks to her time in the Navy and marriage to a career United States Army colonel. During Operation Desert Storm, she found herself stationed in San Diego expertly tackling war-effort reporting duties for the Navy News this Week.

All of those moments, interactions, and experiences helped shape her into the caring person she is today and one of the many reasons she chose to join the Ovation team. According to Apprich, Ovation is the perfect mix of hospitality and care.

“It’s a brand new concept,” Apprich said when asked about Ovation. “It’s unique. We’re not a nursing home, but we’re not just an assisted or independent living community with memory care either. Residents deserve to enjoy life to the fullest, and we can help them do that with wellness, hospitality, and socialization.”

Ovation is a safe place to relax and enjoy a life well lived. Everything at Ovation Heartwood Preserve has been purpose-built to be a welcome and caring place for visitors as well as those who call this place home. Here, the Ovation team is continually poised to offer fitness options and beyond-the-ordinary nutrition, along with anything else residents need to feel at home.

Apprich loves the outdoors, including hiking, walking, training their new canine to be a therapy hospice dog, and spending time on the lake. This mother, and now active grandmother, enjoys all that life has to offer, including volunteer opportunities with hospice and at her church, as well as time with her family.

Roxann Rogers Meyer

The Continuing Adventures of Roxann Rogers Meyer

Before joining the Ovation Heartwood Preserve team as the Community Relations Coordinator, Roxann Rogers Meyer enjoyed some incredible career adventures. One of the most notable was meeting Olivia Newton-John, just one of the many celebrities she’s met and stories she’s lived over the decades.

“We had a sponsorship with the Omaha Symphony,” Roxann said when explaining how she met Olivia and a long list of other big-name entertainers during her time working for the healthcare provider. “When someone great would perform there, I’d get my picture with them. I have quite the collection.”

While her brush with fame includes celebrities, musicians, and politicians such as the late President George Bush 41, Roxann is a well-known, local celebrity in her own right – especially if you attended or listened to any football games at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the mid-1970s.

“I was the first female radio broadcaster in Lincoln,” Roxann added when describing her time on the air. “I read the news and did the color commentary on the sidelines of the Cornhusker home games. I had the press pass, microphone, huge headphones, a very cute red pantsuit, and plenty of jealous friends.”

Roxann would don the appropriate radio gear and interview many of the players’ parents and homecoming queens.

“One time, I was on the sidelines doing a live interview and got run over by the tuba player in the marching band. I’m only 5-foot 2. He simply didn’t see me.”

While she was knocked out for only an instant, her parents listening to the broadcast back home were rightfully worried for several hours.

“The announcer in the booth said, “And…she’s down!” What a great memory. What I can remember of it,” she said with a laugh.

Unfortunately, not all of Roxann’s radio days were easy.

“I was given the job of announcing that Elvis Presley had died,” she quietly added. “I was at the racetrack doing the afternoon sports. The station got a hold of me and said I had to announce it. You don’t forget something like that.”

Over time, Roxann met her husband who had visions of being an optometrist in California. The couple moved out west, started a family, then moved back home to Omaha where Roxann continued to influence the local scene and play a pivotal role in the region’s marketing and advertising community.

“It’s been a great career,” she said when asked about the past decades. “Communication skills will serve you well, no matter what career you have.”

We’re thrilled to have Roxann on the Ovation Heartwood Preserve team and look forward to many more stories about her past and creative insights that will help guide the future.