Archive for year: 2025

In the height of the lunch rush, Registered Dietitian Meghan Sechler popped into the Homeland kitchen to ask the cook to make a special sandwich for a new resident.

“And she did it,” Sechler said. “She actually did it for me.”

Plus, she adds, “We have a really good kitchen here. We prepare a lot of food from scratch. I try to pass compliments on to the cooks whenever I can.”

Since joining the Homeland team in 2018, with one break for the birth of her daughter, Sechler has built a community of supportive colleagues who all pitch in for the well-being of the residents.

As a registered dietitian, Sechler is responsible for assessing and maintaining the dietary health of skilled care and Ellenberger memory care residents. Her first bachelor’s degree, from Penn State Harrisburg, was in marketing, but she didn’t have a passion for the work.

With her love for cooking and healthy food, she decided to switch careers after talking with a cousin who was a dietitian. Inspired to help others, she earned a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree in nutrition from Penn State.

At Homeland, her work touches the lives of every resident in skilled care and Ellenberger memory care, and she’s happy to help any personal care resident with their questions or needs.

Her primary duty is conducting quarterly assessments, reviewing the full range of health and dietary factors needed to create a plan for nutritious and enjoyable eating. There are weight, medications, supplements, diagnoses, speech and occupational therapies, activity levels, wound care, and appetite to consider.

The result? Individualized nutrition plans that help residents maintain their weight, build muscle, eat well, and get helpful supplements.

“It’s like putting together pieces of a puzzle,” she said.

Sechler passed the rigorous exam needed to become a registered dietitian – anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, she notes – but not after knocking over a hand-sanitizer dispenser in her nervousness. Working early in her career in Homeland’s kitchen helped her answer many of the nutrition questions.

Working with the entire Homeland team, she plays a key role in maintaining the residents’ quality of life.

“It’s such a warm, welcoming environment,” she said. “My supervisor provides all the resources I need. I feel like I have the time I need to complete assessments correctly. I can go home and know that my job is complete for the day.”

On a fun note, Sechler is happy to tell family members that it’s okay to bring in their loved one’s favorite foods, within the boundaries of dietary plans. What do they bring?

“Cookies a lot,” she said. “Usually dessert-y and snack-y. I saw someone carrying a whole pizza to share with his dad and his dad’s roommate.”

The residents are a source of delight and “so fun to work with,” Sechler added. They teach her patience. She is awestruck by their stories of childhood, careers, and families.

“They show me what a lifetime can amount to,” she said. “They make me laugh all the time. You really build bonds with them. They almost become another set of grandparents. I love to see them interacting in the activities.”

Sechler grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Plymouth Meeting. Her parents were government aerospace contractors, so Take Your Child to Work Day was always an adventure, with visits from astronauts and the opportunity to see satellites being built.

Sechler and her husband, Wil, met at a friendsgiving gathering at Penn State Harrisburg. They married in September 2019, just before the pandemic, and eventually enjoyed a honeymoon in the Bahamas.

Their daughter Adeline, nicknamed Addy, is 20 months old. She was still a baby for her first Homeland trick-or-treat night, coming dressed as an avocado while her mom was a taco and her husband was a chef. Ironically, the daughter of a registered dietitian doesn’t like vegetables, but she eats fruit and is a fiend for seafood, especially shrimp.

From her office overlooking Homeland’s greenery-filled Kunkel Circle at the 6th Street entrance, Sechler noted the remarkable longevity of Homeland’s staff and the support they provide each other, from bringing in food to sharing Secret Santa gifts.

“So many people have been here for so long,” she said. “It’s very much like a family. A lot of workplaces will say that they’re family and good places to work, but you can tell that they don’t care. Here, here you feel cared about.”

Homeland Center (www.homelandcenter.org) offers levels of care including personal care, memory care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation. Homeland also provides hospice, home care, home health and palliative care services to serve the diverse and changing needs of families throughout central Pennsylvania. For more information or to arrange a tour, please call 717-221-7900.

Anna Hicks is a medication technician whose compassionate approach enhances the lives of residents far beyond dispensing medications.

For example, one Homeland resident wakes up achy every morning, so Hicks massages her knees with pain cream and makes her coffee, which the resident deeply appreciates.

“She loves me,” says Hicks. “She’ll tell everybody that I’m her ‘daughter.’ She tells anybody that. I have to have coffee every morning, so I feel her pain on that.”

To Hicks, these small, thoughtful gestures form the heart of her work: enhancing residents’ quality of life through genuine care, not seeking recognition.

“I go the extra mile for the residents who need that motivation to get up and get going,” she says. “I like to keep them motivated, so they don’t have things to worry about.”

Hicks also represents Homeland’s home-grown talent and opportunities. In 2014, while working at a restaurant in the Harrisburg area, a cousin-in-law working at Homeland told her about a kitchen opening.

After two years in dietary, she advanced to personal care assistant. Although she hadn’t expected to provide hands-on care, a past part-time home care job showed her how much she enjoyed ensuring people had what they needed.

“I walked into it super-nervous, thinking, ‘This thing’s not bad. I can actually do this,’” she said.

In 2017, she began studying to become a certified nurse assistant. Throughout this role, she focused on small details like keeping residents’ laundry organized, rooms tidy, and supplies stocked.

After earning her CNA certification, Hicks sought a new challenge and transitioned to a medical technician position around 2020.

As a medical technician, Hicks administers medications, visits rooms in the morning, and checks on residents in the dining room at lunch. She monitors vital signs, blood sugar, and keeps her cart fully stocked. Some days, she steps in for the assistant director of nursing, handling management tasks as part of their team.

Hicks strikes a balance in interacting with residents.

“The best way to talk to them isn’t like they’re a kid or you’re their parent,” she said. “You have to get on a relatable level with them. I don’t baby them, but I’m not bossy with them, either.”

She is the one ensuring that residents are taking their medications as prescribed. If they want to take some sort of supplement on their own, she checks with their physician for approval.

“It feels rewarding if residents come to me with a problem and I can solve it,” she said. “Then they’re happy.”

Outside of work, Hicks enjoys relaxing and playing with her three cats, a 2-year-old girl named Stormy, a 1-year-old boy named Dallas, and the newest addition is a girl named Lola.

Continuing the tradition of Homeland’s family connections, Hicks’ mother, Sherri Chanchlani, works for the Activities Department on weekends.

Hicks arrives each day fully put together, with coordinated makeup, nails, and scrubs that don’t look like uniforms.

“I’m big on presentation,” she says. “I have to look coordinated. I try to make it look as much like regular clothes as possible, because I don’t like it when it looks too much like an institution for the residents.”

Hicks also hopes to advance her career by becoming an LPN, which will enable her to acquire more skills and the necessary licensing to perform additional tasks in her med-tech work, such as administering injections.

Her experience at Homeland taught her about the importance of choices, teamwork, and professionalism. She leads by example—remaining calm in stressful situations, not just telling others to do so.

“If you get all worked up, you can’t do your work straight,” she says. “I always ask myself if this was me in this situation, how would I want a nurse reacting?”