The Village at Skyline Pines Assisted Living & Memory Care

01/09/2026

A couple years ago I got a laugh when one of our long time memory care residents was telling her family that she was staying at the "hotel at the top of the hill".

While I laughed, I did understand that our community does look like what a grand hotel might look like. Even walking in the front door, our reception area does give the feeling of a luxury hotel, with it's 2 story ceiling, hanging lights, and wide staircase. Our lounges off the main entrance may also give that impression, with their great size and luxury appointments and fireplaces. The building was designed this way to give it's residents a place they could be very proud to live in.

What I hadn't realized was that many people in the community also think we are "the hotel at the top of the hill". Kelli and I were out for dinner last weekend and met some people sitting next to us. when we told them what we did, they asked "where is that". Kelli explained that it's at the top of the hill behind Ruby Tuesdays. They asked if it was behind the hotel. I said "Yes, it's behind Comfort Inn and Suites". They said, "No, the big tan and green one up higher".

I was heartbroken as they had lived in the area for over a decade and knew the area well. We at the Village don't do a ton of advertizing. A VERY high percentage of sales we do come from word of mouth and our reputation, and referrals from advocate groups and such. You may have seen a couple ads running on TV, and those aren't intended as sales ads, they are intended to keep awareness. It appears we are failing in that respect.
I guess we will have to put some more money into some advertizing in different arenas to make sure that at the very least people know we are here.
One observation when I see the ads other facilities run is the fact that none of the videos or pictures are from their actual facility. They all seem to be stock images and actors. I can't imagine seeing an ad, liking it, then walking into a place that looks nothing like the ad showed. I know the chicken sandwich at a fast food restaurant rarely looks like the one on TV, but Senior Living isn't fast food.
100% of our ad images are real people, and places inside the building I'm sitting in right now.

I have a challenge for all our followers. As you are out this weekend, ask someone if they know where or what the Village at Skyline Pines is. I'd love to hear what you find.

01/08/2026

Our staff do a great job of putting on a happy face and bringing cheer to our resident population on a daily basis. Some days are harder than others.
Late last week we half staffed our flag for a resident that passed away on hospice and had been with us for several years. This morning we again had to half staff our flag for another resident who we've had the honor of caring for over the past few years.

At the Village there are no customers. There are only Residents, Friends, and Family.

12/29/2025

It's not often that we need to do rumor control posts, but sometimes we seem to have a need. We always would rather talk to people in person if they have have concerns or questions, but some seem to prefer not to.

Today's post is in regards to the Village "being sold", "Kelli and Cory leaving", Kelli and Cory "Cashing out", "New management", etc.

There is zero truth to the rumor that the Village is being sold. The Village IS NOT for sale. The ownership has been the same since the Village was built, and with the exception of adding Kelli and I to the group there have been no significant changes.

Kelli and I ARE NOT resigning from our places at the Village. Kelli and I are coming on our 5 year anniversary here at the Village, and as I type this, we are working with our Board of Directors to come to terms for another multi year agreement. I, while I have no real reason to do so, feel I should also state that the "negotiation" is NOT for more money or anything that would negatively impact the residents or cause increased rates at the VIllage. It's Kelli and my plan to remain in operational control of the VIllage for at least the next 6-10 years.

What IS happening?
Since Kelli and I entered this industry, we have strived to elevate our team and secondarily put redundancies in place so that no one person, or in our case 2 people are 100% mission critical to the operation. If something should happen to Kelli and I it's very important that the Village would continue providing outstanding care to our resident base. We have always known this and from day 1 we have looked for ways to mitigate this risk. It took us almost 5 years (some of our management team have been training under Kelli and I for over 8 years) to get to a point where we would feel comfortable stepping back a step and letting our team spread their wings.
What is also not obvious to many is that our team, as a whole, and some individuals specifically, are extemely skilled and becoming more skilled continiously. When a team this skilled has no upward mobility in the workplace they will find (or be found) other opportunities. We want our skilled team to stay here, so we have opened up positions where they can move upwards. What does that mean?
Well, Megan for intance, has been a certified Administrator for a year in SD, and worked for Kelli for over 8 years. We'd like her to stay on here at the Village rather than taking her talents to another facility. To that end, Kelli is planning on moving to a position we call Executive Director and Megan will move to an Administrator role. As you can imagine, that opens up a whole list of upward positions for the rest of our team.
What changes from a resident standpoint? Nothing. You might notice Kelli and I taking more time out of the facility at times. This is planned. We are hopeful that any negative impact to the operation is minimal, and extremely temporary as we work out bugs that appear.
For what it's worth, there has never been a 24 hour period over the last 5 years that Kelli or I have had no contact with anyone at the Village. This includes Christmas day, 4th of July, and every other day of the year. We do chuckle a bit when people talk about our "vacation" not realizing that we had 650 text messages, 200 emails, and 100 phone calls over that time.
People need to realize that there is no separation between Kelli and I and the VIllage. It's not what we do. It's not our job. It's who we are!

Cory Back
General Manager
Village at Skyline Pines, LLC.

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas from The Village at Skyline Pines.
We are so thankful to the residents and families who choose to spend their Christmas at our community. We also want to thank our dedicated team who are caring for our beloved residents over the Christmas holiday.

11/27/2025

The Village would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
Of course we have a full spread of thanksgiving food at our lunch meal today for residents and their loved ones to enjoy, but the food isn’t the focus for us.
For us we are thankful for one more year, one more month, one more week, one more day, or one more hour with those we care about. Every minute of time with those we love is a blessing and we are proud to be part of bringing those people together and giving them a place they can enjoy that time.

As the GM of the Village I am thankful for my dedicated team working their level best to make the Village the best place for seniors to live. We fail in some aspects from time to time, but I’m thankful that their efforts to improve never end.

Thank you to the residents and their families for trusting us. Thank you to our care and nursing staff for helping the residents live their best lives. Thank you to housekeeping and maintenance for doing your best to keep the facility as close to pristine as possible, thank you to the admin and office teams for trying to put order to the chaos, and lastly, thank you to our dietary team for putting out wonderful meals like the Thanksgiving meal you are serving as I type this.

So much to be thankful for today.

Cory Back
GM
Village at Skyline Pines, LLC.

10/30/2025

Hello everyone.
We had a fire unit dispatched to the facility this afternoon so we wanted to let everyone know what was going on.
First, there was no fire.
One of our hvac units on the roof had failed its belts on the return air blower and that caused some smoke.
When we first detected smoke we called 911 out of an abundance of caution.
The unit was shut down, and smoke cleared out.
No injuries whatsoever.

Sorry for any confusion.

10/10/2025

The residents decorated some pumpkins for Halloween this week. Thought we’d share

08/25/2025

Senior living is a challenging field for anyone. Over the past few weeks, being a Hospice providing facility, we’ve felt the weight of loss in our resident base, and done our level best to be there for the residents and families in their toughest times.
When asked why one might continue on a career path with such challenges, all one would need to do is read a few cards like the one we received today.
These are the fuel that drives us.

The Village was designed, built, and operated with the mission of providing the best senior care

08/25/2025

Photos from craft club.

08/25/2025

A few days ago we took a bus load of residents to Old McDonalds Farm. It was a hot day, but the residents had a blast!

08/02/2025

It's that time of year where the Sturgis Rally is in full swing and as we have for the last 4 years we want to bring the rally to our seniors.
All motorcycles are welcome to the event. Please stop by and visit with our residents, eat some free food, and pick up a poker chip.

Event starts at 1pm at our facility at 1050 Fairmont Blvd in Rapid City.
For those in Sturgis, Cory will lead a ride through beautiful Vanocker Canyon and into Rapid City, Leaving Wareing Ford in Sturgis at 12:15pm sharp. We will meat on their parking lot exit (see picture).
Please GPS to the Village as its hard not to get separated coming through Rapid City.

Thank!

08/01/2025

Hawaii dress up day