Serving older adults through healthcare, housing, and community-based services.
07/25/2025
Greenery begins its return to the Como Park courtyard as saplings are being planted this week, including white birch, honey locust, serviceberry, and Norway spruce. Lighting fixtures were also installed and wired. Shrubs, sod, and flowers will follow soon! 🌳🪻🪴
07/25/2025
07/23/2025
The Minnesota State Fair is a cherished tradition for many of our residents, filled with decades of joyful memories. We're looking for volunteers to help es**rt and accompany them to and around the fairgrounds on opening day, August 21. This is a unique opportunity to connect with older adults, share some laughs, and create new memories together at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. Whether you're part of a company, school, community group, or individual, we’d love your help! Sign up today by contacting Melanie at (651) 632-5499, mjagolino@lyngblomsten.org, or visiting www.Lyngblomsten.org/Volunteer.
07/22/2025
Yesterday evening, residents of the Lyngblomsten Care Center enjoyed a delightful concert in the Newman-Benson Chapel, featuring the talented Summer Singers, an a ca****la group. The lively music filled the chapel with joy and brought smiles to everyone’s faces.
07/21/2025
Staff members at the Como Park and Lino Lakes campuses celebrated the annual Years of Service day with a delicious meal, acknowledging all of the contributions staff make to ensure Lyngblomsten is such a great place to work and live.
07/17/2025
This week under sunny skies, crews worked on framing for the courtyard's grilling stations. They also began work on replacing rusty railings near the chapel entrance.
07/17/2025
Lyngblomsten is pleased to offer our volunteers a variety of activities to engage in with our residents and participants. One of these activities is our nature-based therapy program.
Nature-based therapy helps our residents form a bond with the natural world around them. It's like a breath of fresh air that helps enhance focus and mindfulness, as it encourages living in the moment and soaking in the sensory delights that nature has to offer. When spring and summer roll around, the projects can involve the simple joy of digging in the dirt and working with plants, flowers, and vegetables. And in the fall and winter, we switch gears to harvesting and creating art projects using dried or freshly cut natural elements.
Just like all our volunteer opportunities, nature-based therapy is a chance for our volunteers to sprinkle a little sunshine into our residents' and participants’ day. It's a meaningful experience that our volunteers find just as enjoyable as our residents and participants do!
We are thrilled to have such a fantastic group of volunteers who are always ready to lend a helping hand. A big, heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers—we're truly grateful for your service!
If you’re interested in helping out with our nature-based therapy activities or other volunteer opportunities, visit www.Lyngblomsten.org/Volunteer to learn more and start your application.
07/16/2025
Residents from the Lyngblomsten Apartments explored the beauty of nature through art today in a charcoal flower drawing class led by Holly Nelson, Director of Lifelong Learning & the Arts for Lyngblomsten. The class began with warm-up exercises—learning how to properly hold charcoal and practicing circles and ovals. Holly then introduced the group to kneaded erasers (which can erase and draw) before inviting them to study real flowers from her own garden. With fresh blooms as inspiration, residents learned tips and techniques for viewing and sketching flowers realistically. A blooming good time was had by all!
07/14/2025
There’s just one day left to make a meaningful impact to support family caregivers like Tom. He and many others rely on Lyngblomsten Community Services for encouragement, guidance, and hope on their caregiving journey. Your gift today helps ensure no caregiver has to face this journey alone.
Join Lyngblomsten Community Services on Wednesday, July 23, from 4–5:30 PM for a virtual caregiver education session titled, "How & Why Talk Therapy Can Be Beneficial While Caregiving." Jennifer Finstad, MSW, LICSW, will share how therapy can help caregivers build skills and find moments of brightness. Come learn how you can support your mental well-being while caring for others.
Registration is required by July 21. For more information or to register, contact Lisa at (651) 632-5320 or caregiving@lyngblomsten.org.
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In 1903, Anna Quale Fergstad gathered together several Norwegian women to form a literary club. Near the end of that year, Mrs. Fergstad expressed her desire for the club to take up charitable work of some sort. Thinking of a vivid picture of the snug little huts along the coast of Norway that sheltered the wives of fishermen who had lost their lives at sea, she realized that, in America, there were many older people without family or friends to care for them. They were in need of some shelter and care. How splendid and useful an undertaking for their club to give at least a few of these deserving kinsfolk a home in which they could spend their last years.
The idea took form on October 19, 1903, when the group formed an organization, the Lyngblomsten Society, dedicated toward that goal. Mrs. Fergstad was named president. The group selected the name Lyngblomsten to commemorate the national flower of Norway, the lyng.
The organization began to grow by establishing "branches" around the Upper Midwest. On February 17, 1906, they incorporated and began fund raising. In 1911 they bought land midway between Minneapolis and St. Paul. In 1912 construction of the home began at Midway Parkway and Pascal Avenue. The home opened in December of that year with 34 older Norwegians moving in.
The home operated on the concept of residents helping with chores as they were able, and receiving help at the level each person needed—very similar to how our continuing care campus works today. It is important to note, then, that Lyngblomsten did not begin as a “nursing home,” but rather as “assisted living”—a term that didn’t exist until decades later.
The Winds of Change
For several decades, the women, their daughters and granddaughters ran the Lyngblomsten Home through the sponsorship of member branches. But as women entered the workforce and had less time for volunteer work, along with increasing government regulations for board and care being established, it was no longer a feasible method.
In 1960, Lyngblomsten was reincorporated and its grounds and assets were gifted to what was then the St. Paul Conference of the American Lutheran Church. The members of the Board of Directors began coming from the churches (instead of from the branches) and staff were hired to handle the day-to-day operations. The branches were transitioned into the new Lyngblomsten Auxiliary.
Today Lyngblomsten is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and partnered in ministry with Twin Cities-area Christian churches. Lyngblomsten welcomes older adults of all faiths and nationalities.
Growing & Changing
In the early 1960s, the skilled nursing facility was added (a requirement given by the churches as a condition of forming the partnership). The next decade saw the addition of the Lyngblomsten Apartments and the Lyngblomsten Community Senior Center (known today as 2nd Half with Lyngblomsten). With heavy hearts, in 1993 the original building that housed the Lyngblomsten Home for the Aged was demolished to make way for the Heritage Apartments (market rate).
In the 1990s Lyngblomsten began developing community outreach programs (Care Team Ministry and Parish Nurse Ministry, specifically), known today as Home- and Community-Based Services. Work also began on adopting the Swedish model of care, known as “service houses,” a concept that would be modified a decade later, ushering in the neighborhood model of person-centered care. Superior Street Cottages located off campus opened in 1999.
In the early 2000s, major fundraising made way for the massive remodeling of the care center, readying the facility for “neighborhoods” and person-centered care. The shift in how care was provided took several years to fully integrate, but as an early adopter and embracing our call to innovation, Lyngblomsten soon became known as a leader in the Culture Change movement—the terminology used to describe a new era in skilled nursing care.
In 2005, our first transitional care unit opened, serving those who needed a place to recuperate between hospital and home. On the community side, our outreach programs were expanded to help support the growing number of older adults, including the launch of The Gathering. In 2006, with much fanfare, Lyngblomsten celebrated the 100th anniversary of its incorporation.
