Our seniors are in good hands with Dakota Klinkefus
Meet Dakota Klinkefus, assistant administrator for Guardian Angel Homes in Post Falls. Dakota has been in the senior care industry for nearly 15 years, getting his start in the certified nursing assistant program at his high school located in Cottonwood. Dakota, having been reared in the small farming community of Cottonwood, was no stranger to large family gatherings and spending quality time with the seniors in his family. He took part in the town’s 4-H program for 10 years, participating in raising sheep, swine and steer as well as learning to work with leather, cook and decorate cakes. It was in his junior year of high school that he discovered a passion for healthcare in pursuing his CNA license. Fifteen years later, he still finds joy and purpose in caring for one of the most vulnerable and greatest parts of society, our senior population.
Generation: Chronologically speaking, I am a millennial, but I was reared in a small farm town in central Idaho, so a lot of my views and opinions are pulled from traditionalists, Boomers, and Gen Xers.
Career and community involvement: I serve as the board president for the North Idaho AIDS Coalition (five years as board member) and was president for the North Idaho Regional Association of Activity Professionals for three years. Over my career at Guardian Angel Homes, I have learned to become a jack-of-all-trades, from helping stabilize our staffing department to working in activities to helping restructure and build up our dietary department. No job was too small, no task too big for me to at least try and help. I started out as a caregiver, working my way through the medication technician position to the activity director, staff development coordinator, interim dietary manager and then to the assistant administrator.
1. Why did you embark on a career in elder care? Honestly, I had not intended to go into the field. I feel like I was chosen for it. I remember thinking to myself that I would not particularly care for the type of work involved (to be that young and naïve again!). After my first job as a CNA in my hometown, I knew I found the right field for a career. It was not until I worked at a rehab center in Lewiston that I fell in love with senior care. To see the positive impact that one human can make in another’s life was, needless to say, enlightening. That experience has been the driving force for my continued passion in the industry.
2. What is a lesson one of the Guardian Angel residents have taught you? There are too many to count. Every day brings with it new challenges, new moments of joy and even moments of sadness. If I had to put down just one lesson, it would be a lesson that each of my residents either has or will impart more of on their journey at the facility, and that lesson is one of love. Throughout each of their journeys with us, we get to know the amazing individuals through their own words or words of affection from their loved ones. To get the honor of being a part of that journey, to witness the love that each of those lives have built, there is not another job I can think of that reaps such rewards.
3. Why choose to serve on the board for the North Idaho AIDS Coalition? My friend Julie McHugh serves as the medical case manager for NIAC. It was at her suggestion that I attend a board meeting and see if I was interested in joining the cause. After seeing the passion that the other board members exhibited in championing such a cause, it felt only right to join in supporting the much needed, and invaluable services that NIAC provided to the community.
4. What is something people would be surprised to learn about you? I am a third-generation Scotch-Australian on my paternal grandmother’s side.
5. What fulfillment do you get from knowing your work is helping others? I have yet to find another job, nor do I think there is one, that could come remotely close to the amount of joy, love and soul-gratifying fulfillment that comes from caring for arguably the best parts of our population, our history, our heritage.