Jan’s Independent Living Condo

Jan Steiert’s story begins with caregiving. When her husband’s health declined and she needed hip replacement surgery, life became unsustainable.

“It got to the point I could not get him up anymore,” she recalled. “My son and his wife were doing so much.”

Western Home became the solution. Her husband moved into assisted living, and Jan found her own home in Prairie Wind.

Today, Jan laughs when she talks about her schedule. “I’m busier now than I ever was.”

“There is a lot to do, and you make it what you want,” she said. “I don’t like to be inactive.”

Her week is filled with activities, impromptu gatherings, taking Bandit to visit her husband, friends who stop by and Friday Happy Hours at Gilmore’s Pub. “If I don’t want to see anybody, I can hide in here,” she jokes. “But I have so many friends.”

Jan’s apartment is her canvas. “I always wanted to be an interior decorator,” she said. “So I studied it and decorate for myself.”

Her space reflects her personality: warm, intentional and expressive. Prairie Wind’s connection to Jorgensen Plaza has transformed her daily life.

“Everything I need is right here,” Jan said. “I don’t really need to go anywhere.”

She even attends fitness classes online. “They can’t see me, and that’s cool,” she laughed.