We are excited to announce the promotion of Jennifer Hicklin to Chief Financial Officer for VLH and Brandon Oaks, effective August 21, 2022. Jennifer currently serves as our Controller and has been a member of the VLH team since December 2014. However, she had previously served VLH as a member of our auditing team at Foti, Flynn, Lowen & Co. Jennifer is a graduate of Bridgewater College where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting. In her spare time, she enjoys running, being active and spending time with her husband, Darrell, and children, Ty and Skylar. You can also find her throughout the year at multiple sporting events in Salem cheering on her children.

It is with great pleasure that the Board of Trustees for Virginia Lutheran Homes names Charles Downs, Jr., Esq. as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective Monday, August 8, 2022. Downs currently serves as VLH’s Executive Vice President.

Charles began his service with VLH and Brandon Oaks in the mid-1980’s by volunteering with Christ Lutheran Church’s youth group at the Virginia Synod Lutheran Homes (what is now the NRC).

After attending Virginia Military Institute, followed by Pennsylvania State University for law school, Charles returned to the Roanoke area and joined VLH’s Board of Trustees in 2013. In 2015, Charles was appointed as Chair of the Board of Trustees until joining the VLH staff in February 2020 as Corporate Counsel. As his role within the organization grew, he was named Executive Vice President in February 2021.

Brandon Oaks Life Plan Community has implemented new technology for screening employees, and soon residents and visitors. Utilizing contactless temperature screening kiosks, users will be able to answer a series of questions and have their temperature taken by a device. Over the course of the pandemic, this process has been completed by staff members in various locations of the Brandon Oaks campus. However, this new tool will allow the process to be completely automated and lessen the risk of exposure for employees who were completing the screenings.

The kiosk, from Symtech Solutions, provides each user hand sanitizer and an opportunity for staff to scan their employee ID. Each employee then goes through a series of prompted questions, and their temperature is taken. They will be notified if they have been granted admittance to the facility and a badge is printed showing they passed the screening. If an employee does not pass the screening, a notification, a text and an email, is sent to their manager so they can follow up with the employee. Similar procedures are available for visitors and residents who are able to enter their name into the system and go through the same process.

“COVID-19 precautions aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and we wanted to find a more efficient way to complete daily screening of our staff,” said Gary Ventola, CFO of Virginia Lutheran Homes, parent company of Brandon Oaks. Ventola added, “This tool will allow employees who have been doing these screenings manually to refocus back to their main duties and it lessens the points of contact and therefore potential exposures.”