The Pioneer’s Haven assisted living facility out of Kerrobert has a new manager, and her name is Kystal Bazylinski. She was born and raised in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and moved to Saskatchewan back in 2001, before moving to Luseland nine years ago.  

We caught up with Bazylinski to talk about the new position, and asked her what she thought was the best part about being named manager at Pioneer’s Haven.  

“Honestly, the best part of being named manager for The Pioneers Haven has been getting to know all the residents. I feel at home and I know I have a new extended family at my side. Another thing that is been the best part is knowing the board took all of my ideas and plans for the Haven seriously. They put their faith in me to run the Haven into a great future, and this Haven community deserves that. Pioneer's Haven is such an important establishment for the surrounding communities. And we're grateful to have it so, it's somewhere where our loved ones can come and feel at home,” Bazylinski said. 

Bazylinski is optimistic for the future, as with the restrictions being lifted, plans are being made for the immediate future. 

“With restrictions being lifted, we can start to slowly get back to normal. More activities can be planned, more Community involvement will happen. For example, we'll be bringing back soup and sandwich days on Tuesday. This is where anyone from the community can come and pay for lunch and just sit and visit with the residents and staff. Along with that, we will be bringing back high tea for the Community to take part in as well. So, these two events are the residents top wish list items and we can't wait to see everybody from the community back at Pioneer’s Haven,” Bazylinski added. 

Visitors are still required to wear masks when they come into Pioneer’s Haven, but once they are in their rooms, they are free to take them off. Bazylinski added she hopes this will be lifted in the near future. 

Pioneer’s Haven has lots of activities planned for the upcoming year, as Bazylinski explains. 

“I have many activities and events in my scheduling that I want to start introducing. Hopefully if everything stays on track, I would like to have an end of summer fair on the property, so that would be open to the public, everyone would be welcome. There would be an admission fee. I'm hoping to wrangle up a dunk tank for the staff to participate in, have the residents dunk the staff all that fun stuff. We would have food available, games, farmers market set up and some entertainment. Another idea I have come up with is having a themed month, where we would tour the world so I would call it armchair air. And what we would do is, every week we would be visiting a different country and we would introduce certain customs from those parts of the world, including cuisine, costumes and games. Those are just a couple of my ideas, but literally my list is endless at this moment,” Bazylinski said. 

As Pioneer’s Haven is a nonprofit organization, it is always looking for donations, big or small. Bazylinski explains. 

“We work to provide the best for our residents each and every day, but we do appreciate any donations, big or small. If you would like to make a donation, you can get in contact with me and I can provide you with any specific needs we have at the moment. Monetary donations are also welcome and I will give the staff and the board the ability to provide services and building upkeep. I'll also be going hard in the fundraising department, so I want everybody to keep their ears open and their eyes peeled. for that. I hope to start doing an online 50/50 to raise money for updating the living room and dining area. With things opening up more, there's going to be so many opportunities for fundraising and getting the communities involved. I have also been in contact with the Kerrobert school as well as the Luseland School and plan on bringing a lot of programming back along with them as well,” Bazylinski added.  

If you are looking to donate today you can contact Krystal by calling 1-306-834-5255 or emailing pioneerhaven@hotmail.com.