Today is National Nurses Day which offers us a special opportunity to recognize Givens Gerber Park’s very own Cheryl Wallens and Lisa Rogers.

Cheryl Wallen is the Director of LifeMinistries and has been a Registered Nurse for over three decades. As Director of Givens LifeMinistries, she works as a member of Givens Housing with Supportive Services Team to provide oversight and assistance with resident care navigation. She provides prevention and wellness education programming to residents at Givens Gerber Park, Givens Great Laurels and Givens Highland Farms. She is experienced as an educator in chronic-disease self-management and is a certified diabetes lifestyle coach. As a Faith Community Nurse, Cheryl provides guidance to churches in developing and launching outreach programs that address social determinants of health and wellness needs in their congregations and local neighborhoods.

Cheryl is our fearless and faithful leader of Givens LifeMinistries and has improved, impacted, and inspired so many lives throughout Givens’ four communities and beyond. Her work is being recognized nationwide, as she is the recipient of McKnight’s Senior Living 2024 Women of Distinction as a Veteran VIP for her outstanding contributions. She is one of sixteen women nationwide to review this accolade. She was also honored by LeadingAge North Carolina for the Excellence in Community Service Award 2024.

Lisa Rogers has worked for 37 years as a nurse and says some of her best years have been with Givens Communities. She started working for Givens Highland Farms in 2019 and transitioned to the LifeMinistries team in January 2023. It was evident during her first few weeks at Gerber Park how positive her impact was. In a short amount of time, she has built long-lasting, genuine relationships with our residents and approaches everyone with kindness, compassion, a sense of humor, and with a nurturing grace. She is the favorite part of our monthly community meetings as she traditionally shares a “Joke of Month.” Lisa has far exceeded any expectations of a Community Nurse as her impetus to go beyond is at the heart of the work, the residents, and their experience aging in community. She volunteers her time to check in on residents, brings her own donkeys to work for the simple pleasure and smiles they bring, and she is currently in training to instruct Tai Chi for our residents.

Focusing on whole-person wellness, Cheryl Wallen and Lisa Rogers have helped provide free health screenings, chronic disease self-management programs, nutrition presentations, cooking classes, wellness coaching, and wellness education programs that impact our residents and touch more than 6,000 lives across 13 counties across Western North Carolina annually.

We are so fortunate to have their leadership and dedication on our team, and their whimsical, kind, and generous approach with our residents. Their impact is long-lasting and essential to the enrichment of our resident’s quality of life.