2014 ECS NEWSLETTER SPRING.indd

SPRING 2014
COMMUNITY
The Newsletter of Episcopal Communities & Services
Our Lady of Guadalupe Residents
Celebrate the Lunar New Year in Style
Residents at Our Lady of Guadalupe enjoyed a
potluck feast in celebration of the Lunar New Year
and their neighbors born in January.
The Canterbury Adds
Memory Care
There was nothing routine about the monthly potluck and birthday
celebration this January at Our Lady of Guadalupe affordable housing
community. More than 30 residents boisterously filled the multipurpose
room, which had been decorated with lanterns and cherry blossoms in
honor of the Lunar New Year, welcoming the year of the horse.
Property manager Luna Medeiros and her staff orchestrated a bountiful buffet, with many traditional dishes being provided by residents.
Luna also called upon those in cultural dress to provide an impromptu
fashion show for the happy crowd. It was not enough, she joked, to walk
stiffly down the runway. One must execute some graceful and encouraging poses during the process! Even the men complied.
Located in Fountain Valley, Our Lady of Guadalupe has 72 residences for adults aged 62 and older. The property is now owned by
continued on page 2
How can we best care for those with
memory loss that disrupts daily
life? Certainly, there are good days
and challenging ones. Meeting the
special needs of someone who has
Alzheimer’s disease or dementia is
easier if you have the right tools,
techniques and support.
We are excited to announce that
we are renovating the first floor of The
Canterbury’s assisted living building
in order to create a friendly, secure
continued on page 2
Memory Care (continued from page 1)
The Memory Care unit will be on
the ground floor of Building A. The
landscaping to the right and around the
south side of Building A will become
the secure Wander Garden.
environment for residents with
memory challenges. We will change
some of the entrances and build a
beautiful outdoor garden that is
entirely secure. Included in the redesign is a comfortable living room
space where residents will feel at
home. But the changes will be more
than physical.
Our program will not focus on
memory loss but on person-centered
care, where the uniqueness of each
resident is celebrated. Staff members
(care partners) will foster independence as well as interaction and
connection with residents. They will
seek to nourish each resident’s social,
spiritual and physical well-being.
All Canterbury staff will receive
special training in this approach.
With ten apartments in the
Memory Care program on the
first floor, the remaining eighteen
Assisted Living units will continue
to be located on the second and
third floors of Building A. Our
ability to provide memory care
at this stage is in part due to the
economy of scale that will come
with Episcopal Communities &
Services now operating memory
programs at two communities (The
Covington and The Canterbury),
with a third to be added when
MonteCedro is completed in 2015.
The establishment of memory
care at The Canterbury is particularly great news for current residents who need this service now
and for their families. It will enable
them to remain part of the loving
Canterbury family instead of facing
a move to an unknown place.
Lunar New Year
(cont’d from page 1)
Orange County Catholic Charities,
but has been professionally managed by ECS-affiliate, Community
Housing Management Services
(CHMS), since 2008.
Residents at Our Lady of
Guadalupe make up a diverse group.
Although manager Luna is from the
Philippines and speaks Tagalog, she
is able to effectively communicate
with residents who speak Vietnamese,
Chinese, Korean and English.
Resident birthdays are celebrated
as part of the community’s monthly
gathering. Somehow, this universal ritual does not require much
translation! All those with January
birthdays were cheered and each
had a hand in cutting the big cake.
Of the eleven affordable housing properties currently managed by
CHMS, Our Lady of Guadalupe is
one that boasts an abundant gardening program, with 37 plots available
for residents to individually cultivate. There is no central dining here
and the fruits and veggies grown in
the garden are a healthy, inexpensive addition to resident diets.
Kung Hei Fat Choy! (Happy
New Year!)
Transformation at The Covington
To the left of the entryway, this space
pictured at right is being transformed into a
casual bistro with adjacent outdoor dining.
If you can’t hear the hammers
now swinging at The Covington,
you’re lucky! But even those who
are living amidst the construction seem quite happy about it.
The first phase of our renovation
project will create a more spacious
lobby and will re-purpose the area
formerly used (but not much) as a
sitting room. The former Market
Place will become an open bistro
dining option on the first floor,
with a full kitchen and a new covered patio for outdoor dining.
Then the drills and saws will
move upstairs, where the main
dining room will be renovated.
The salad bar will move and be
improved. The outdoor patio
will be upgraded so that al fresco
dining and enjoyment of the view
can be part of the daily program.
The bar and lounge will be moved
to a more central location and a
conference room will complete the
second floor renovation.
These changes will significantly expand the dining program.
Dinner will be available every
night in the bistro and six nights
in the dining room. Dining will
be available in one or both venues
every day from roughly 6:30 a.m.
to 7:00 p.m., giving residents the
opportunity to dine when it suits
them best. The bistro will offer
a robust menu, as well as a “grab
and go” option with prepared
sandwiches and salads, making
the take-out option extremely
flexible. “Our new venue will
offer smoothies, snacks and desserts, as well as full meals. It will
significantly expand opportunities
for socializing, as well as dining.
This is a great change for The
Covington,” said executive director, Terry Quigley.
The changes will benefit current residents and families. They
will also help The Covington
maintain a competitive position in
the market place. When the final
dumpsters and big trucks take
their leave, we will have some
fabulous new options and opportunities at The Covington that are
sure to be worth the fuss.
Creative Living Keeps Future Residents
Healthy and Engaged
left Future MonteCedro residents take a spin on
the dance floor. above The Rev. Sarah Nichols
and future residents of MonteCedro. below
Future resident Kate Berman watches Jo Lane
pick up some basic dance steps from Fred Astaire
Dance Studio instructor Melissa Shahin.
MonteCedro is now
under construction but
its future residents are
already enjoying a sense of
community with Creative
Living, an exciting new
lifestyle philosophy. Based
on Masterpiece Living,
a national initiative that
promotes physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual
growth at any age, Creative Living makes a healthy lifestyle a proactive part of daily life.
First Fridays is a series that showcases the cornerstones of successful aging for MonteCedro members
every month. In January, members learned how to destress with yoga and February featured Neurobics, a
memory enhancement workshop. Another educational
opportunity for members is a series called Inspire,
presented by Rebecca Gruett, MonteCedro Director
of Life Enrichment and featuring guest speaker, The
Reverend Sarah Nichols, ECS Director of Pastoral
Care. The series explores mindfulness, peacefulness,
compassion, and life meaning. The first Creative
Living interest group, initially suggested by a member,
has also been meeting regularly. The Explorers of Film
gather monthly to view a film, which is followed by a
discussion and time for socializing.
The regular group activities not only serve to
promote wellness, but also to connect members with
one another. “It’s exciting that we’re able to create a
community amongst our members,” said Rebecca. Dee
Davis, a future MonteCedro resident, agrees that one
of the great things about Creative Living is the way
it has brought members together. “Creative Living
brings forth a community. I’ve met many other members and become closer to them through the classes
we’re taking together,” she enthused.
Members are also connecting with the local
Altadena and Pasadena communities through Creative
Living. Many of the program’s events are generated
through MonteCedro’s partnerships with other organizations and businesses in the area. The Armory Center
for the Arts gave a private tour of their newest exhibition to members. A Japanese Tanka poetry reading
stemmed from a partnership with the Altadena Public
Library. Yoga presentations are another member benefit, courtesy of partner East Village Yoga. Members are
treated to private lectures by The Pasadena Symphony
and Pops and can enjoy classes on ballroom dancing
with newest partner Fred Astaire Dance Studio. Soon
members will be invited to participate in a volunteer
effort with the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. “Our
Creative Living Partnerships provide members with
new experiences and learning opportunities. They also
connect us with the greater community. This is one of
the many benefits of our unique lifestyle philosophy,”
said Rebecca.
After working as a housekeeper at
Huntington Hospital for 40 years, Gladys
Harris (above) retired to the Scripps Home
and then lived at Scripps Kensington. She
looks forward to returning to Altadena, once
MonteCedro opens. Kathleen McKenzie
(left), also a former resident of Scripps
Kensington, out-puzzles Ray Stella at
Claremont Manor.
A Legacy of Service Continues
Thanks to the historic generosity of our donors, Episcopal
Communities & Services continues to provide benevolent care to
the former residents of Scripps
Kensington. After the sale of
the Alhambra property in 2011,
residents were relocated to nine
nonprofit retirement communities
throughout Southern California.
Fifty-four residents currently
have life care contracts, and ECS
remains committed to their care.
Most of these residents have
some of their expenses paid by
social security, Medicare and
Medi-Cal. But many necessities
are not covered. In addition to
covering residents’ housing costs,
ECS closes the gap by paying for
over-the-counter medications,
prescription medicine, medical
supplies, and orthopedic appliances. We also subsidize the cost
of dental, vision and auditory care
and provide residents with a small
stipend each month.
Making sure our former
Scripps Kensington residents are
well served is Lisa Oddone, ECS’s
Director of Resident Relations.
Whether it’s delivering vitamins to
one resident in Santa Ana, waiting at the Social Security office to
advocate for another or stopping
at Target to pick up a warm robe
for a third, Lisa is a busy woman!
She spends a good deal of her day
on the phone with Medicare, doctors’ offices, or the local telephone
company. She visits residents if
they go to the hospital and checks
on others to be sure this new hearing aid is working or that cane
provides the right support.
Lisa arranges transportation
to appointments and will secure a
bed in the care center when a resident needs extra support. If someone needs a higher level of care
for the long term, Lisa is there to
help the resident’s family pack up
and move. Logging around 100
miles a week, she makes sure to
visit each resident at least twice
a month, if not weekly. Lisa also
makes time in her busy schedule
to take residents to activities in the
community, such as the theater,
shopping, or lunch.
Continuing to care for our
residents’ spiritual well-being is the
Reverend Sarah Nichols, ECS’s
Director of Pastoral Care. And
thanks in part to the Halcyon Club,
a philanthropic group that has been
helping Scripps Kensington residents since 1940, pastoral care continues to be provided at Sunny View
Care Center in Alhambra, where
some former residents remain.
For ninety years, Episcopal
Communities & Services has been
able to subsidize care for older
adults in need because generous
donors have made this their personal priority. During the recent
ten years alone, more than $27
million in free care and services
has been provided to former
residents of Scripps Kensington
and those who moved from the
original Scripps Home. We are
grateful for every dollar—and for
every resident in the ECS family
who continues to live and thrive as
a result of this generosity.
The Sophie Miller Foundation:
Philanthropy Committees in Action
Our thanks go out
to the members of
the Philanthropy
Committees at both
The Canterbury
and The Covington.
These two groups of
residents have been
meeting monthly since
June of 2013. Our goal
has been to learn about and support the work of the
Sophie Miller Foundation. We have enjoyed discussions on topics such as the 90 year history of Episcopal
Communities & Services, the affordable housing with
services program, and the ongoing provision of benevolence funding and services to the former residents
of Scripps Kensington. Committee members have
helped with hands-on projects, such as the 2013 yearend appeal, and they have served as focus groups for
Foundation activities, such as the development of our
planned giving program. In April, we will be joined by
the Rev. Sarah Nichols, Director of Pastoral Care, for
an in-depth look at her work with By Your Side: End
of Life Vigil Companions, another program that is
supported in part by the Sophie Miller Foundation.
The Covington Philanthropy Committee meets on
the third Monday at 11:00 a.m. Its counterpart at The
Canterbury meets on the third Tuesday at 11:00 a.m.
Residents are invited to attend and/ or to call Susan at
(626) 403-5891 with questions.
If you or a loved one would like to receive this newsletter electronically or in print,
please contact Robyn Hamada at (626) 403-5892 or [email protected]
1111 South Arroyo Parkway
Suite 230
Pasadena, CA 91105

Download Report