Meet and Greet New Staff

Contributed by Marian Fuchs

One afternoon in early October the Auditorium was set up with round tables, at each of which was sitting one of our new senior staff members.  All have been here for a few weeks or less!  Residents were invited to come meet and greet them all.  Here are the people we talked with.

Megan Barbour – Administrator/Director of Operations.   Megan will oversee the operations of Health, Culinary Services, Medical Services and Compliance. 

Jerome Perry – Director of Facilities.  He will supervise the Buildings Manager (Gene Davis),  the Environmental Services Manager (Charlene Smith) , the Project Manager (Bryson Adams) and the Security and Transport Manager when one is appointed.

JoAnne Pendorf – Assistant Director of Nursing.  JoAnn is the deputy to Director Dora Gray.

Suzanne Shabe – Activities and Wellness Manager.  She reports to Dora Gray, and supervises wellness and fitness activities for AL and IL residents.        

Sara DeRosa – Social Worker for Independent-Living (IL) residents.  She replaces Natosha, and will report to the Director of Social Services, once Wanda’s replacement is appointed.

Our Intergenerational Music Program Featured as National Cutting Edge. Newspaper and TV

Collington is now the Poster Child for Intergenerational programs!

Samantha Flores and Collington are the featured story (with photo of our auditorium) in The New York Times reporing on a newly issued report on inter generation initiatives for seniors.  The story begins.

When Samantha Flores wasn’t taking classes at the University of Maryland for her master’s degree in cello performance this past academic year, she could often be found hanging out with a bunch of 80-somethings. Ms. Flores, 28, along with another music student, was participating in a new artists-in-residence program at Collington, a nonprofit retirement community in Mitchellville, Md.

As the article reported:

Marilyn Haskel, a 72-year-old resident of Collington involved in selecting the students, said the young people often invited fellow music students to practice on the grounds, resulting in pop-up concerts. With no family nearby, Ms. Haskel said, “it was delightful for me to sit down and have conversations about their careers and what they’re planning.”

When residents learned that Ms. Flores didn’t have a car, they often drove her to campus. Ms. Flores struck up close friendships with many of the residents, including one she met in September who had recently been given a brain cancer diagnosis.

“We bonded over Bach,” she said, engaging in lengthy conversations about him. When the man died in February, Ms. Flores played a piece he had requested at his funeral: Bach’s “Sarabande: Suite for Solo Cello No. 5 in C Minor.”

“I promised I wouldn’t cry, but you can’t help that,” she said. “It was a very emotional moment.”

The trigger for the article is a new report from Generations United and the Eisner Foundation survey of 180 intergenerational programs.

That report itself cites a Harris Poll that found:

[P]lenty of support for programs that bring diverse age groups together to fend off loneliness. Ninety-two percent of Americans believe intergenerational activities can help reduce loneliness across all ages.

Moreover,

A strong majority of Americans (94 percent) agree that older people have skills or talents that can help address a child’s/youth’s needs and 89 percent believe the same about children and youth addressing the needs of elders. More than four in ve Americans also say if they (85 percent) or a loved one (86 percent) needed care services, they would prefer a care setting with opportunities for intergenerational contact rather than one with a single age group. Americans were also clear that age segregation is harmful, finding that almost three quarters (74 percent) agree that “programs and facilities that separately serve different age groups prevent children/youth and older adults from benefitting from each other’s skills and talents.

Given all that is now happening in this field, way beyond music, we will need to keep innovatintg to stay in the lead — another major task for our strategic planning process.  Indeed, onsite child care was an idea that came up frequently in the process.

P.S.  One little thing I would like the photo committee to do is take on making a set of before and after photos of our residents, showing the huge impact grandchildren visits have on us.

P.P.S.  The TV version is on WJLA, here.

 

 

Collington ED on Helping Harvey Victims and Beyond

Here is Marvell Adams statement.

Among other things, it shows the where the heart of this community lies and the value of being part of a larger community.  It also suggests some of the ways that emerging themes in our strategic planning process will deepen our ability to add to, in the words of the Kendal Values Statement, “the potential for fulfillment and continuing contribution during the later stages of life.”

Greetings Friends.  Undoubtedly you have all seen the tragic images coming out of Texas as a result of Hurricane Harvey. 

I am certain we all share in the heartache being experienced there right now.  As an organization committed to serving older adults, Collington and the Kendal System have a duty to respond when events such as these occur and greatly impact communities that share in our mission.  As such, Kendal has collaborated with LeadingAge, our national provider association of which I’m a board member, to provide assistance.  First and foremost, donations are needed in order to provide supplies and support for residents and staff of affected communities.  Each of us can help this effort by visiting Collington’s website, www.collington.kendal.org  and donating to the LeadingAge Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund.  There is a link there that will allow you to make an online donation as well as instructions on how to send in a check.  All proceeds will go directly to member communities, their residents and staff.

Secondly, Kendal has reached out to communities we assisted in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in order to understand what might be the most helpful for our friends in Texas.  With this feedback and that of LeadingAge, the Kendal System will develop ways to provide further support beyond donations.  When we have more details on this I will share.  In the meantime, please keep those affected by Hurricane Harvey in your thoughts and consider making a donation to the LeadingAge Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Fund.  Thank you.

 

New York Times Article on Ageing and Creativity

Nice NYT article on Ageing and Creativity.

It starts with research that shows how young minds are much more imaginative, but older folks are more traditional and limited when asked to explain things.

Buit, how about this:

But there was a different pattern when it came to the social problems. Once again the preschoolers were more likely to give the creative explanation than were the 6-year-olds or adults. Now, however, the teenagers were the most creative group of all. They were more likely to choose the unusual explanation than were either the 6-year-olds or the adults.

At least an argument for multi-generational input!

The explanation offered might help us think our way into a new vision of ageing:

The answer: Childhood and adolescence may, at least in part, be designed to resolve the tension between exploration and exploitation. Those periods of our life give us time to explore before we have to face the stern and earnest realities of grown-up life. Teenagers may no longer care all that much about how the physical world works. But they care a lot about exploring all the ways that the social world can be organized. And that may help each new generation change the world.

I like to think that, at our best, we are often just like teenagers, precisely because we are no longer responsible for everything.  We can dream and imagine — but with the benefit of a lifetimes of learning, including our mistakes and unfulfilled dreams.  So, as we move our community into a broader outreach and learning mode, maybe we are more ready than we realize.  All we need is the practical support.

Any ideas for how to do the research to explore this?  In our strategic plan?