It may be snowy and cold outside but we have lots of warmth within the walls of Cedar Village. We had a full and busy week despite the weather and our staff did a terrific job making it through some challenging road conditions to be here and care for residents.

Construction began this week on our expanded rehabilitation service. We are all anxious to have it completed but know that the process will take about a year. There have been some office moves, short term and long term, but no resident space has been disrupted-and we are going to work very hard to keep those inevitable disruptions to a minimum. The project will create brand new and expanded therapy space for inpatients and outpatients, a new Clinic area, a remodeled ambulance entrance and updated resident rooms on two units. It is a huge step towards our future growth and success and we are excited about it.

We held our annual employee holiday party this week. We host the party from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. We do that so that we can be sure to cover all of our shifts and we do! It is a great event with music, terrific food and a chance for us to say thank you to our staff. The dedicated individuals who work at Cedar Village make a difference for our residents every day and we could not thank them, and celebrate them, often enough! We also premiered our second annual Cedar Village music video. I know you will want to click on this link and I hope you will share it with others!

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IVJuR6Ocgo.  We'd love to hear your feedback!

We also had a great afternoon on Thursday in Joyce's Kitchen, the beautiful new kitchen for resident use, located in the Oak View apartments and dedicated in memory of Joyce Heiman. Our Chesed Corps, a group of volunteers and staff who do a monthly community service project, began a new initiative. They baked challahs and filled baskets with fruit, juice, candy and challah that will be delivered to each of our residents who are in the hospital as well as to any Jewish patients at Jewish Hospital. It is a wonderful new program and we look forward to having it grow. The thought of being a hospitalized patient and receiving this beautiful basket brings a smile to all of us.