You may be ringing in the new year today but at Cedar Village we had our big doings all on December 30th.  Believe me, that did not detract from the festivities one bit!  In the afternoon, we had wonderful music in the Health Care Center.  A festive dinner on our Redbud unit, the skilled rehab area, was highlighted by a strolling violinist.  And those who dine in the Garden Dining Room, residents of independent and assisted living, moved to the Cohen Center for an elegant dinner and music provided by our good friend, Greg Lee.  We even had our own "beauty shop" running in the afternoon, turning our boardroom into a hive of activity as a team of volunteers were busy bees, helping to beautify our residents for the party with new hairdos, makeup and nail polish!  It was a perfect way to bring 2011 in with style and many smiles-hope that your new year celebration is as successful and joyful. 

We're excited to see 2011 arrive for other reasons-it will be a year of great change and growth as we move ahead with our rehab center expansion.  We've just started the actual construction on the project, which will take about a year to complete.  We are expanding from a dedicated unit of 29 beds for short term, skilled rehabilitation to an end result of 50 beds.  That sounds like a huge change, and it will be in the building, but it won't be in terms of our average care complement.  We are already averaging as many as 45 rehab folks at any one time, this will allow us to care for them in a more coordinated, efficient manner.  Our current therapy gym is jam-packed and will move to a spacious new area on the first floor with room to offer outpatient services as well.  And we will also make a huge improvement by adding an additional elevator as part of a renovation of the ambulance entrance. Currently, we transport admissions in a service elevator-not a welcoming experience for them.  The new dedicated elevator will be purely for transporting new admissions up to the Health Care floors and rehab patients down to the new therapy area.  We can't wait!

In 2011 we will also see our hospice project reach completion.  As we hope you know, we have been working for more than a year on an effort to bring hospice services in-house at Cedar Village.  We've worked with community providers for years but we have come to realize that our continuity of care, and the end of life experience for our residents and families, would be enhanced with our own hospice.  We opened the Louis and Dorothea Ginberg Comfort Care program in April, the first step towards full Medicare certification.  Now, we are finishing our documentation and getting ready for our certification survey.  We are excited to move forward and offer a true hospice experience, within the walls of Cedar Village, to our community.

On behalf of all of us at Cedar Village, we hope that the coming year is one of health, happiness and peace for you and your family.

All the best,