What a week!  I don't even know where to start!  Let's begin with big news-Cedar Village Hospice is now fully licensed and certified. That means that Cedar Village now offers a hospice program for our community, with a full range of staffing and services.  Our hospice team has been in place for over a year, preparing to take on this challenge.  And today we are proud to announce that our dream of Cedar Village Hospice has become a reality.  We already have a number of patients within Cedar Village and some within our Greater Cincinnati community.  We look forward to meeting the needs at this important time of life and bringing Cedar Village quality and values to end-of-life services in our community.

We've had so many incredible events, it has been a great way to celebrate Older Americans Month.  We began our week with a Mother's Day concert and flowers for the ladies.  On Monday, we hosted a Yom Hazikaron program open to our residents and the community.  A crowd of close to 100 people were in attendance for a very moving program, highlighted by the music of Dan Landau. 

Tuesday was Spring Fling day for us and what a Spring Fling it was!  The "salon and spa" were in full swing in the library and manicures, hair styling and makeup were all on the menu.  Then at 5:30, the large crowd, all in semi-formal wear, gathered in the Wilbur and Mary Jean Cohen Religious and Cultural Center for fabulous hors d'oeuvres, a great dinner and both dancing and listening to music provided by Greg Lee.  As you can see from the photos, a great time was had by all!

Wednesday found some of us dressed up again-this time in costume!  It was a murder mystery luncheon served aboard the "S.S. Titanica," also known as the "scene of the crime."  A group of our staff thespians provided the program, with the "murder" taking place before lunch.  After a delicious meal and desserts, we asked for solutions from the audience. There were many and they were good ones. We finished up sharing the solution to a roomful of both laughter and applause.  It was fun for all-

On Thursday, we marked our first annual Chesed Day at Cedar Village.  Our Chesed Corps does a service project every month.  We pack Shabbat baskets for Jewish patients at Jewish hospital on a regular basis.  And beyond that we do special projects. We've brought lunch to the Ronald McDonald House at Children's Hospital on three separate occasions; we've collected school supplies for children in need; we've raised funds for disaster relief.  On Chesed Day, we did a full day of Mitzvah projects.  In the morning, we packaged supplies that we'd collected for Operation Thank You troops. Those supplies will be sent overseas where they will be most welcome gifts for our military personnel.  From there, we loaded the bus and headed to the Center for Respite Care.  This is a very special place for individuals who are homeless and have medical needs. They have an incredible program and a great success rate and we were pleased to learn about them from one of our Cedar Village board members, Larry Neuman.

We had decided to do an "unbirthday" party for the folks at the Center for Respite Care.  So we brought birthday decorations and put them all over the room.  We'd brought boxed lunches as well as cupcakes for the celebration.  Of course, we had gifts too-tote bags filled with umbrellas, water bottles and sweatshirts.  Our staff and residents visited with the men who are living there, hearing their stories and really creating relationships.  We were also joined by our wonderful music therapist, Jude Jones, who kept the party lively. Channel 9 was even in attendance!  Click here for the full story that was on Channel 9 WCPO News:  http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_north_cincinnati/mason/retirement-village-residents-give. It was a spectacular event and will certainly not be our last visit there.

Friday's highlights included a "Men Only" breakfast outing, followed by the ladies heading out for some fashion tips at Coldwater Creek, followed by a lunch outing.  In the afternoon, a Wii bowling tournament featured staff vs. residents.  Your guess as to who took home that trophy!

We also had a very special evening on Thursday as we celebrated Sally Korkin's installation as president of Partners in Senior Care (formerly AJHSA), an organization that represents auxiliaries and volunteer organizations in Jewish homes around the country and in Canada.  The Friends of Cedar Village organized a wonderful reception for Sally, with fabulous food and the wonderful music of Greg Lee.  The highlight of the evening was a surprise for Sally.  Her family has given a lovely gift to Cedar Village and the kitchen in our new Rehabilitation Center will be named "Sally's Place" in her honor.  The rehab kitchen is a place where patients can practice the "real life" skills they will need when they go home, in a setting that is much like what they will experience in their home setting.  It's an important part of recovery and is one of the great features in the new center.  How fitting that it will be named for Sally who is so much a part of Cedar Village!

Don't forget the Jewish American Heritage Month events here next week!  Join us on Monday, May 16 at 3 p.m. for "The Nature of Jewish Life in America" featuring Rabbi Matthew Kraus.  On Friday, May 20 Dr. Adrian Parr will discuss "Memory and Jewish Identity" at 10 a.m.  Both programs will be in the Wilbur and Mary Jean Cohen Religious and Cultural Center and both are free and open to the public.

All the best,