Sunday July 10 was a banner day at Cedar Village as we officially opened our brand new Rehabilitation Center. A great crowd, including residents, donors, board members, family members, staff and community gathered to celebrate. We began with lovely refreshments and a chance to mingle. Then at 11:30 the official program began. Jay Price, chair of the Cedar Village board, offered a champagne toast; State Representative Peter Beck talked about how important Cedar Village is to our community and how thrilled they are to see us grow; Jerry and Sue Teller talked about the Growth for Tomorrow campaign which will raise funds for this vital project. Rabbi Ruth Alpers did the final touch, installing the mezuzah at the entry door to the therapy suite. The mezuzah has a story, which Rabbi Alpers shared. It was sent to us by a family member who lives in Israel, in memory of her aunt, Blessing Sivitz. Blessing traveled with us on the B'nai Mitzvah mission in 2009 and her niece, Ann, joined the Cedar Village group for several days of our journey. Blessing passed away recently and Ann sent us the mezuzah as a permanent tribute to Blessing at Cedar Village.
After the ceremonies, the fun really began. We toured through the rehab space and the comments were so gratifying. Folks were thrilled to see what had been done and excited about the growth of therapy and what that means for both Cedar Village and the community. The new Rehabilitation Center is absolutely state of the art. It includes the latest in treatment modalities and equipment and offers tremendous opportunities for us to help inpatients and outpatients achieve an optimal quality of life. We'll be doing a lot more outreach and community screening so watch for details!
The new center opened for business bright and early Monday morning. It was great to see the reactions of the patients as they received treatment in the new area. We also had the first use of Sally's Place, a fully equipped kitchen in the therapy suite. Why a kitchen? Because when folks are getting ready to go home, they need to know and understand what it will truly be like-can they manage their own meals, what is it like to have to get something out of a high or low cupboard when your mobility is not what it was? It is a huge asset to our therapy program to have this space and we are also fortunate to have an apartment space as well, where practice can include using a washer and dryer, getting in and out of bed and managing the shower and bathroom. Cedar Village is delighted to now have the absolute finest rehab facilities in our area-and a great staff to go along with them. Come over and check us out!
The work on the units also continues as we renovate the new short term rehab units, now our Azalea and Apple wings. We have 50 dedicated short term rehab beds and we are thrilled about his transition for Cedar Village and for our community.
We also had another project near completion this week. We've erected some temporary (max of 5 years) modular housing to accommodate our Orthodox rabbis and their families when they are here for Shabbat or holidays. It has been a challenge for several years as these are young families with children, they need to be on campus but we have not had space available to allow them to stay here comfortably. This new home will be ready in a couple of weeks and will really solve a problem as we look for a longer term solution as part of a future project and new construction.
All the best,
Carol Silver Elliott
CEO/President, Cedar Village
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