We began February with a wonderful Resident of the Month event.  As you may know, we have been conducting Resident of the Month for almost two years and, for 2012, we've changed the format. Rather than choose a resident from every long term care unit and both sets of apartments (giving us six honorees), we have split it up so that we honor three individuals each month.  We made that change so that we can offer an even more in-depth profile of that resident and add other elements that help us to tell their story.  The February program featured two residents, as our third was unavailable at the last moment.  For one of the featured residents, we had a slide show with photos from her life and a display of some of the wonderful art work she does as a part of the OMA (Opening Minds through Art) program.  For our other resident, we shared slides, stories and then a video that had been done for she and her husband's 65th wedding anniversary.  Doing Resident of the Month in this way is so meaningful to the residents, our staff and the many friends and family members in attendance.  If you ever find yourself in need of inspiration, you should join us for one of these programs.  It will be 30 minutes that you will long remember!

February is also national Heart Month so we decided to make it Cedar Village's Wellness Month.  We have special events planned on Wednesday afternoons throughout the month.  Our first event took place this week and featured the screening of a wonderful documentary "Age of Champions" that features older adults who are competing in the Senior Olympics.  Some of us saw this brand new film at a conference and thought our folks would love it-and they did!  Local octogenarian and athlete, Dr. Al Miller introduced the film and enjoyed the afternoon with us.  We served healthy snacks, including vegetables and three kinds of dip, and participants voted on which dip was their favorite.  On Feb 8 we will have a Residents vs. Staff chair volleyball event in the morning,  a balance class and wellness fair in the afternoon.  Feb 22nd will feature seated Tai Chi as well as a talk on "Injury Prevention" by Dr. Anthony Checroun.  And we wrap up the month on Feb 29 with Chair Yoga and a culinary demonstration.

Super Bowl weekend is also not forgotten here!  Friday's Bingo had a Super Bowl theme and refreshments and residents of the Oak View and Fountain View apartments will enjoy a Super Bowl party on the upcoming big day!

We are excited to see our renovation project nearing completion!  The last item to finish has been the installation of the new elevator, part of the new ambulance entrance.  The finishing touches are underway and we look forward to putting it into service in the next week.  Although this does not sound like the most critical element of the project, it is really a key one.  When Cedar Village was built, the ambulance entrance was not of primary importance.  Most admissions came through the main entrance, often with their family.  Today, the majority of the admissions to the Health Care Center are for short term rehabilitation and those folks come to us from the hospital via ambulance. The old entrance had no canopy to provide shelter in inclement weather and the elevator used to transport patients was the freight elevator.  So admissions were competing with food carts, laundry and supplies for use of the elevator-not very welcoming for patients and certainly not optimal.  As of next week, that will all change and we are so delighted.

All the best,