We have someone brand new at Cedar Village!  Now that may sound like something that happens all the time but this is a first for us-we have a facility dog!  Gates is a 3-year-old Golden Retriever who came to us through Circle Tail, www.circletail.org, an organization that trains and provides service dogs for individuals with disabilities, at no cost to the individuals. They also train and provide facility dogs!  Our Director of Rehabilitation Services, Debi Tyler, had suggested that we look into this some months ago. Debi volunteered to be our dog's primary caregiver, which means that our dog comes to work with Debi and goes home with her, living with she and her family when he is not at Cedar Village.  Debi and her husband met Gates on Monday evening and he reported for duty first thing Tuesday!  Even in his first week, Gates has been a huge hit at Cedar Village. He's been hanging out in the Rehab Center for now but will be having the run of the building soon!  He is gentle and sweet and the patients in rehab have all thoroughly enjoyed his presence.  When someone is working hard to improve their skills, Gates is often right there to offer his own brand of support.  We are thrilled to have him with us and look forward to his role expanding throughout Cedar Village! 

We do have, and have had, an ongoing pet therapy program here and many people bring dogs to visit on a regular basis.  Our residents love visiting with the dogs and there is a lot of research about the positive impact on anxiety and stress that petting a dog can have.  If you are interested in bringing your pet in for visits, please check with Jessica Carlson, in our volunteer department, who can help you with all of the requirements.  You can reach Jessica at 754-3100 or jcarlson@cedarvillage.org.  

Our Chesed Corps had a great experience late last week.  We volunteered at a community meal center in Hamilton.  We took some wraps we had made and, of course, some famous Cedar Village chocolate chip cookies. But the bulk of our volunteer effort was serving the individuals who came in for a meal.  We plated food, delivered it to the tables, served beverages and chatted with the clients.  As always, our resident volunteers were amazing.  They need no direction to jump in and start to help and they have no problem doing any chore that needs doing.  We have so many folks here who were active community leaders and dedicated volunteers and we are delighted to be a part of their ongoing community service and continuing "giving back" to others.

We also had two wonderful fundraising events this week, focused on dementia care at Cedar Village.  Teepa Snow, nationally known dementia care expert and consultant, was here and she spoke about her personal experiences with dementia and we showed a short film that featured several families who have, or have had, loved ones here.  We had the chance to tell our story, and talk about Cedar Village, and get acquainted with some new people in our community.  Both events were a great success and we look forward to more in the future!

Plans continue to move along well for our Interfaith Mission, "Building Bridges at Any Age," which will take place in late October and early November.  We are very excited about this unique opportunity to learn and grow with our residents, along with our new friends from Otterbein Lebanon.  This Sunday you can help make our Mission dreams a reality by coming out to Cedar Village and supporting our rummage sale.  Funds raised will help to make this Mission possible so your help is much appreciated!

All the best,  

carol@cedarvillage.org