The Blossom
January, 2013 Edition

Greetings!

Happy New Year!

As we jump into the New Year, we'd like to tell you about some of the new things we have happening within our Sunshine Gardens Senior Community. 

Our Country Home, which specializes in assisted living for memory impaired individuals, has just recently been approved by the Alzheimer's Association of Colorado as a Leader in Dementia Care!  We are the first organization in the southwest corner of the state to receive this special designation from the Alzheimer's Association.

Along with this designation, we also have a new facility upgrade currently being installed at the Sunshine Gardens Country Home which will allow us to better care for individuals who have a tendency to wander due to the confusion caused by their dementia.  We are planning for our new "wander-guard" system to be in place and fully functional my mid-January. 

Finally, we have been blessed with multiple visits now from our very own Registered Nurse Consultant, Margaret Ray, RN, who is a nurse consultant based out of Denver, CO.  Margaret's expertise has been invaluable to us over the last few months and we have her to thank for assisting us to become a Leader in Dementia Care, and we also feel like we are truly doing what is best for our residents by having her expert oversight and assistance in all aspects of how our facility functions. 

Thank you Margaret... Thank you to our amazing staff at the Country Home, and a warm thank you to the Alzheimer's Association as well!!  We are truly proud to be one of the Leaders in Dementia Care!


Caregiver's Corner

By: Lou Gans 

New caregiver Kortney Hull was born in Flagstaff, AZ.  This intelligent, sweet & efficient gal was involved at Fort Lewis College for 4 years of playing soccer.  She enjoys mountain climbing and snowboarding.  She has been previously employed as a Durango youth soccer coach, a chiropractic assistant, and a kids camp coordinator.  She came to FLC to obtain an Exercise Science degree and play soccer.  Her father Hank works at Trans-western Pipeline as a gas controller, and her mother Kathy works at Flagstaff Unified School District.  Kortney's brother Lucas lives in Flagstaff and is 21.  Kortney has traveled to Spain with the FLC soccer team, and she aspires to receive her nursing degree in pediatrics. Though she is unmarried now, maybe soon we hope.  Kortney you've got what it takes. You're a great individual!

Born in Gallup, NM and from Tse'yaa'ti (pointed rock), this new caregiver, Seratha Largie, shows signs of being ambitious, willing to learn rapidly, and willing to assist wherever possible.  Employed as a caregiver before, she also has worked as a sales associate.  Seratha has 3 years of education at Fort Lewis College completed.  Her father Alex is a computer tech for the Navajo Nation and her mother, Elvira, is the superintendent of Northern Cheyenne Schools.  Several siblings live all over the U.S.  Unmarried now, but sometime in the future, her ambition is to become a child counselor.  Seratha we wish you all the luck in the future.  You've got what it takes!   
 
Our Country Home Caregivers 
  
By: Summer Roberts

As caregivers, we don't just take care of the needs of our residents, we bond with them.  In their last months or years of their life we sure do learn a lot about them working here.  We spend more time with the people in this facility than we do our own family sometimes, and most of the time their own family as well.  As you can imagine for that reason alone sometimes, we are able to adapt to their needs and even though they maybe can't tell us what they need, we can figure it out and tell you very easily.  We adapt to them and pick up their signals even in the latest stages of their disease. 

We may not be "skilled medical staff" but we know our residents and deeply love them.  Their money doesn't matter to us; who they are now and what they need is the only thing we think about here.  We have a very weak voice legally, so the external providers and the family get to call the shots.  What I feel needs to happen is someone needs to hear our voice.  We can tell you how reckless or aggressive a resident is.  We may not know details and appropriate dosages of medicines and such, but we can tell when our resident is on too much just by how they act.  We know them to a tee and you'd be surprised what they tell us in confidence, with the absence of their family.  All we ask is to be heard, we may not be "skilled nurses" but we are skilled caregivers.

 

The History of "APRONS" 

 

From a forwarded email...  

Author unknown  

 

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons required less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.  It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.  When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.  And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.  From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. 


In the autumn, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.  When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.   
 

 

A Genealogy Story  

 

By: Bobbie Ledgerwood  

 

When I started this genealogy years ago, I spent many days wondering where I should start.  

 

When I began to think about the Browns, who came from Germany, then got a few names from the Mormon Library, I was really curious. I only had the history and remembrance of my father and his family. I had heard my father talk about Ohio, and I even corresponded with one of his aunts. I timidly said something to my daughter Julie about going to Ohio to visit some of them. She took it up right away, and in October, 1996, we flew to Columbus, Ohio, rented a car, and that was the beginning of a wonderful trip.  

 

We went to Westerville, Ohio, and had dinner with the Macke's, Wilma and Woody who had been to one of our reunions in Branson in 1993. She was from the Gries side. We had the same great grandfather. Wilma had a large china cabinet that great grandfather Valentine had made for his wife, Anna Margaretha.! I asked her if she would sell it. She said her son might not like that. Ha

 

From there, it was just one surprise after another, meeting a cousin that was 91, owned the largest certified seed company in Ohio, and rode his bike to work every day!! But the most interesting was finding pictures, papers, etc. at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont, OH. I asked questions and got to go up into the "attic" where they found a box marked BROWN! They left us alone with a copier, and though the print was light, it was a real find. I found lots of material there, including their marriage license.  

 

Then we went to the orphanage that Valentine Braun and his wife, Anna Margaretha had cared for, and of his dying in 1895. Same thing there: The two clerks were just ready to take their boss to lunch. They also gave me a box of papers, etc., and said they would return after lunch.  We were so happy and felt like kids in a candy store. I sorted out many things. When they returned, I asked if I could go copy them and bring them back. "Oh, just take them home, copy them, and return them. They aren't really that important anymore, but they are just part of the archives, and we are required to keep them."  Amazing!!  I got pictures of the few pieces of the original orphanage furniture that were there when Valentine ran it. It blew away in a blizzard soon after Valentine died.

 

That was the first trip that Julie endured, but it was not to be the last. If ever God sent a perfect daughter into the world, Julie would get the gold star! She watches over me, is caring and loving, but she does not smother me. I love her very much! I couldn't do all this without her support. Thanks, Julie.

 

I want to thank the most important people that supplied me with information: Barbara Thompson in Colorado; Janet Emery-Hays in MO; Nancy Hamilton in TX, my Aunt Mary's diary that Nancy printed off for me; stories and diaries handed down and found in old boxes, etc.  Of course there were the libraries, books and the "confounding" computer, which I am beginning to really love.

 

I will always remember the steps I took on the soil on which my ancestors walked, tombstones that spoke to me as patriots, presidents, preachers, soldiers, pilgrims, trail blazers, and all MY ancestors. There are many, and I will go back for more someday.

I really hope you all enjoy this endeavor. I could live another 25 years at least before I found all the history I am missing.  

 

I hope you will remember this and add to it for your kin in the years to come. Go to the web site: www.eccchistory.org. Lots of fun!!!

 

My relatives are very important to me, and I love you all. Bobbie

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events:     

 

Our New Year's Eve Toast will be held at 4pm on December 31st in the Sunshine Room

 

January 20-26th is Activity Professionals Week, everyone give Heather a warm thank you for all she does!

 

January 30th-February 3rd: SNOWDOWN!!  

Durango's unique winter holiday!  

Theme this year is "Get your geek on!"

Look for the Sunshine Gardens float in the parade!!

 

Keep an eye out:

We're hoping to have a Talent Show soon!

Dates will be posted in the facility

or ask Health for more information. 

 

 

 

  

Thank you to everyone for contributing to the newsletter this month! 

  

Take care & lots of love!! 

  

Sincerely,

  

Christie Schler 
Marketing Director
Sunshine Gardens Senior Community
970.385.4090 | ext. 4
schlerc@sgwseniors.com 

 Independence, Dignity and Happiness 

___________________________________________________________________

Our mission is to create a forum about senior living topics,
as well as other adult assisted living news that matters most to you
(you being: the residents, staff, family & friends of Sunshine Gardens).
-Editor: Christie Schler
-Assistant to Editor: Lou Gans
-Monthly Writers: Bill Steinberg, Laddie John
-Freelance Writers: Charlie Mitz, Bobbie Ledgerwood
*Other residents wishing to contribute, please contact Christie Schler

  
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