Vol. 5 No. 3 Inside This Issue...
There’s Still A Lot of Summer to Enjoy Pages 4-5
See What’s New at Settlers’ Village Page 6
Spotlight On... The Frank Agency Page 12
August 11, 2010
Pleasant Hill Home Fills Assisted-Living Care Gap By Nancy Hrivnak A fellow with more visible challenges than mine has walked the streets of Geauga County many times during the 30-plus years I’ve lived here. For a while, I’d also see him at the Geauga Family YMCA. He has always walked alone and seriously, appearing quite determined to finish one errand or mission after another. I haven’t seen him lately, and I don’t know him personally. But wherever he is, my prayers are often with him. One of those prayers is that if he needs the kind of friendly help I think he might need, I hope he knows Karen DeCola, director of the Geauga County Pleasant Hill Home. If this man were my brother or son or uncle or friend, I would want someone like Karen and her “family” of caregivers at Pleasant Hill looking out for him. I would feel good about that. The Geauga County Pleasant Hill Home on Aquilla Road in Chardon has provided residential assisted care since
1840 to Geauga County residents who need it and can’t afford such help at other nearby assisted living facilities. A lack of, or low personal income, does not necessarily prevent someone from being accepted to live at Pleasant Hill Home. Rates are based Continued on page 21
Post Photos
/ John’s Photo
graphy
“Never Leave as a Stranger” By Nancy Huth
Postal Customer Local / ECRWSS
OR CURRENT RESIDENT
Middlefield Post P.O. Box 626 Middlefield, OH 44062
PreSort Std U.S. Postage PAID Middlefield, OH 44062 Permit No. 77
Dangler & Williams Celebrates 100 Years! See Plain Country
When you walk into the West Farmington Senior Center, 86-year-old director Ruth Jean Hawkins welcomes you with a smile stretching from ear to ear. The senior center building next to the firehouse in West Farmington was built in 1984 and really is a home away from home for the 1,000 people it serves each week. This is amazing, considering that the town itself only has 542 residents. Despite this, the center is a “Goliath” in its services, which include a popular Monday morning pancake breakfast open to all; Wednesday to Friday lunches (catered by the Office of Elderly Affairs in Warren); a Saturday Amish dinner; exercise classes; quilting; cards and games; and blood pressure testing. Fees are extremely reasonable and along with donations and a senior levy that passed five years ago and renewed, the center can support a director, a bookkeeper and kitchen help. The atmosphere is cozy with lap robes made and sold by members hanging on the walls, along with old graduation class
West Farmington Senior Center Director Ruth Jean Hawkins (standing) smiles as senior center members Bill Bacorn (seated, from left), Melvin Smith, Middy Smith, Barbara Hurst, and Pauline James bag plastic washers for Mercury Plastics. (Post Photo / Nancy Huth) photos from the high school, donated when it closed. The former school bell and a trophy cabinet add extra charm to the room. Sometimes seniors bring their grandchildren, who have a corner with toys and books just for them. During my visit
to the West Farmington Senior Center, six members were bagging plastic washers for Mercury Plastics in Middlefield. Others were quilting, working puzzles or reading the newspaper. The center is open from 7 a.m. Continued on page 20
See our special Health Section on pages 13-21.