Community Matters The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
Aberdeen Heights on U.S. News and World Report Best Nursing Home list Aberdeen Heights is on the U.S. News and World Report Best Nursing Homes 2018-2019 list. The senior living community received the highest score of High Performing to make the list, available at www.usnews.com/ best-nursing-homes/search. The U.S. News and Report list uses information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government agency that sets and enforces standards for nursing homes. CMS assigns one to five stars to each community for how well it performs in health inspections, nurse staffing and level of quality care.
February 2019
Goop owner Blake Critzas speaks to assisted living residents about his family’s locally made waterless soap. He shared memories of his father’s first days trying to market his new product. What did he do when meeting potential customers? He would put Goop in his hand before a handshake to show them that they would not need water to clean their hands with his waterless hand soap.
Small business day in December Small Business Day in December brought us locally made Goop, a waterless hand soap made right here in St. Louis. Webster Groves native John Critzas founded his company in 1949. Though John has passed, the company remains a family-owned and operated business. Goop is still manufactured in the same facility in St. Louis City that has produced it for more than 65 years. John’s son, Blake, spoke to residents about the product, how his father got started, and the trials and rewards of manufacturing a product in St. Louis. Residents asked questions and received samples of Ruff Towels. Goop serves a multitude of industries. It can be found in the automotive, hardware, janitorial, construction, agricultural, mining, oil and military markets. Goop markets itself as a product that has built a reputation for being able to “remove almost anything, from almost everything”– your hands, your clothes, your pets, and just about everything else.
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Birthday party Our December birthday party featured a birthday cake with the month’s flower and gemstone (narcissus and turquoise). Nick Messmer, who celebrated a birthday on December 1, was all smiles with Michelle Malawey and Christina Heddell of the “Five-Seven” Duo, who provided entertainment for the party. The violin and piano duo has been performing at The Glen for several months.
Beth Beattie leads the Aberdeen Choir in a performance.
The Aberdeen Choir performs The Aberdeen Choir performed for a packed house for their seventh annual Christmas Holiday Concert.
Community Matters is published monthly for residents and friends of Aberdeen Heights by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at: PresbyterianManors.org. Lily Landy, health care administrator To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact Bethany Holohan, life enrichment director, bholohan@pmma.org. Telephone: 314-909-6010 Address: 505 Couch Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122 Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
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Community Matters February 2019
The choir, directed by resident Beth Beattie, received applause and praise for a great performance. The choir was joined by concierge Tony Rolden on drums. Beth has been involved with music for most of her life—25-plus years as a bell choir director and as a choir director for a number of organizations for various performances. She started the Aberdeen Choir in fall 2012. Besides being highly skilled at directing the Aberdeen Choir, Beth picks out an excellent song selection, shares anecdotes and tells the history of these songs, making for a meaningful and touching holiday program.
As always, Beth’s sidekick—her husband and best friend of more than 69 years—Ted Beattie, was on hand to provide support, carry music stands and ensure that things go “just so!” When Bethany Holohan paid a visit to the couple to thank them for their performance and dedication, she commented on what a great team the two made. “Besides being a great ‘roadie’ to the choir, Ted is so good to me, and he makes me fresh-squeezed orange juice every morning!” said Beth. Thank you to the Aberdeen Choir, Beth Beattie, and her sidekick Ted! A true example of love and dedication to help make the holidays bright. Like us on Facebook
Don Otto, far left, made sure to get a front row seat. Don welcomes his son Dave and daughter-in-law Carol to our holiday party.
Floyd and Martha Sweeney
The Strolling Carolers
Delores Mohrman and her family.
Open house The Glen at Aberdeen Heights celebrated a Christmas Open House December 4. The community was bustling with holiday joy. Residents and their guests enjoyed Music by Charlie and Piano by Ellen in skilled care, Acoustik Element in assisted living, and heard the always popular Strolling Carolers. Residents and families mingled and laughed while sipping on spirits and hot chocolate, enjoying shrimp cocktail, crab-stuffed mushrooms, and other wonderful creations put together by Chef Erik and Chef Greg. Above right: Dancing the night away to Music by Charlie are Dr. Ray Mohrman and granddaughter Lillian. Dr. Mohrman is the son of the late Ray Mohrman and the late Delores Mohrman. Below right: Joy Wiele and daughter-inlaw Liz Wiele Like us on Facebook
The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
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Students from Kirk Hanser’s Guitar Studio played both skilled care and assisted living in December.
Students from UMSL Music Student Outreach played violin and cello in The Glen. Students from Meghan Warren’s Violin Studio delighted residents on a Saturday morning in assisted living.
The gift of giving December brought many visiting groups spreading holiday cheer. Skilled care and assisted living hosted: Kirkwood United Methodist Church Choir; UMSL’s Student Outreach Program; Linda Roth’s Piano School; Robinson Elementary School groups and choir; Kirkwood Middle School; Megan Warren Violin Studio; Childbloom Guitar Studio with Kirk Hanser; several Nurse Colleen Dietrich and her Girl Scout Troops; and even relatives daughter, Aven, from Girl Scout Troop of residents bringing talents and joy 2836 helped decorate this festive tree. to the community.
Girl Scouts made ornaments and donated the beautiful Christmas tree to assisted living where it brought a festive touch to the second-floor nook.
Helen Gray, the granddaughter of Dottie Gray, played the viola for assisted living on Christmas Eve, and Patricia Ebeling, daughter of Dot Ebeling, brought in Santa to visit residents on Christmas Day. If you know of an individual or group who would like to share their talents and time in The Glen, call Bethany Holohan at 314-909-6059.
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Community Matters February 2019
The St. Louis Strutters, a group of 65-and-older dancers, entertained and inspired during the holidays. Like us on Facebook
New Year’s Eve spent making more memories
Residents had music in Assisted Living and The Glen and enjoyed eggnog, Baileys, champagne, and crème puffs and a variety of music.
Rita and Joe Seiler are joined by their daughter Meg Seiler, visiting from California. The 3 enjoyed eggnog and Baileys and an afternoon of classical guitar.
Residents up their selfie game Selfies? You have probably seen or heard the word by now. Though some of you reading this have never taken a selfie, chances are you have seen one. The definition of a selfie is “an image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera especially for posting on social networks.” The term selfie has been around since 2002 but it did not gain much use or popularity until 2012. By November 2013, selfie was appearing frequently enough in
Stephanie and Joan Murphy Like us on Facebook
print and electronic media that the Oxford English Dictionary chose the word as its Word of the Year. Selfies were seen being used by politicians, celebrities, brides and grooms, tourists, partygoers, and more.Yellowstone Park even had to put up signs saying, “Do Not Take Selfies with Bison.” At Aberdeen’s Christmas party, Stephanie Ameis, lifestyles assistant, gave The Glen their “selfie station” debut.
Stephanie and Ed Brucker
Stephanie and Betty Spence
Stephanie and Ellen Umlauf
Stephanie and Frank Josse The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
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Bob Sextro and Dot Ebeling, center, entertained their family for Christmas.
Mary Fugate was all smiles as she celebrated her 80th birthday with her family December 23.
In town from Columbia, Missouri, Nick celebrated his birthday with family, while Grandma Murphy, always on the go, beat the family in cornhole.
Private parties Residents had private parties to observe birthdays and Christmas. Many of you may not know about a charming little room in assisted living. Our third floor nook has become known as “Party Central,” as it was turned into a private dining area for families.
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Community Matters February 2019
Joan Murphy, pictured in back, is clearly enjoying herself as she hosts and entertains her family for her grandson Nick’s birthday party. Like us on Facebook
On December 16, Resident Marjorie Green traveled to The Veterans of The Battle of the Bulge Memorial Ceremony at Royale Orleans Banquet Hall in St. Louis. Marjorie’s late husband, Don Green, was active in Veteran organizations and was a decorated Veteran of WWII and The Battle of the Bulge. Marjorie is holding her Community Matters newsletter with Barb Green, Kurt Weisenfels and Kaye Dement at the event.
Santa Letters As you may have read about in the December Community Matters, we kicked off the Christmas season at Aberdeen with a breakfast with Santa. At breakfast with Santa, we had a “Letters to Santa Station.” These letters were sent off to the North Pole headquarters at Aberdeen Heights. “Santa’s elves” wrote the children back, and wouldn’t you know it, some of the handwriting resembled the handwriting of residents in The Glen. Delighted children and grandchildren of staff and residents received their letters. This will be an ongoing annual tradition at Aberdeen.
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U.S. News now uses the CMS star rating for staffing rather than the overall star rating to determine which communities are given the High Performing designation. This decision reflects expert opinion on the importance of staffing in quality of care, as well as the availability since April 2018 of more accurate data on nurse staffing levels in each community or center. More than 4,300 nursing homes received CMS’ top rating of five stars, while just 1,844 nursing homes earned the top Overall rating issued by U.S. News, according to the U.S. News website. Aberdeen Heights is a community Like us on Facebook
McKenzie and Morgan Shurtz, cousins of MDS Coordinator Dana Jacobs, show off their letters to Santa.
in the Presbyterian Manors of MidAmerica system. “Our employees continue to focus their efforts on delivering quality care every day,” said PMMA President and CEO Bruce Shogren. “The High Performing designation confirms their good work.”
Farmington, Fulton and Rolla in Missouri.
In addition to Aberdeen Heights, 12 PMMA locations are on the honoree list with the High Performing designation: Aberdeen Village (Olathe), Emporia, Lawrence, Newton, Parsons, Salina, Sterling, Topeka and Wichita in Kansas and
To learn more about the U.S. News and World Report rating system, visit their FAQ page: https:// health.usnews.com/healthnews/best-nursing-homes/ articles/faq-how-we-ratenursing-homes.
All Medicare- and Medicaidcertified health care centers were evaluated by U.S. News. To be eligible for an overall rating, a center must have received an overall star rating from the Centers for This is the fifth time since 2011 Medicare and Medicaid Services in Aberdeen Heights has appeared on July 2018 and a staffing star rating in the US News and World Report Best either April or July 2018. Nursing Homes list.
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Reminders Open Bridge every Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the assisted living piano room Stay tuned for Heart Month events in February February 3: Super Bowl happenings February 5: Chinese New Year with Chinese poetry and Chinese Bowl Music with Lura Koch (Watch the calendar for specific times) February 10: 3 to 4 p.m. Family Happy Hour featuring Aaron Burlbaw and Feyza Eran, jazz singer February 21: Tom Winter violin and song on (Thanks to Betty Smith for this excellent referral) February 24: The Oscars red carpet talk and party March 5: Stay tuned for Mardi Gras music and program May 11: Mayfest – Save the date!
100 Dress Project Look for this on our calendar and come help us make our 100 Dresses for the Art is Ageless Gala on Tuesday, April 30.
Residents Marian Cairns and Marjorie Green recently took an excursion to Webster Groves Presbyterian Church for their annual holiday luncheon. They were greeted by many friends, both old and new.
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Community Matters February 2019
In Presbyterian Manor’s ongoing commitment to customer satisfaction, we have partnered with Pinnacle Quality Insight. This company will periodically contact the people we serve via telephone to conduct an interview regarding their impression of our service. We use this feedback as a tool to continually improve our quality of care and enhance our relationships. When you are contacted to participate in the survey, they will always identify themselves specifically as being with Pinnacle Quality Insight. All state and federal confidentiality laws are met in Pinnacle’s service. We greatly value your opinions and encourage you to be frank and honest when contacted.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
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