Clay Center Presbyterian Manor
DECEMBER 2022
New career allows opportunity to advocate for others When Lawrence Ferguson was young, his family relocated to Kansas in search of a better quality of life. “You don’t have to be a millionaire to live in Kansas,” Lawrence said. “It’s one of the reasons my mom brought me here in high school - the expense and the crime, and all the junk going on in California.” Now he has the chance to advocate for a better life for others in his work as social services designee at Clay Center Presbyterian Manor.
Lawrence Ferguson
“I’m the advocate for the seniors here, so I work closely with seniors and families,” he said. “I advocate for them in care plan meetings. There are so many hats I wear, hard to quantify. I’m a case manager of sorts and I work to ensure residents rights are protected.” Lawrence began in this role just a few months ago, but he has previous experience as a case manager in the mental health field. So even though his degree is in business management, his education has translated well into managing the wellbeing of residents. “I have a lot of practical work experience,” Lawrence said. “I get to touch all parts of the residents’ lives - and serve as liaison between families, between us, and get to be the voice of the residents.”
Make your own simple and fun Christmas snowman As soon as I made one and showed Matt, he thought I should make one to resemble each person in the family I was giving to. So, that’s like…26 snowmen? Welp, here’s hoping I don’t run out of supplies! What You’ll Need: • Pair of calf-length tube socks • Pair of cute patterned girls’ socks (on sale at Target for a dollar a pop!)
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Rice (or beans, or lentils) Rubber bands Twine Buttons and/or felt for shirt/eyes/nose
Directions1) Cut the foot off of one tube sock and toss. You will only need the top o’ the sock.
In developing care plans for residents, Lawrence said he enjoys interacting with the leadership team, and with other departments, to make sure everyone is on the same page and oriented towards the best care possible. When he’s not working on behalf of residents, Lawrence describes himself as a “huge nerd.” “I like a lot of science fiction and fantasy. Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, and all things 80s because I grew up in the 80s,” Lawrence said. “I have two kids, and two children in middle school. My girlfriend and I like to take road trips when we have free time.” u
Snowman
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Snowman –continued from
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2) Turn the tube part of the sock inside out and wrap one end tight with a rubber band. Then, turn it right side out again and begin to fill with rice! (And begin to spill rice all over your carpet, if you have my hand-eye-coordination). Push rice down into the sock so it will stretch out and become a chubby little snowman body. 3) Once you have filled the sock to the almost-brim, wrap another rubber band around the top to secure. 4) Take out your patterned socks. Cut the heel and toe off of one sock, so you just have the middle. This will be the snowman’s shirt. Then take the other sock and cut off the heel. This will be the snowman’s hat. 5) Shimmy the “shirt” over his plump belly. Then, if you want to make a traditional snowman with three snow rolls, take a string of twine and tie a tight knot around the bottom of the sweater. Then, take another piece of twine and tie it around the top of the sweater. I happen to like my snowman fat and happy, so I only tied twine around the top of the sweater. This gave him a cute rounded belly, and I could tell he thanked me for not being constricted by another piece of twine. I, myself have had one too many Christmas cookies already…so I feel ya on the “no tight waistline” look, Mr. Snowman. 6) For his hat, take another piece of twine and tie it near the top of the sock toe. This will make it look more like a hat and also cause it to fall cutely to the side. 7) Okay, now for his face! I didn’t have enough small buttons for all of the snowmen I was making, so I had to whip out my hot glue gun and use black felt instead. I did the same for his lil’ carrot nose, using orange felt. I did have buttons for his sweater, too, but apparently, I forgot, er, got too excited to photograph that I skipped this step! How could I not get too excited…LOOK AT HOW CUTE HE IS!! After you finish your first snowman and see how easy it is to make something so fat and adorable, it is hard not to make more. Even if I wasn’t planning on giving these as gifts, I still think I would have made a snowman army for myself. Come to think of it, it is going to be hard to give these guys up! Good thing tube socks are still on sale. u Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.
785-632-5646 u Fax: 785-632-5874 924 Eighth St. Clay Center, KS 67432-2620 ClayCenterPresbyterianManor.org
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COMMUNITY MATTERS | December 2022
Community Matters
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is published monthly for residents and friends of Clay Center Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
Amy Hoch Altwegg, executive director
OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
Angel Tree supports local seniors in need Today, more than 345 PMMA residents depend on PMMA’s Good Samaritan Program. The program
provides funding to assist residents who outlive their financial resources through no fault of their own, and we’re proud that no person has ever been asked to leave one of our communities based on their inability to pay. You make it possible for residents to remain in their
home through the Good Samaritan Program. To make a contribution, please visit the front desk or go online to giving.presbyterianmanors.org/ angel-tree-campaign. In recognition of your generosity, we will hang an ornament in your honor on our community’s Angel Tree. u
Clay Center Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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924 Eighth St. Clay Center, KS 67432-2620
Clay Center Presbyterian Manor shares customer service survey responses Clay Center Presbyterian Manor continues to seek customer feedback through monthly telephone surveys. Each month, residents and their representatives are randomly selected to participate in telephone satisfaction surveys conducted by Pinnacle Quality Insight. The graphic highlights some of the survey results. All scores are given on a 5-point scale, with 5 being the highest score and 1 the lowest score.
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Between August 2021 and September 2022, Clay Center Presbyterian Manor residents and their families gave the community high scores for communication, demonstrating dignity and respect, and taking care of individual needs.
COMMUNITY MATTERS | December 2022
“I appreciate that the nursing staff and the staff in general are very caring, helpful and always looking out for their residents,” said one family member. We greatly value the opinions of our residents and their representatives about the care and services we provide, and we encourage them to participate honestly when contacted by Pinnacle Quality Insight. All state and federal confidentiality laws are met in Pinnacle’s service. u