NEW MINISTER TO FOCUS ON SENIORS IN ALBERTA
Alberta not only has a new Premier in Jim Prentice, but a new Ministry of Seniors. The new Ministry, under Jeff Johnson, will be responsible for: • Ensuring Alberta has an effective elder abuse strategy in place. • Addressing fire code and safety issues at seniors’ accommodations. • Creating more affordable supportive living units. Silvera for Seniors looks forward to giving the new Minister a tour of our communities in the very near future.
CONNECTING THE PAST AND
PRESENT IN FOREST LAWN Thanks to Calgary Arts Development and International Avenue Business Revitalization Zone, Valleyview Community is hosting residents and their families to a free concert called Forest Lawn in Story and Song at St. Luke’s Church on Oct. 23.
SILVERA’S ANNUAL
RESIDENT EVENT
(STORY ON PAGE 2)
PUTTING TASTE BUDS TO THE TEST Silvera's dining services team invited residents representing the dining council to a special food tasting event recently.
ON THE BIG SCREEN Silvera’s Sassy Seniors went Hollywood this fall at the 2014 Calgary International Film Festival. Several episodes of the comedy video series, featuring our own Silvera residents playing pranks on unsuspecting Calgarians, were shown before documentary screenings during the 10-day celebration of Canadian and international cinema in September.
(STORIES ON PAGE 3)
Enjoying the event are Ludmila (Emily) Lesniewicz and Netta Moore from Spruce Community.
Valleyview resident Joyce Wesley speaks at an event for grant recipients about her family’s connection to Forest Lawn.
The event, organized by Sysco Calgary, was an opportunity for residents to help choose new menu items for all communities.
THE POWER OF GARDENS & BLOOMING COMMUNITIES Gardeners Evelyn Yelds, Marta Repa, Ericka Sanders, Sandra Anderson, Rena Parker and Maxine Bueckert from Dream Haven Community.
SILVERA TIMES Silvera’s Community Newsletter - Fall 2014
Emilie Marchard from Nestle Foods and Kathy Secord, Dining Services Supervisor at Willow Park on the Bow Community
SNOWSTORM HITS SILVERA September 10’s surprise blizzard damaged many trees and left thousands of Calgarians in the dark for hours.
SPLASH!
Many of Silvera’s communities were affected, and our Emergency Response Plan went into action as tree limbs snapped and many buildings temporarily lost power.
Every day, two to three Canadians die from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), a neuromuscular disease that causes paralysis. To raise awareness of ALS, Sarah Rabishaw and Ashley Duke from our Shawnessy Community recently completed the Ice Bucket Challenge with the help of residents and other Silvera employees.
“We were absolutely at Mother Nature’s mercy,” says Maintenance Supervisor Randy Adrian. “You got that wet, heavy snow; it was mainly the poplar trees affected because they’re softwood. All I was hearing was cracking everywhere.”
For Silvera CEO Arlene Adamson, the storm offered another opportunity to practise Silvera’s Emergency Response Plan. “Our staff moved quickly to activate the plan, knowing that our residents’ wellbeing is always our top priority,” she says. No one was injured and no buildings were damaged.
Worst-hit were the Shouldice, Confederation Park, Bow Valley, Westview and Friendship Manor Communities. Some damaged trees may ultimately need to be removed during the long cleanup ahead, Adrian says. Fallen trees at our Shouldice Community
Back Row: Gilmars Bacani, Dining Services Supervisor; Residents Betty Dousett and Mabel Best; Vicky Minard, Community Resident Assistant Manager, Front Row: Sarah Rabishaw, Acitvity Coordinator Ashley Duke, Administrative Assistant
PHOTO CORRECTION
In our last issue of Silvera Times, we printed the wrong photo of Vicky Jones. Sorry Vicky.
4 silvera.ca | 403.276.5541
EDITOR: SILVANA SACCOMANI #804, 7015 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, AB T2H 2K6 (t) 403.276.5541 • (f) 403.276.9152 contact@silvera.ca • www.silvera.ca
During an emergency, if you live in Supportive Living, remember to: • Stay where you are unless you are directed to move. • Make sure you have an adequate supply of medication and oxygen on hand and to take those with you. • Follow directions from the Silvera staff person in charge.
During an emergency, if you live in Independent Living, remember to: • Call 911 • Go to your muster point if you leave the building. If you are unable to leave the building, stay in your room and call 911. • Make sure you have an adequate supply of medication and oxygen on hand and to take those with you.
FIGHT THE FLU Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different, and influenza infection can affect people differently. During a regular flu season, about 90 per cent of deaths occur in people 65 years and older. The “seasonal flu season” can begin as early as October and last as late as May. During this time, flu viruses are circulating in the population. An annual seasonal flu vaccine (either the flu shot or the nasal-spray flu vaccine) is the best
way to reduce the chances that you will get seasonal flu and spread it to others. When more people get vaccinated against the flu, less flu can spread through that community. To find out when you can get vaccinated, talk to your Community Resident Assistant Manager or Activity Coordinator.
silvera.ca | 403.276.5541
THE POWER OF GARDENS
MAKING MEMORIES:
SILVERA’S ANNUAL
Marion Headley from Beaverdam Townhouses
RESIDENT EVENT
About 250 Silvera residents came out to the BMO Centre in September for an afternoon of dancing, mingling and reuniting with old friends. Creating friendships and connections among residents in all of Silvera’s communities is what the Annual Resident Event is all about says Arlene Adamson, CEO of Silvera for Seniors. “It’s the one opportunity we have to come together from across all of our 26 communities to spend some time together and get to know new and fellow Silverans,” she says.
A big thanks to Calgary philanthropist Sam Switzer, who for the third consecutive year generously sponsored the Annual Resident Event, making it possible to offer all residents a festive afternoon for free.
Manor, but now that Eileen and Anna have moved to Spruce, they took the opportunity to visit and share some laughs. One of the newer Silvera residents at this year’s event was Leny DeBake who joined our Valleyview Community in October of last year, and she was happy to take part in on a Silvera tradition: “I think it’s beautiful,” DeBake says. After lunch, the “SaddleSore” Showband brought residents and employees to the dance floor, where they rounded off the event by dancing up a storm.
For Eileen Jackson, Safa Ardekani and Anne Metcalfe, the event was a happy reunion and an opportunity to catch up. The trio used to live together at Friendship
Bow Valley Community Resident Ruby Friesen and Board Member Dan Delaloye
Beaverdam Townhouses resident Dorothy Graystone with her Garden Gala certificate of participation. Valleyview Community resident Leny DeBake enjoys her first time at the Annual Resident Event
Rhonda Shannon (Activity Coordinator at Valleyview Community) and Quinto Cardellini (Aspen Community resident)
Spruce Community residents Eileen Jackson and Anne Metcalfe reunite with Friendship Manor resident Safa Ardekani (middle) at the Annual Resident Event.
Karan Kappang and Millie Farina (Shouldice Manor Residents)
DAYS OF CARING For the past two and a half years, Silvera for Seniors has partnered with the United Way to recruit volunteers to help make a difference in their communities. Through the United Way Days of Caring, organizations and businesses give time and resources to projects they care about, often by way of sending volunteers out into the community. Silvera has been able to forge strong bonds with corporate donors in Calgary through Days of Caring, and inviting volunteers into our communities gives us an opportunity to introduce them to our residents and the organization. With the help of the United Way and the generosity of Calgary business and industry partners, our communities have received help with tasks such as painting, spring/fall cleanup and gardening. One relationship that has been established though Days of Caring is with Nova Chemicals. We are grateful to Nova Chemicals for its support, most recently in August when volunteers from the company helped our Beaverdam Community with painting fences and supplied benches where residents can rest when walking the pathways.
2 silvera.ca | 403.276.5541
Garden Gala Judges: Charles Nelson, Christine Poole, Jennifer Black, Shirley Bullough and Frances Nelson
Beaverdam Townhouses Residents Ronald Lescard, Doreen Baker, Tena Adrian and Mary Exell along with Community Resident Assistant Manager Jason Baker (second from the left) enjoy their new benches thanks to Nova Chemicals. If you know someone who needs a Silvera home, please contact us at 403.276.5541.
Beaverdam Garden Gala Audrey Hepburn once said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” That sentiment took centre stage recently when Beaverdam Community celebrated its annual gardening initiative, called the Garden Gala. Thanks to Southridge Lions Club, the gardening challenge ended with awards being given to resident gardeners with the largest green thumbs, and everyone enjoying lunch. Garden Gala organizer Christine Poole says the event started about 10 years ago when she noticed how much the gardens meant to the residents who put so much time and effort into making them look beautiful. “I look at the gardens and… some of them put their heart
and soul into it and make them beautiful,” Poole says. “I thought they should be acknowledged.” One of these residents is Marion Headley, who has participated in the Garden Gala ever since it started. For Headley, growing a garden is about creating a feeling of home. “I like flowers, I love my birds— I just think it looks nice,” she says. “You can have a house and have nothing there, and it doesn’t look great, not like a home.” At Beaverdam, gardening not only creates homes, it also builds community. Poole says she is happy to see how the Garden Gala has become all about the camaraderie and bringing people together, green thumbs or not.
BLOOMING COMMUNITIES
Evelyn Wendell, Verna Pollack and Yvonne Myers from Shouldice Manor
In all of Silvera’s communities, residents and volunteers work hard from spring to fall to grow gardens for their own and others’ enjoyment. At Shouldice Manor Community, Yvonne Myers, Verna Pollack, Evelyn Wendell and Judy Jaggard, a group of enthusiastic gardeners, have spearheaded efforts to start vegetable and flower gardens outside the building. Some of them are also busy volunteering as gardeners at the neighbouring Shouldice Community, on top of their own gardening duties.
about it the following year when squash suddenly started sprouting everywhere.
A resident at Friendship Manor Community Beryl Pownall takes pride in her garden.
The exercise and enjoyment from gardening keep the group constantly planning ahead for next year’s garden. “I’m going to be 80 this winter… and we’re talking about next year!” Pollack says. At Aspen Community, Elek Szabo has volunteered to grow vegetable gardens for the past 11 years.
Wendell says gardening is rewarding when the fruits of one’s labour spring to life. “I enjoy The 95-year-old spends most of watching things grow from scratch,” his days tending to his garden and she says. “When I see those seeds thinks of it as a fun way to exercise. starting to sprout up, “I do everything: walking, bending I go, ‘Yes, I did it!’” down, digging— my whole body Some of the volunteers are needs to work,” Szabo says. On experienced gardeners; others a recent trip to Las Vegas, a tour learned to garden when guide asked Szabo how he was still they joined Shouldice Manor. in such good condition. “Because Contributions to the gardens I’m gardening,” Szabo answered. come in many forms, such as The bounty of potatoes, beans, when a mischievous resident peas and other vegetables is planted some squash seeds in shared with friends, family and one of the flower beds, and the passersby who can’t resist the puzzled gardeners only found out temptation of a ripe cherry tomato.
Aspen Community Resident Elek Szabo A big thanks to Talisman Energy for supporting the gardens this year at Valleyview Community. Our gardens need care and resources to stay beautiful. If you would like volunteer for any of Silvera’s Volunteer opportunities, contact Volunteer Manager Nadine Maillot at nmaillot@silvera.ca or 403.470.1412. silvera.ca | 403.276.5541 3