SPOTLIGHT ON SCOTT GRACE Silvera for Seniors has a new Community Resource Coordinator (CRC) on the block. Scott Grace has a diploma in Social Work and worked as youth worker at a group home before he joined Silvera in November. In his new role, Grace expects his relationship with Silvera’s residents will be a two-way street. “I’m looking forward to connecting with residents the most,” he says. “They’ve got a lot of stories and a lot of history, so they can teach me some valuable lessons.”
Silvera’s CRCs can offer you support and help you connect with resources, services and benefits available to seniors in Calgary. Call 402.390.3988 to book an appointment with a CRC.
Stress and depression can ruin your holidays and hurt your health. Being realistic, planning ahead and seeking support can help ward off stress and depression. These tips can help you cope with stress during the holidays.
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Fit in exercise. Physical activity can boost your mood for up to 12 hours. Ask an Activity Coordinator what activities they have planned.
We are all aging, but there are still things to learn and many activities to keep our minds and bodies active.
The holidays are a time of giving back, and Debi Busse and her daughter, Melissa Steinhauer, have taken this to heart. Inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas, they are donating gift bags to residents at nine Silvera communities. “Inside each bag has gifts marked Day 1-12, and we ask them to open one per day,” says Busse, who worked at
the Calgary Sun for 25 years and wrapped gifts for the Adopt-aFamily drive before retiring. “I have a good life and I’ve been brought up very strictly on one life choice: always give back. Life is not terrible – give back a little.”
HALLOWEEN FUN
centre: Beaverdam residents Helen Madill, Betty Gerault and Gloria Krepps are on a roll at Beaverdam Community’s mummy-wrapping contest. right: Confederation Park resident Maria Holowenczak welcomes trick or treaters from a local daycare.
EDITOR: SILVANA SACCOMANI 4 silvera.ca | 403.276.5541
A YEAR-END MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
This year we:
Jean Halliday at the Westview Community shuffleboard table. We have an excellent exercise program guaranteed to strengthen our muscles and joints and make some of our aches and pains disappear. As a group, solving large crossword puzzles is good exercise for our brains, as is putting together jigsaw puzzles. For fun and games we have bingos, horse races and 6/49s. Win or lose, it’s a good pastime. We had our annual Hollywood Gala Night on Oct. 16. Everyone was dressed in their best. The dinner was special, as was the service. “Elvis” entertained us to end a beautiful evening. A big thank you to the staff for setting a great atmosphere. It sounds as if we live a whirlwind existence. Actually, we cherish our quiet times and being alone – some more than others. This is respected by residents and staff.
left: Halloween aficionados Evelyn Yelds and Sandra Anderson get ready for the annual Halloween party at Dream Haven Community.
Silvera’s Community Newsletter - Winter 2014
As we say goodbye to 2014, this is a time to reflect on yet another year of Silvera serving you, our residents. It has been a great year, and we’re proud of our accomplishments. Arlene Adamson, CEO
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12 DAYS OF GIVING
SILVERA TIMES
By Jean Halliday, Resident
Soak up the sunlight. Sunlight helps stimulate the production of feel-good serotonin. Spend time outdoors or near a window on sunny days. Adapted from health.com Take advantage of Silvera’s support services. Silvera’s Community Resource Coordinators (CRCs) can help you through holiday stress by connecting you with valuable community resources or lending an ear if you just need someone to talk to. Call a CRC at 403.390.3988.
The knitting club at Willow Park on the Bow Community is giving back to the community this winter by donating throws to their fellow Silvera residents. Henny Pedersen, Luise Braun, Lilly Friess, Gabrielle Feher and Clothilde Del Rizzo.
Excerpt from THE CHALLENGE
AND JOY OF LIVING AT WESTVIEW COMMUNITY
HOLIDAY BLUES
Turn up the tunes. Listen to your favourite music. Not only is this good for your heart, but it helps calm and relax you.
Scott Grace, new Silvera CRC.
Valleyview residents Ed Sitar and Joyce Wesley in front of a new Nativity scene at Valleyview Community, a community-funded project by residents and their families.
We are learning to count our blessings and to live, laugh and love as though each day was our last.
Welcomed nearly 370 new residents to Silvera.
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Kept high standards of providing clean and safe homes, led by our housekeeping and maintenance teams.
Raised our meal service to a dining experience, offering two-meal options at all of our communities.
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Much of this was possible only through the hard work of our team. Our employees and volunteers are the heart of Silvera, and we know you appreciate their efforts and understand they are doing their best to make a difference. Over the past year, you have provided excellent feedback and insights to help guide our decisions and direction. Like many organizations in Calgary, we continue to face challenges in hiring more good people to work for us. We are committed to finding people who share our values of caring, and who realize the importance of respecting our residents. At Silvera, we talk a lot about how we want to make a difference in your lives. But you have
Opened our doors to more families and donors whose generosity helped advance our work. an advantage in that you are independent. As independent adults, there are opportunities and resources in the community that you can access directly and we always encourage that. Our priority is creating safe homes for our residents, while advocating for you at all levels of government and in the broader community. We also work to identify partners to work with us as your needs change (such as Sandstone Pharmacies). But we can’t do it alone. As independent adults, your ability to seek out and use community resources and make your voice heard is just as important. These are challenging times in the province, and against this backdrop Silvera is trying its best to enhance the services we provide to you, even as we face
Invested in our Health and Safety programs, because safety is our priority.
Strengthened our business systems to make sure your rent is processed in a timely and efficient way. limited funding and increased costs for utilities, food and services. These are challenges faced by all seniors housing providers, and we have to set priorities — services and programs that will provide the most benefit to our residents. We are fortunate to have a strong and capable Board of Directors that champions the work we do, and advocates on behalf of you, our residents. More challenges lie ahead in 2015, but we will continue to work hard to provide you with a comfortable, safe place to live. We thank you for choosing Silvera as your home. We are honoured to be with you each day. On behalf of everyone who works behind-the-scenes at Silvera, I would like to wish you all a happy and joyful New Year.
Read the full story on Silvera’s blog at www.silvera.ca/media-centre/blog Would you like to tell your story? Send your idea to contact@silvera.ca or call 403.567.5324.
#804, 7015 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, AB T2H 2K6 (t) 403.276.5541 • (f) 403.276.9152 contact@silvera.ca • www.silvera.ca
Aspen resident Irene Rieger helps put up Christmas decorations at Aspen Community.
Mountview resident Irene Cairns with Residents celebrate Hanukkah her beautifully decorated Christmas at Shouldice Community. tree, spreading joy in the lobby of Mountview Apartments Community. silvera.ca | 403.276.5541
TREKKING ACROSS ALBERTA
SILVERA RESIDENT REMEMBERS D-DAY
In connection with Falls Prevention Month in November, residents from Silvera’s Aspen Community stepped up to the challenge of trekking across Alberta… virtually.
More than 70 years after being one of the first Canadian soldiers to storm Juno Beach on D-Day, Adam Helfrick has tried to forget a lot about his experiences during the Second World War. But the memories remain strong and the now-94-year-old resident of Shawnessy Community recently paused to remember those who sacrificed everything for freedom. “I volunteered; I had nothing to do, so I joined the army,” says Helfrick, who signed up in 1940. “I didn’t have a clue what was going on. When you’re in the army, you do what the army says. You don’t think for yourself; you think for the army.” Helfrick served in an armored corps in Sicily, where his tanks helped American forces capture a strategic hill. And his tank was one of the first to arrive on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, during the Invasion of Normandy. “We went in seven miles before we hit any resistance,” he remembers. “Then the Germans decided they didn’t like us, so they tried to take us out.” Back home, his younger sister, Margaret Walker, was in Edmonton working as a cashier for
a dry cleaners and saw five of her brothers, including Adam, go into battle. “It wasn’t good because our brothers were all leaving,” says Walker, who today lives in Spruce Community. “My dad was crying – never saw him cry before – so it wasn’t a good time. Two of our neighbours, they never came back. They ended up on the front lines and ended up getting killed, so it was not nice.” Fortunately, all five brothers made it back. “We just lived through it; it was something that happened and we just sort of made the best of it,” says Walker, who says her brothers wrote every week, and the family sent back packages with cigarettes, soap, shaving cream, “things that they may be short of over there.” After the war, Helfrick continued to serve in Germany as part of the Occupation Forces, and says one of his jobs was to try and convince the German people that the atrocities committed by the
Nazis actually happened. “A lot of people called me a liar; they couldn’t believe what the SS had done … what really went on,” he says. Returning to Canada in 1946, Helfrick set up a farm in Peace River Country that he ran for 40 years. He admits that he tries to forget a lot of what he saw in the War, but every Nov. 11, he pauses to remember. “It’s a moment to remember those who fought for our country and those we left behind,” he says. “We tried to make the country free.”
Adam Helfrick speaks at Shawnessy’s Remembrance Day ceremony.
“My mum was pretty broken up, but my dad was really proud [of me] because he was too old to join,” Calkins says. “He would have gone in a shot, but he didn’t want to leave my mum, so he bit the bullet, and I took up.” For Calkins, an only child, her new life living in an all-girls barracks was exciting and an opportunity for independence. “This was all mine,” she says. “I enjoyed every minute of it… it was just one big adventure!”
Margaret Walker honours her brothers.
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On Dec. 17, residents at Silvera’s Mountview Apartments Community, received the results of their participation in the virtual trek and celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Move and Mingle program.
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FALLS
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Check your medications. Speak to your pharmacist about your medications, including over-thecounter products. Some medications may impact balance, either as a side-effect or due to interaction with another drug.
A life-shaping experience for Calkins, who met her husband while in the air force, she looks back on her service with pride. “It sounds corny, but I felt like I was doing my part,” she says.
Watch your step. This is especially important during winter, where ice patches, snow piles and slush on sidewalks pose a high risk of falls. Use a walking aid if you have balance problems and wear shoes or boots with good grip.
In 1942, a few provinces away, Stella also joined the army. After going through a one-month basic training course in Vermillion, Alta., she was posted in Dundurn, Sask., where she worked in a supply depot, feeding the soldiers at the Canadian Forces base. Later, towards the end of the war, Stella moved to Regina where she typed out discharge papers for the soldiers. Reflecting on her experience, what stands out to Stella was the feeling of unity. “It seemed like we were all friends, like brothers and sisters,” she says. “You’re in it for the same thing: you fight for your country.”
Aspen residents trekked the equivalent distance from Coutts, Alta., to Lloydminster, logging a total of 860,000 steps.
Zubidah Mohamed, Elek Szabo and Aspen resident Ardyce Krogstad by Jean Dobbie dance up a storm at an a falls prevention display at Aspen Aspen dancing event put on by Mount Community. Royal University nursing students.
As husbands, brothers, friends and neighbours left to fight in the Second World War, many Canadian women also stepped up to join the fight for freedom.
Together with three of her colleagues from BC Tel, Calkins joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 as a 17 year-old and worked as a switchboard operator in Rivers, Man.
Krogstad says she believes being active helped her prevent injury during a recent mishap. “If I hadn’t been exercising … I would never have gone away without breaking something.”
The Helfrick family, 1938.
SILVERA VETERANS REMEMBER: PENNY CALKINS & DORIS STELLA
Two of those women are Silvera residents Penny Calkins from Westview Community and Doris Stella from Bow Valley Community.
For Aspen resident Ardyce Krogstad, the trek was a fun way to get more residents hooked on exercising. It’s a social activity,” she says. “It’s mentally and physically stimulating. I think exercise is huge and I wish more people came – maybe they will now.”
Many of Silvera’s senior residents are veterans of conflicts ranging from the Second World War to Vietnam – or, like Walker, endured the stress of seeing loved ones go off to battle – and each one of their stories is worth listening to, says Silvera CEO Arlene Adamson. “We should never forget the sacrifices these men and women made while serving their country,” she says.
The Virtual Trek Across Alberta is an Alberta Health campaign to bring attention to falls prevention and encourage seniors across Alberta to stay active. Throughout November, Silvera residents counted their steps and minutes of activity towards the trek.
Keep active. Participate in exercise or activity programs that will build bone and muscle, help with your balance and give you more energy. Check your Activity Calendar for upcoming programs.
Speak up about dizziness. There are many different causes of dizziness. Tell your doctor if you often feel dizzy and remember to stay hydrated. For more information, watch Silvera’s videos on falls protection at youtube.com/user/silveraforseniors
FLU SAFETY TIPS
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Take the time to get vaccinated against the flu. If you have not yet been vaccinated, Sandstone Pharmacies, Silvera’s pharmacy partner, can provide you with a free vaccine at any Sandstone pharmacy location.
Newspaper clip from the LeaderPost of Bow Valley Community resident Doris Stella having her fingerprints taken when joining the Canadian Women’s Army Corps.
Westview Community resident Penny Calkins in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Wash your hands often with soap and warm water or clean with hand sanitizer.
If you become sick, and live in Supportive Living, notify the manager and stay in your suite. If you become sick and live in Independent Living, call your doctor and stay home.
If someone in your family is sick, invite them to visit when they are well.
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Cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze into a tissue or the inside of your sleeve.
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