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Year: 2019

Diversity and Inclusion Day

Sun, January 13, 2019 Published by

January 21 from 12 – 3 pm Life Center

Since last April, a council of residents and staff have been meeting to focus our attention on issues around diversity and inclusion.  We seek to live further into the Beatitudes Campus Promise to value and welcome all people regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.  We believe that each of us can not only make a difference but BE the difference to help create an environment where we can bring our whole selves to our community.  We hope to create and sustain a culture where every employee can come to work feeling comfortable, accepted, and set up for success–a community that residents call home where they feel a sense of purpose and value.  The Action Council is excited to invite YOU to our first annual Diversity and Inclusion Day next Monday, January 21st in the Life Center.  From 12 noon to 3 p.m. there will be a variety of presentations and activities and we hope you will come participate any time that afternoon.  A glimpse of what we have planned: 1. Celebrate your unique identity and culture by finding your place of origin on a world map and realize how globally connected we are; 2. Share what diversity and inclusivity mean to you; and 3. Enjoy tasty snacks which reflect spices and tastes from around the world.

January 21st is also important because it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when we recognize the many contributions King’s movement made toward bringing about a more inclusive society and the powerful words of his I Have a Dream speech will inspire us during the day.  There will be tables with items and information celebrating Black History, the LGBTQ community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning), and areas of travel such as Indonesia and the Ukraine, plus the opportunity to sit with others and share your story.  Our diversity makes for such a rich tapestry!  The heritage of Christian hospitality on which the Beatitudes was built, laid the foundation for this community to be an inclusive culture where all feel supported, valued and appreciated, but it takes every single one of us working together to live that out every day.  We are excited for this event and we hope that you will join us in this mission to fulfill our promise!  The Diversity and Inclusion Action Council is looking for others who are passionate about this work so if you would like to join the Council or would like more information please call me, Chaplain Peggy Roberts at X16109.*

New Elaine’s Fine Dining Menu Offers Residents More Variety

Sun, January 13, 2019 Published by

We are excited to announce that, on January 31st, we will be migrating to a 52-week menu in Elaine’s Fine Dining to continue our commitment to variety.

Elaine’s format will have new and exciting offerings weekly and will be part of your Roadrunner each Monday. We will have changing options in seafood, appetizer, salad, soup, chicken, pork and others while maintaining our most popular dishes on our weekly menu.

We are very excited to bring this new option to you and, hopefully, you will come to Elaine’s Fine Dining and experience a night out, away from the bustle of our other venues, in a quiet, sophisticated atmosphere providing excellent food and service and featuring a new drink menu to add to the variety.

The Bistro moved to a 52-week menu a couple of months ago and has been very successful in bringing you variety with menu changes on a weekly basis. In the past, we changed our menus twice a year  and added variety by offering multiple specials in each venue. These specials were advertised weekly in the Roadrunner and quickly became the only options you saw in our venues. Many people said to me, “Joe, why do we only have these choices available to us” when indeed, there was an entire menu to choose from on top of the advertised specials. Moving forward, we will create all of our menus on a 52 week menu platform and provide you exceptional variety of choice, not only on the menu selections but make each venue varied and make your choice of where to dine much harder for you. This is a good thing, right?

We look forward to this change as much as you do and cannot wait to hear your reactions about the variety offered in our restaurants.*

New Medicare Cards

Sun, January 6, 2019 Published by

Medicare has recently changed their health insurance cards.  If you have traditional Medicare, you will notice that previously your Social Security number was used as your medical identification number as well as your Medicare Number.  As we know, over the past several years there has been nationwide concerns with identity theft and this is one way Medicare is addressing the concerns to minimize the risk of future identity theft.

Most of you should have already received your new Medicare card in the mail.  If you have not, please contact the Social Security Administration to ensure your address is correct.  You may contact them at ssa.gov/myaccount or by calling 800-772-1213.

It is important that when you receive your new card that you destroy your old card and replace with the new one which has a unique combination of letters and numbers and provide a copy to all of your health care providers. Please see the example below.

In addition to replacing your card, we are requesting all residents/responsible parties to provide accounting with a copy of your new card.  You may take it personally to their office in Agelink or it can be sent in with your monthly payment so that the new information can be updated in your Electronic Record here on campus.  Accounting’s office is open from 7:30AM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday.

Having the most up-to-date information will assist with transition so that if you are sent to the hospital we can provide them with the most current and up to date information.  Additionally, it allows a smooth billing of Medicare if you are admitted to the Health Care Center for a short stay or need to utilize Home Health or Outpatient Therapy services on campus.

Please be advised that only health care professionals should be requesting your Medicare card.  The Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) also wants beneficiaries to beware of anyone who contacts you about your replacement Medicare card, as scammers have already targeted recipients with new ploys. CMS officials say they will never ask a beneficiary for personal or private information or for any money as a condition of getting a new Medicare number and card.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at x16111. *

LifeLong Learners Update

Sun, January 6, 2019 Published by

You’ve been asking—when is the new catalog coming out? When do classes start? I hope we’re having a short story class again. What’s Tom Denny teaching this time? Your questions are answered. You have your catalog. The schedule is set, and so are the registration dates—Jan. 14th and 15th. If you have questions, join us today (Jan. 7th) at the back of the Plaza Bistro from 10:00AM to 2:00PM.

A quick look at the schedule shows old favorites such as Poetry, American Art, Arizona History (that’s the Tom Denny offering), Spanish, French, TED Talks, Movies, Word Playing and American Short Story.

To pique your interest, we’re offering these new courses:

Jewish Short Story taught by Rabbi Elana Kanter

Beginning Spanish (often-requested)

Court Compendium, an outgrowth of Our Courts

Death and Dying, discussions to be facilitated by Success Matters interns

Supreme Court Decisions by our resident judge, Bill Schafer

Storytelling—If you attended the Christmas service where Rev. Doug Bland told about nativity figures and children, you met our Storytelling teacher.

In addition, Dosia has organized a three-parter called The Wonder of Birds, and Bill Chase will energize the subject of Construction, by explaining what’s going on all around us. Last, our faithful computer ladies have come up with a new topic—The Useful Internet.

And in between old and new are an expanded Enneagram, an updated Presidential Fiscal Policy, Recorder for both new and continuing students, Income Tax, PowerPoint, Word, and the popular Saturday phone/tablet courses.

We hope you’ll find something intriguing among the offerings – no grades, no credits, no tests! See you in class.*

Thinking God’s Thoughts

Sun, January 6, 2019 Published by

It is an exciting time for space exploration. Not only has China successfully landed an exploratory craft on the far side of the Moon, but humanity has been boldly going where we haven’t gone before. NASA’s New Horizons probe, launched in January 2006, has successfully flown by a small snowman shaped object (see the picture included, taken from the probe’s telemetry) named Ultima Thule, meaning ‘beyond the farthest frontiers’. That object is a billion miles further out from Pluto. It is quite incredible to think of how far, both literally and metaphorically, we have come since the advent of space exploration. In 1961, during the first manned spaceflight, Yuri Gagarin, according to some sources, remarked ‘I see no God up here’, although those words were not in the official transcripts.  Those words seem to firmly put the exploration of the cosmos and faith at odds with each other. However, in reality, the historical interaction between theology and outer space has been more subtle and much more fruitful than a simple conflict. Some historians point to the positive influence of belief on the very growth of science. Four hundred years ago, Galileo and other scientists of his generation understood by their faith that God was free to create in whatever way God wanted. Therefore, the only way to understand creation was to observe it, and thus was the real origin of empirical science. A similar argument led to theologians being foremost in the speculation about life on other planets. If God is free to create  not just human life, the only way you would know whether other life was there would be to actively search for it. Rather than religious belief and scientific exploration being at odds with each other, this understanding, in fact, adds a sacred dimension  to that exploration. At times, this exploration will no doubt be puzzling and surprising, but ultimately always awe-inspiring. Fifty years ago, as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon on Christmas Eve, the astronauts took turns reading from the Book of Genesis. The sense that the world is created and good continues to inspire many to look beyond the farthest frontiers, and to see science, as the sixteenth century astronomer, Johannes Kepler, described it as “thinking God’s thoughts after him”. *