Many Native Americans and their supporters like myself recognize the importance of celebrating the history and contributions of ALL AMERICANS, but there has to be a better way to honor Italian Americans, without associating them with Christopher Columbus.
I hope that we could find a reasonable compromise to satisfy all parties involved moving forward.
It occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn’t heard from Eeyore for several days, so they put on their hats and coats and trotted across the Hundred Acre Wood to Eeyore’s stick house. Inside the house was Eeyore. “Hello Eeyore,” said Pooh. “Hello Pooh. Hello Piglet,” said Eeyore, in a Glum Sounding Voice. “We just thought we’d check in on you,” said Piglet, “because we hadn’t heard from you, and so we wanted to know if you were okay.”
Eeyore was silent for a moment. “Am I okay?” he asked, eventually. “Well, I don’t know, to be honest. Are any of us really okay? That’s what I ask myself. All I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet, is that right now I feel really rather Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All. Which is why I haven’t bothered you. Because you wouldn’t want to waste your time hanging out with someone who is Sad, and Alone, and Not Much Fun To Be Around At All, would you now.”
Pooh looked at Piglet, and Piglet looked at Pooh, and they both sat down, one on either side of Eeyore in his stick house. Eeyore looked at them in surprise. “What are you doing?” “We’re sitting here with you,” said Pooh, “because we are your friends. And true friends don’t care if someone is feeling Sad, or Alone, or Not Much Fun To Be Around At All. True friends are there for you anyway. And so here we are.” “Oh,” said Eeyore. “Oh.” And the three of them sat there in silence, and while Pooh and Piglet said nothing at all; somehow, almost imperceptibly, Eeyore started to feel a very tiny little bit better. Because Pooh and Piglet were There. No more; no less. (A.A. Milne, E.H. Shepard)
This is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month — a time to raise awareness on this stigmatized, and often taboo, topic. The goal is to ensure that individuals, friends and families have access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and to seek help. Suicidal thoughts, much like mental health conditions, can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or background. In fact, suicide is often the result of an untreated mental health condition. Suicidal thoughts, although common, should not be considered normal and often indicate more serious issues. It can be frightening if someone you love talks about suicidal thoughts. It can be even more frightening if you find yourself thinking about dying or giving up on life. Not taking these kinds of thoughts seriously can have devastating outcomes, as suicide is a permanent solution to (often) temporary problems.
You also have crisis resources available here on campus that will connect you to the treatment and support you need. Call Chaplain Peggy (X16109) or Chaplain Andrew (X18481) or Josephine Levy (X16117) and Jessica Meyer from Success Matters (X16110) or speak to any staff member and they will help you find the support you need.
Active Aging Week… what is that? Active Aging Week is an International celebrating week that promotes and encourages people to participate fully at any age, regardless of mental or physical capacity. As a campus, this will be our 7th year celebrating and promoting a wide rage of activities and events that we hope you will take advantage of as you challenge yourself to a new program.
Active Aging Week will take place Monday, October 4 through Friday, October 8th. Each day, we will have a theme and a variety of events that anyone is welcome to join. Raffles, prizes and moving and grooving is definitely on the agenda. Each morning we will have a Campus Community walk beginning at 7AM in front of the Bistro. We will walk a mile on campus together and we ask that you invite a neighbor to join you. After Monday’s walk, head over to the Life Center to join us for our Kickoff Breakfast as we go through the week’s events. A free buffet style breakfast will be available for you to enjoy, and trivia will be on the menu. Tuesday we will be heading over to the 19North garden to give back to our community. A tour will be given and we will assist will minor tasks that are needed to keep the garden flourishing. The more hands to give back, the more we can achieve. Wednesday we will have a Paint and Wine night in the Rose Garden with Artist Vidal Duarte. All supplies is included however, you will need to call to reserve a spot as space is limited. Thursday we will be swinging our partners round and round as we dance around at our Western Dance Party. A cash bar for alcohol will be available to you so don’t forget that cash, ya hear? Friday is our big Street Fair to close out the week. Wear your Beatitudes Gear proudly as we enjoy food, vendors and RAFFLES. The Employee Appreciation Committee will be having a 50/50 raffle as well so don’t forget that money honey.
The events listed above are only a few that are being highlighted. There are many more that you can find in the Active Aging Week magazine that will be distributed to your door for viewing. We will have guest speakers, classes and even free produce that is scheduled for you to enjoy. If you have any questions, call Didi at x18526. The Life Enrichment team can’t wait to celebrate with you!
One more thing…. if you see Korry Nelson around campus, give him a huge SHOUT OUT for the BEAUTIFUL magazine that he has created for this special week. We couldn’t do it without him!
The Creative Corner is now open and is flourishing. We have an open workshop every Tuesday and Thursday.
Feel free to stop on by from 9:30AM-11:30AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Bring you projects during this open workshop and we will provide the supplies. All are welcome. We are also offering classes led by residents at this time. We are offering a Card Making class with Sylvia Anderson, a Decorative Painting class with Linda Danik, a Beading class with Noreen Wingham and a introduction to Stain Glass with Chuck Beaujon. You must call in to reserve a spot with the instructor.
The hot summer is behind us. Let’s Garden!
Beatitudes Campus mission commits all of us to a model of service for our residents – to inspire purpose and vibrancy in all that we do. Our mission compels us to do all we can so that we do no harm to the ones we love and serve. We are so grateful to our Beatitudes Strong staff, particularly in the last 19 months, who have lived out our mission and worked hard to protect our Beatitudes family and ensure the safest environment possible.
Below is a letter I sent to every staff member, informing them of the policy.
I want to thank all of you for your steadfast support and flexibility throughout the past 19 months of this pandemic. I hope that you and your families are doing well despite the many challenges we have collectively faced and continue to experience because of the pandemic.
Over the past month, much has happened both nationally and locally within life plan communities, such as Beatitudes Campus, regarding COVID-19 vaccines and requiring staff to become vaccinated. As we have always said, we will follow the science, and the science overwhelmingly points to the vaccine’s critical role in protecting our residents, our community and each other from this deadly disease.
We carefully deliberated and reviewed recommendations from scientists and the medical community and the requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and we have made the decision to require all Beatitudes staff and contractors to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by no later than November 15, 2021. Concomitant with this decision, on August 18, 2021, the White House announced an initiative to increase vaccination rates in America that included mandatory vaccinations for long-term care workers in nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) followed quickly with an announcement of forthcoming regulation mandating vaccinations for all staff working in nursing homes. On September 9, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order that included the provision that 17 million health care workers at all facilities, hospitals, home health providers, dialysis centers and other health service providers that receive funds from Medicare and Medicaid be fully vaccinated.
This decision was not an easy one to make. We know that this requirement will affect a portion of our staff. But as COVID-19 variants emerge and proliferate, it is critical that we protect everyone who lives and works at Beatitudes Campus. Our campus mission commits us to a model of service for our residents that promotes soundness of mind, spirit and body. We chose to work in the field of aging so that we could serve some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, and we owe it to them to take every measure possible to ensure the safest environment possible. Our residents and staff expect to be safe at Beatitudes Campus and we need to do everything we can to protect our Beatitudes family. We have a unique and special responsibility to keep the campus as safe as possible to protect our residents and staff, especially as the risk environment rises, as it has during this pandemic.
We understand that this may be a heavy and emotional issue for some staff. There will be a very limited allowance for exemptions for our staff from being vaccinated. Those exemptions will be for legitimate, fully documented medical reasons as well as fully documented long-held religious beliefs. We also understand that some Beatitudes staff will choose not to be vaccinated who do not qualify for one of the rare exemptions. We urge those employees to reconsider based on facts and science. We are all in this together. Together we serve our residents and together we have a collective responsibility to keep them as safe as possible. We encourage you to talk to your manager or director, or, alternatively, we will have our spiritual life team of Rev. Peggy Roberts and Rev. Andrew Moore as well as our nurse educator, Karen Mitchell, who can talk with you confidentially.
Beatitudes Campus policy for a vaccine requirement has been distributed, as well as the forms should you seek an exemption.
Please take a moment to reflect on why you chose to work at Beatitudes Campus and with the seniors who live here. The campus would not have a 56-year history of success without the contributions of a dedicated staff. Throughout this pandemic you have demonstrated your dedication and bravery in the face of unprecedented and challenging circumstances. The residents you love to serve, the residents you help to live their best, most successful and engaged life, are enriched by the Beatitudes team. They deserve to live in the safest community possible. We must do everything possible to deliver a safe environment for them.
We are Beatitudes Strong! Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michelle Just, President and CEO
Recently, we have noted that some hand tools are missing from the Resident Woodshop. The tools that are in the woodshop have been either purchased by the Campus or donated by residents and are there for all residents to use and enjoy. If you borrow something to use for a project at home, PLEASE return it as soon as possible after you are done so that others might use them.
Borrowing a tool is not a problem as long as it is returned promptly. We do not have a monitor in the woodshop and we depend on everyone treating this community property with respect. Currently, there are several Irwin and/or Craftsman Handi-Clamps, a pair of large Chanel-Lock pliers, several screw drivers and an 18” steel SAE and Metric centering ruler missing.
If you have borrowed any of these items or if you have any other tools from the woodshop, please return them as soon as possible. We will be instituting a Tool Sign-Out Log Sheet for any tools removed. It will be located on the entry door, so, simply let us know when you take something out and when you return it. It will not take much effort and, that way, we will be able to keep track of everything.
In addition, we will start a Woodshop Use Log to track just how much and how long the shop is being used by our residents. Please make sure that you sign in and out of the shop. This sheet will also be located on the entry door.
Thanks very much for your consideration.
A friend of mine was waiting at an airport one night with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and eventually found a place to sit and wait for her flight.
She began reading and was soon engrossed in her book, but happened to see that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be grabbing a cookie from the bag resting between their two seats. Attempting to avoid making a scene she decided to ignore him.
So, she munched on a couple of the cookies and each time she looked up from her book the gutsy cookie thief was again diminishing her stock! She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking to herself “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took he took one too, until there was only one left. She wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought “oooh, brother! This guy has some nerve! He’s so rude- he didn’t even show any gratitude!!”
She could not remember being so annoyed, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She thrust her book into her purse and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving cookie bandit.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, and looked into her purse for her book which was almost completed. As she reached in her purse, she gasped with surprise- there in front of her eyes was an unopened bag of cookies.
She said to herself- “If mine are in here, then the others must have been his.” Too late to apologize, she realized that she was the rude one, the ungrateful one, the thief.
Perspective and hindsight are precious commodities. We can all become so wrapped up in our lives that we forget that there are two sides to every story, and as Aesop’s fable says, ‘every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both before we commit ourselves to either’. Perhaps today we might all take a moment to consider the perspectives of others on our own actions. Perhaps we ought to try looking at ourselves and our actions from someone else’s perspective? Perhaps we owe someone an apology? Perhaps we will be brave enough to do something about it.
Our Resident Services team has created a group email to better meet your needs! This is intended to make it easier for residents to get ahold of a team member regarding any personal situations, questions and/or concerns. The email will be listed below, we look forward to further assisting you!
Resident Services Team
[email protected]
O God, our hope and refuge,
in our distress we come quickly to you.
Shock and horror of that tragic day have subsided,
replaced now with an emptiness,
a longing for an innocence lost.We come remembering those who lost their lives
in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.We are mindful of the sacrifice of public servants
who demonstrated the greatest love of all
by laying down their lives for friends.
We commit their souls to your eternal care
and celebrate their gifts to a fallen humanity.We come remembering
and we come in hope,
not in ourselves, but in you.As foundations we once thought secure have been shaken,
we are reminded of the illusion of security.In commemorating this tragedy,
– Written by The Rev. Jeremy Pridgeon, UMC
we give you thanks for your presence
in our time of need
and we seek to worship you in Spirit and in truth,
our guide and our guardian. Amen.
It’s an old slogan, and a new product: TOUCHTOWN. Paper will not be going away but as a campus we continually work towards different ways to communicate with all of you. We feel touchtown is a great way to work towards reducing paper usage and a great way to keep everyone engaged and in the know! Resident touchtown ambassadors have been hard at work crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s in regards to the toucthtown app and developing a training class on the best way to utilize touchtown.
Ambassadors will be at the “touchtown help desk” every day from 11:00a-1:00p in the Bistro helping others download the app on your phone in preparation for trainings. Ambassadors will also be holding in person touchtown trainings on 9.10, 9.11, 9.12, and 9.13, you will need to sign up to attend those trainings but…..you can also do that at the “touchtown help desk”! Stop by during the help desk hours and sign up for a class, we hope all can come and visit!
On Monday, we will celebrate Labor Day, a day that pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. Labor Day was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day weekend also symbolizes the end of summer and is often a time of celebration.
On this Labor Day, I want to celebrate each of the Beatitudes team members—not just for the individual and unique strengths they bring for the collective good of Beatitudes Campus, but for their dedication to the campus mission. They are the backbone of the campus. If we achieve anything, it’s because of the passion and dedication shared by our staff to a common cause – to inspire purpose and vibrancy among our residents in whatever they do.
I know that our staff have made many sacrifices to keep our Beatitudes community engaging and safe, particularly during the past 18 months. I am incredibly grateful for each member of the Beatitudes Strong team. Their amazing talent and limitless energy continue to be focused on the shared goals of the campus. We would not be the community we are without their commitment and effort.
On this Labor Day weekend, I ask that you take a moment to reflect on the countless contributions of our Beatitudes team members. They ensure our community is an engaging place to live. When you are out taking a walk, eating a meal, or just sitting enjoying the view, please take a moment to thank the staff for their hard work and dedication. Tell them they have made a difference. I guarantee you will make their day.
Have a good and safe Labor Day weekend.
September 2021 is an interesting month regarding the Jewish Calendar. The Jewish calendar year is 5782 and theoretically dates from Adam and Eve, if you go through the bible with all the years listed for the generations. There are four major Jewish holidays that occur this month. Three of them are described in Leviticus chapter 23. The first is Rosh Hashanah, literally the Head of the Year, as the Hebrew word Rosh is “head” and Hashanah is “the year.” Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown September 6th and is celebrated on the seventh and eight for Orthodox Jews and the seventh for Jews who live in Israel and Reform Jews. It is interesting that Rosh Hashanah begins on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew Calendar and is the beginning of the ten Days of Awe which end with Yom Kippur.
The Beatitudes High Holiday Jewish service, celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, will be conducted in the Life Center Boardroom on Friday, September 10th at 1 pm. The service will be led by Phil and Hannah Adelman.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on the 15th of September. Leviticus does not use the name Rosh Hashanah and only indicates that is a day of the blowing of the horn. The name for this day was first used in the Mishnah which is a Jewish text written in the first 200 years of the common era. The Mishnah describes the use of the ram’s horn as it was a ram who was sacrificed in place of Isaac by Abraham. Hence, the Shofar or rams’ horn is blown in services on Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur is the end of the days of awe and is normally spent in the synagogue praying and fasting. The Yom Kippur fast begins prior to sundown on the fifteenth and ends, traditionally, after sundown on the sixteenth. During this 24-hour day the Jewish fast consists of complete abstinence of food and drink.
Sukkot, the feast of tabernacles, begins on the evening of the 20th of September (14th of Tishrei) and is a seven or eight-day holiday. It commemorates the harvest and traditionally we build a wooden structure, which is covered in palm fronds or other branches from trees. Many Jews eat their holiday meals in the sukkah. Simchat Torah, rejoicing with the Torah, begins at sundown September 28th. It is celebrating with the Torah and ends the annual cycle of reading the Torah in the Synagogue. On this holiday the final chapter of Deuteronomy is read, and the beginning of Genesis is read. The Torah, which is a scroll containing the 5 books of Moses is rewound from the end to the beginning and every synagogue and temple in the world begins the annual reading the Torah on Simchat Torah.
Article written by Phil Adelman, Beatitudes resident and posted on his behalf by Beatitudes Campus
Becky, I know that I speak for your sales team and the entire campus when I say that it has been absolutely great working with you—your work truly made a lasting impact, and one that has changed the campus for the better in so many ways. I have always appreciated how you were readily available to lend an ear when complex considerations arose on the path to residency and help solve any problem and that you have done so with grace, humor and caring.
I find that to be a worthy challenge to be an optimist AND a realist. To learn to hold those two opposing but equally true things at once. We can grieve all that we’ve been through and also find the strength to deal with the ongoing reality. We can grieve those we’ve lost. We can lament, and fight and struggle with our pandemic fatigue while also finding hope in today, in the reality here and now as we seek to live each day to the fullest.
We are happy to do all we can to meet your transportation needs. However, Beatitudes Campus is not responsible for any damage incurred to residents’ personal property during transit. It is the responsibility of the resident to keep any fragile or valuable items safely secured either on their person or left behind for safe travel. Residents that use walkers, scooters or power chairs need to have them cleared out of personal belongings and ready to be properly stowed by staff. Please only take the necessary items that you require. Note that items like baskets and cup holders are always vulnerable to breakage no matter who is transporting them for which Beatitudes cannot take responsibility. As always, we do our best to care for you and your possessions.
Thank you to all the participants of this past weeks Art show which was hosted on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21. We had a great turn out with 75 people on the first day and 120 people on the second day. Our participating artist showcased there amazing talents which ranged from sculpting, painting, quilting and textiles. We had live music both days and live painters to accompany the art show.
Our campus houses some of the most creative individuals in Phoenix and this was great opportunity to display their talent for the rest of the campus to be inspired and motivated. We had a total of 15 artisans showcasing and many thanks go out to all the folks who submitted their work for the show.
Just a quick reminder to residents and staff to not leave food out for the cats who share our Campus. When we leave piles of food out in the Courtyards (beloved CPN courtyard, are you listening?) it attracts birds, looks a little trashy, and causes a mess, which no one wants. We like to keep our Community Cats under the radar so they do not become a nuisance. There are at least four “official” places on Campus where they can get food and water. Some of you already assist with “official” feeding stations and that is appreciated. Anyone else who wants to assist can reach out to me for details at x16117. Otherwise, you can see from the picture that no one is going hungry around here. Thank you for your kind hearts, and for your understanding of the delicate balance required in managing this furry ecosystem.
