Charlottetown Informer

CHARLOTTETOWN

DECEMBER 2023

SEASON OF GIVING

Andrews of Charlottetown recently donated $400 to Santa’s Angels. The money will help support Santa’s Angels volunteers in their efforts to donate gifts on Christmas morning to families across Prince Edward Island. Pictured are: Darlene Thompson, Maria Gubalane, Santa Claus, Kendra Long and Navneet Sidhu.

CORE VALUES

‘IT’S SO ARTISTIC’

Sherri-Lynn Boland is this month's Core Values Leader. | p. 3

Resident Clive Pirkey devoted his working life to creating beautiful wood carvings. | p. 8-9

HOLIDAY TEAM FUN Check out our photos from the Charlottetown Christmas Parade. | p. 5

STRONGER TOGETHER As many of you are already aware, COVID-19 cases are on the rise again. With that in mind, it’s important to ensure proper precautions are being undertaken.

Masking, hand-washing and monitoring for symptoms are all ways we can help keep COVID out of homes and our residents healthy. We’ve been down this road before and we got through it together. I have utmost faith we will persevere again this winter. Special thanks to our care teams during this period for all you’re doing to enhance the care and quality of life for our residents.

Keeping on the theme of teamwork, I want to thank everyone who volunteered or took part in the Charlottetown Christmas Parade last weekend. Our social committee worked hard sourcing decorations and making sure the Andrews bus was looking festive. Additional thanks to Sharon for driving the bus in the parade, to Francie for transporting team members from Summerside and to Jenny for helping purchase lights and to Terry for baking cookies for everyone. It was a real team effort and it paid off. I’ve heard lots of positive feedback from team members who took part. This will definitely be something we do again next year!

I should note, the teamwork doesn’t stop there. Chefs Terry and Paul have been working hard preparing our fall and winter menus for all our homes and coordinating the roll-out. This sort of home-to-home communication is essential in helping us grow and I want to thank everyone in dietary who has been involved in the process.

Likewise, Alana and Jincy recently finished new training programs that will benefit team members including the RN education and communication lab, which will be rolled out in the new year. The more training we are able to do in-house, the better. Team members can be supported in growing their skills and potentially grow in their careers while improving on the already exceptional care we provide our residents.

Which brings me to my final point - accreditation. We are expecting to do the accreditation survey in January. In the meantime, it is important to ask questions and understand what we have done to improvise our care and quality of service delivery. If you require more information, please talk to your directors of care.

As always, thank you for your hard work. For those who celebrate, I wish you a happy start to the holiday season!

Sincerely,

Mizan MISSION STATEMENT It is Andrews Senior Care's goal to respect the dignity and autonomy of our residents; to provide a safe and secure environment; to promote involvement of residents and their family by inviting input and feedback related to the care and services we provide; to value the leadership, expertise and contributions of our staff through empowerment that will lead to excellence in service.

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CORE VALUE LEADERS Every month we will be recognizing a team member who we believe is a Core Values Leader. This team member exemplifies one, or all three, of our values through their actions and character.

SHERRI-LYNN BOLAND : SOUS CHEF ANDREWS OF SUMMERSIDE Sherri-Lynn is a dedicated team member who takes pride in her work.

She has excellent communication skills and always shares information with fellow team members to ensure residents have a postive dining experience.

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ABOVE & BEYOND NOVEMBER WINNERS STEVE FRANCIS : CHARLOTTETOWN JOINED IN 2023 Steve was recognized for going above and beyond.

Our Above and Beyond winner for November is Steve Francis.

Steve is a fast-learner and a dedicated team member who is always willing to help where and when he’s needed. He has a great demeanor when interacting with our residents and always has a smile on his face.

We are fortunate to have him at Andrews of Charlottetown.

Steve started working with us as a dietary aide two months ago. Prior to joining our team, he worked as a cook with the Murphy Hospitality Group.

He said one of the most rewarding parts of his role is spending time with the residents.

“They have more knowledge,” he said. “They’re good role models.”

Outside of work, Steve enjoys spending time in nature and socializing with friends.

OUR OTHER HOMES

Bernard Busunti : ProTem

Harpreet Kaur : Parkhill

Debbie MacWilliams : Summerside

Dante Salangsang : Park West

Julie Durden : Stratford

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HOLIDAY FUN We participated in the Charlottetown Christmas Parade on Saturday, Nov. 25. Thank you to everyone who volunteered with decorating and transporting people. Likewise, thank you to everyone who took the time to come out and brave the cold. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

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TEAM HIGHLIGHTS

Andrews of Park West’s Cassanda Nchangnwie Forsuh’s soccer team, the Holland College Hurricanes, recently won bronze at the 2023 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Women’s Soccer Championship in Summerside, P.E.I.

Andrews of Summersides’ Judy Shaw recently won the HSK/EVS Frontline Award of Excellence for her dedication and hard work as a housekeeper.

The certificate, awarded by the Canadian Healthcare Housekeepers’ Association, recognizes housekeepers for their dedication, hard work and contributions. Judy was nominated by Director of Care Kim Jay. “I was amazed,” Judy said about finding out she’d won. “I didnt even know they had such an award. I was always just trying to do a better job.”

We held our Long-term Service Awards at the P.E.I. Brewing Company on November 2. It was a wonderful evening filled with food, dancing and lots of laughs. Thank you to everyone who made the night a success as well as to all our long-term service award winners for your dedication and hard work.

To see more photos, vist the Andrews Rockstar page on Facebook.

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GETTING TO KNOW. . .

EMMAH O’NEIL Emmah is a caregiver at our Summerside home.

She’s passionate about senior care, something she credits to time spent visiting her grandmother when she was growing up.

When she’s not at work, Emmah enjoys knitting and crocheting with friends, a skill she learned from our residents.

WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER THE PERFECT MEAL? It really depends on my mood but I love Asian food like noodles, dumplings, spring rolls and sushi!

COFFEE OR TEA? Iced coffee! I can’t go a day without one even if I’m cold.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE? This is a hard one for me because I love watching movies, but I would have to say Little Women or Step Brothers.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK? Anything Colleen Hoover I love. But one of my favourites I’ve read is Ugly Love. I’ve read this at least three times.

WHAT TALENT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE? I always wished I could either ballet dance or figure skate!

WHAT DO YOU ADMIRE MOST IN PEOPLE? Honesty and hard work.

IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU LIVE? I would say Australia because it’s warm in the summer and you still get snow in the winter for Christmas, which is my favourite time of year. Also, my Grandma lived there for 25 years and she loved it!

WHAT MOTTO DO YOU LIVE BY? “Treat others the way you want to be treated” - My mom taught us that and I still live by it now!

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‘It’s so artistic’ Resident Clive Pirkey devoted his working life to creating beautiful wood carvings

Andrews of Stratford resident Clive Pirkey is a bit of a magician.

While some magicians specialize in grand stage tricks or close-up magic, a fleeting moment of mystery, Clive’s talent is based in something more solid – wood.

Clive can take a humble piece of oak, pine or walnut and turn it into a work of art with nothing more than his hands and a few simple tools.

“I love to see what he does,” said Jeanette, his wife. “It’s so artistic. To think it’s all in his head.”

Clive has been crafting wooden treasures since 1951. It was a skill he initially picked up while in high school in St. Louis, Mo. “I always liked hand-carved things,” Clive said. “The part I found interesting was that I could make a living at it.”

Continued on page 9

An Angel holding a candle, carved by Clive.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 After graduating, Clive moved to Phoenix, Ariz, where he began a career in wood-working making cabinets and other interior fixtures for a local company.

In his spare time, he began carving at home as a way to relax.

He started out small but eventually expanded his repertoire to include impressive pieces like wooden horses, angels, wood spirits, canes and replicates of existing works of art. The more he did, the more he learned and the more he learned, the better he got.

“Things just evolve from one thing to another,” said Clive.

“Work is work, you’d be building kitchen cupboards and this, but this was a hobby.”

Today, Clive is retired and no longer does much carving.

However, he and his wife have many of his pieces on display in their room, which is where Andrews’ activity coordinator Sharon WoodsBryenton discovered them.

“I knew Pirkey was artistic,” said Sharon. “I didn’t realize

More carvings by Clive over the years.

Pictured at top is a wood spirit, a lion and and eagle crest. In the centre of the page is a horse and horseshoe and at the bottom is a statue inspired by a drawing

by James Dean titled “The Composer.”

he had this talent. He’s truly amazing. It’s astounding the hidden talents many of our residents possess.”

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MARKING MILESTONES Every month we will be highlighting team members who've reached significant milestones with us.

Gail DesRoches has been an Andrews of Summerside team member for 15 years.

Initially Gail worked as a baker covering a maternity leave. But when a full-time position in dietary opened up, her role expanded.

Eventually she was promoted to head cook, a role she remains in today.

Throughout her career at Andrews, she’s always felt supported by her team.

“They’re there if you need them,” she said. “I can send off a message to Mizan or any of them. I like working at Andrews.”

For Gail, who has a long history of working in restaurants and kitchens, preparing food for seniors has been the most rewarding.

“Food is so important to them,” she said. “(It’s great) when you hear how happy they are.”

She added, one of her favourite things to make for the residents is her biscuits. They always know when she uses her special recipe.

Marlene Callaghan has been a caregiver at Andrews of Stratford for 17 years.

Prior to joining our team, she worked in private home care for a number of years then went back to school at Holland College to upgrade her skills.

For her, caregiving is extremely rewarding.

“I love it,” she said. “I love helping (the residents), talking to them.”

She added, the positive team atmosphere at Andrews has been an important support for her over the years.

“They’re pretty good to me,” she said. “It’s great.”

In her spare time, she enjoys baking. A few of her favourite things to make are muffins, cinnamon rolls and brown biscuits, which are similar to tea biscuits but with oats added.

“My kids used to love it, so I used to always do that,” she said.

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RESOURCES/GAMES

Are You Feeling Stressed or Overwhelmed?

Take advantage of our Employee Assistance Program through Lifeworks.

This program is available 24/7 online or over the phone and services to help you with work, family, health, money, and life. The following is information on how you can access the program: Toll-free support line: 1-877-207-8833 TTY: 1-877-371-9978 Through their website login.lifeworks.com Username: murphy Password: eap

Are you, a friend or family member looking to buy or sell a property?

You could earn up to $250. Read below to learn how.

Jessica Gauthier Human Resources Advisor hr@andrewsseniorcare.com 1-902-894-3439 ext 2422

If you have any questions for our HR team about benefits, ADP support, Immigration Program support or any other questions please contact me.

Community Cash 50/50 Weekly 50/50 draw in support of support not for profit groups including Murphy's Pharmacies Community Centre and the Holland College Athletics Department. Anyone can play for just $2/week.

We are pleased to offer a new Referral Program between Provincial Realty and Andrews Senior Care. The Referral Program will work as follows: Each employee that retains a Provincial Realty real estate advisor, or refers a friend or family member who uses their service for selling or purchasing properties over $150,000 will receive a gift card as a token of our appreciation.

For more information, please contact Provincial Realty at 902.892.2266 or email us directly office@provincialrealty.ca.

DON'T MISS OUT ON THESE BENEFITS ​ aid vacation time starting at 4% per year (Approximately 2 weeks) P Health and dental coverage, of which we cover 50% of the costs A pension plan where we match your contributions of up to 4% of your salary annually A fitness subsidy of up to $250 annually Discounts with local companies, including pharmacies, home heating oil providers and restaurants

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