VOLUME TWENTY SIX, NUMBER ONE
JANUARY 2012
Resolutions for 2012: Exercise anyone? By Kisa Wolf, Physical therapist in Health Center
Weighing in at 290 pounds, Bob Stedeford decided it was time to get in shape. With exercise and healthy eating, he was able to drop more than 90 pounds over seven months. That was 10 years ago. Now a fitness trainer and a Certified Preventive Therapist, Bob has worked as director of Beaumont’s Fitness Center for the better part of six years. Bob says he enjoys challenging Beaumont residents to achieve their best level of physical functioning, working with individuals as well as classes. Especially, he says, “I like helping the people that don’t want help.” Check out the pictures Bob has taken and displayed in the Fitness Center, some of which are reproduced in this issue, and you will see that the enjoyment works both ways. A schedule of his classes (now including yoga) is posted on bulletin boards in and outside the Fitness
Photo by Bob Stedeford Ron Fraser found his way to the Fitness Center almost as soon as he and Patsy moved into their villa early last year. For more pictures of residents giving exercise a good name, see Page 8.
Center, on Channel 99, and (usually) outside the Beaumont Room. To make an appointment, call Bob at 610 526 7087.
Faux reindeer, joyful carolers wind up 2011 Getting into the holiday spirit at a Coffee Social last month were Marion Snyder (left), Maintenance department’s Paul Conboy (see Page 4) and the Snyders' daughter Susan Karpowitz. At left, Penny Collings lifts her voice with others during Beaumont’s ever-popular Christmas SingPhotos by Louise Hughes Along.
Butterworth family welcomes a Rhodes Scholar John and Elsie Butterworth found out recently that granddaughter Elizabeth Butterworth of Auburn, Massachusetts, who will be graduating from Princeton this coming spring, was one of four Princetonians to be selected from among 830 candidates—including 32 Americans—to win a Rhodes Scholarship. A classics major (and member of Phi Beta Kappa), with a special interest in arts education, she will spend Elizabeth Butterworth her two years at Oxford studying comparative and international education. “Seeing how education works in the United Kingdom,” she told the Daily Princetonian, “I’ll also be able to do research projects looking at a variety of different school systems and policies in both Europe and America and the developing world. I’m hoping to get a sense for what works and what doesn’t work
internationally and bring that back to thinking about how we can create change in the United States.” There is reason to hope she will do just that. A graduate of Worcester (Massachusetts) Academy, the new Rhodes Scholar was interviewed along with John Murnane, the academy’s director of academic programs, by the Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram & Gazette. Dr. Murnane told the Telegram he had met her the summer before she entered 9th grade, when he was running a history camp. He said she had made a film about the bubonic plague and accompanied it with her own piano playing. “That’s a certain level of dedication,” Dr. Murnane said. —Mary Graff John and Elsie Butterworth, grandparents of Rhodes Scholar Elizabeth Butterworth, participate in last month’s Sing-Along in the Music Room. Photo by Louise Hughes
Three Pennsylvania Department of Health surveyors spent three days in November 2011 reviewing resident medical records, interviewing residents and staff, and otherwise observing all facets of our skilled nursing operations. At the exit conference, Beaumont was informed that we had zero deficiencies. This achievement is due to the dedicated efforts of Beaumont’s employees with oversight by our Health Care Committee and Boards. Congratulations to everyone on a job well done! —Joe Fortenbaugh, Beaumont President
The deadline for the February 2012 issue of the Beaumont News will be January 12. The News publishes 10 editions a year from October to July. Please sign your story and either turn it in at the front desk or better, if you can, e-mail it to Mary Graff at graffs@msn.com. Please keep a copy for yourself! For back issues, please go to our website, www.BeaumontRetirement.com
The News invites letters from readers, including non-residents. Letters will be published or not, in full or in part, at the discretion of the editors. Letter-writers are asked to please:
BEAUMONT NEWS The Beaumont News is published by the residents and staff of the Beaumont Retirement Community, 601 N. Ithan Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
1. Confine subject matter to articles that have appeared in the News (past News issues are on file in the Library). 2. Keep letters under 300 words–the shorter the better.
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3. Sign your own name, though requests for anonymity in print may be honored.
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E-mail letters to Mary Graff at graffs@msn.com (home) AND mgraff@beaumontretirement.com (office); hand in at front desk, or mail to Beaumont at 601 N. Ithan Ave., Bryn Mawr 19010. Letters need not be typed (though typing is appreciated), but please write as legibly as possible and include your phone number (for the editors’ use only).
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Mary Graff Christine Johnson-Hall Louise Guthrie Jean Kirk Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel Barbara O’Brien
Understanding WiFi, Cont’d By Mark Surkin, Director of Information Technology
By the middle of this month we will be testing and preparing to open up Beaumont’s new WiFi service for residential use. Questions and comments I have been hearing from all sides include “Wireless is coming, but what does that mean?”. . .“Why are we doing this?” . . . and “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” The bottom line of all possible responses is this: We’re doing it because we have to, because it is indeed broken, and because technology has finally matured to a state where it can and does augment daily life. As I understand it, retirement is about relaxation. What better way to relax than to have tools to automate menial tasks, to keep in touch with friends and family regardless of geographic location, and to have any sort of information readily, quickly, and easily accessible? The Internet, very broadly, is a global network that allows people and information to connect and communicate using computers, smart phones (like iPhones and Androids), tablets (such as iPads), e-readers (such as the Nook and Kindle) and more. Connection can be wired or wireless, with wired connections offering a bit more speed and reliability. We will be providing both. A wired Internet connection requires that a physical wire be connected to the device. It uses an “Ethernet” cable and “Ethernet” jack combination that looks similar to what is used for a telephone. A wireless Internet connection occurs without the need of that wire. WiFi refers to the wireless network that makes the wireless Internet connection possible. Every building on campus will have wireless coverage, as well as many of the surrounding outdoor
areas. (Coverage will not be available around the pond and the woods beyond.) So how and why do people use these technologies? Internet communication has become integral to all walks of life, from health care to entertainment, from cooking to politics. Families scattered across the world communicate using e-mail, video calling, and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. We can watch movies, do our shopping, manage our finances, and learn how to make a soufflé, all from a tablet about the size of a very thin hard-cover book. You may say that this stuff is too complicated, too frustrating to use, or that you simply have no use for it—but please give it a chance. The perceived complications and frustrations come from the poor image put forth by corporate giants like Verizon and Comcast, which offer spotty service and poor customer support. Here at Beaumont we already provide and manage integral services like laundry, dining, utilities, and housekeeping. In today’s world, telephone and television services have become additional utilities, along with electricity, water, and gas, and Internet service is well on its way. Just as with those other utilities, buying and managing in bulk facilitates many advantages, from cost savings to ease of management and support, and allowing our residents to escape the hassle of dealing with accounts and service independently. I know that the deployment and installation of the new services has been a bit rocky at times, but remember that we are all feeling our way through this, and I’m learning a lot as we go. I promise it will be worth it to you in the end. There will be further reports in this space.
Smiling in the rain Not even a downpour, which it was, could keep Beaumont residents from a trip to Longwood Gardens last month. From left: Jane Lillie, Eileen Ware, Elizabeth Bole and Barbara Ann Murphy. Photo by Louise Hughes
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To the rescue! View from the south of Paul Conboy heading north in a hurry. See Page 1 for the north side of Paul. Photo by Louise Hughes
On the other hand, who really wants to walk to New York? By Ann Robb Smith
Marathon runners get all the publicity while Marathon walkers go mostly unnoticed. Here at Beaumont we have an unsung team of Marathon walkers, and by walking, I don’t mean strolling—I mean walking fast! The Maintenance staff makes up the team: Warren Gillings, the captain; Ivan Ramos, Jude Phasavath, Kent Hall, Paul Conboy, Nick Sheen and Greg Martin. Kathy Hesington is the coach who keeps them moving from assignment to assignment in rapid succession, radio at the ready. Paul, the expert electrician on staff, serving as spokesman for the team, estimated recently that he covers a minimum of seven miles a day, five days a week, and often weekends as well. Teammates also average seven miles a day, he says, which adds up to 35 miles a week. Adding the totals together, the team walks 245 miles a week—more than a roundtrip walk from here to New York City. For the year, this adds up to a staggering 12,740 miles—the equivalent of 486 26.2-mile Marathons! No wonder our athletes are much appreciated by the proprietors of shoe stores. Paul says he wears out a pair of
boots every five months. Calls for help come to Maintenance from all over our campus of 90 apartments, 64 villas, Health Center, Personal Care floors, dining rooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, offices, shops and generator. Residents lose their keys or lock themselves out of their homes, can’t
Paul says he wears out a pair of boots every five months. reach a light bulb to replace it, can’t fix a shower that drips or a toilet that’s plugged, can’t open or close a window, or even can’t find a TV remote. From attic to basement our team answers every summons! One remote was finally found in a dryer in the laundry. At home, of course, Paul reverts to the normal behavior of a human male. “There is always something on the ‘Honey, do’ list,” he said.
New face in the front office Milissa Cwenar has joined the Marketing department as Marketing Director Audrey Walsh’s new assistant, bringing with her more than 25 years’ experience in real estate. She replaces Louise Hughes, who moved to Resident Services as Trip Coordinator. Photo by Louise Hughes
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The day the Philadelphia Zoo came to Beaumont . . . Though Maya the Great Horned Owl squealed and flapped her wings with great panache, and Camilla the three-banded armadillo mostly just quietly rolled up in a ball, it was Camilla who was the star of the show. Zoo Outreach Educator Lisa McGonigle held her as Sophie Donaghy found out what an armadillo feels like. ("Bumpy," she said.) Other residents including Fytie Drayton (right) looked on or took their turn. Photos by Caitlin McDevitt
Fall: our resident naturalist reports from the woods By Dr. Dean Snyder
In the fall our backyard is loaded with hunters, all feasting on the seeds generously delivered by a small grove of swamp maples. On one balmy afternoon just after Thanksgiving a congregation of robins, thrush, starlings, chickadees, doves, a squirrel and a chipmunk all feverishly searched the grounds for fallen seeds blown downwind from the maples. They were hunting. Suddenly, without warning, one of the gathering became the hunted. In the blink of an eye one of the doves seemed to explode as a goshawk nailed it to the ground and proceeded to devour the entire carcass, leaving only a ring of feathers as a solemn reminder of the practical side of survival in the bird world. Worse is the predicament of the red fox residing in Wheeler Woods. She is infested with mange mite and has lost all of her winter coat. She will not survive the cold. The spike buck in Wheeler Woods will survive. For now, however, he must be feeling as low as one can get. When the rut began he must have been feeling his oats, causing him to man-up to a bigger buck who managed to break off one antler. Now he is neither a hunter nor the hunted as he is pouting in Wheeler Woods. In Chester County, fall is the time for fox hunting. Picture this. On a Saturday morning in Chester Springs I was situated on a hillside doing nothing when suddenly a burst of hounds bellering from a hollow below caught my attention in time to see a fine-
looking red fox just leisurely loping along the hillside opposite my position, followed by a pack of fox hounds. The fox hunt was on. Slowly the procession moved along the hillside opposite me and disappeared out of sight and sound. As it turned out, though, the hunt was just beginning. Mr. Fox was not finished toying with the mob of hounds hot in pursuit with noses to the ground and yelping like they were ready for the kill. Fox was being real coy. Much to the chagrin of those hounds, he circled back and headed for whence he had come. The hounds were perplexed. “Where did he go? This way or that?” While they were making up their minds, Fox decided to take a rest. But as fate would have it there was one lowly hound who had been separated from the pack and don’t you know he serendipitously bumped Fox from his resting spot and off they went. That was the end. Fox finally had had enough. He wasted no time making it home and disappearing into the comfort of his den. IN MEMORIAM Margaret “Peggy” Tilghman —December 4 Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to her family and friends. 5
Her home showcases objects from a life well traveled By Barbara O’Brien
If Beaumont should ever have a travelers’ contest, I think one of our newest neighbors might win it hands down! Although her childhood was spent in Michigan, May Ameen’s family is Lebanese. She has traveled throughout the Middle East, enjoying the general history and the many evidences remaining of the medieval Crusades. She has been in China, India and Nepal. She has also lived in London and in Paris, where, after college, she took courses Photo by Louise Hughes at the Sorbonne. May’s apartment is May Ameen filled with fascinating objects, evidence of her travels and interest both in painting and in folk art. While in London, she became fascinated by the so-called “Bloomsbury group,” including the writers Virginia Woolf, her sister, Vanessa, and the
artist Duncan Grant. Several Grants are on the apartment wall, surrounded on all sides by other fascinating objects, such as a metal silhouette of a butler, painted, holding a tray on which May has placed two real glasses. May’s late husband, Dr. Lane Ameen, was a psychologist-psychoanalyst whose medical career took him to several hospitals including the Elmhurst Psychiatric Hospital near New Haven, Connecticut, which he founded. While in New Haven, May acted as the president of Planned Parenthood for all of Connecticut, and worked in the Yale Student Admissions and in the counseling office. The Ameens lived for a while in New York in the Columbia University area, where May worked for the Institute of International Education, developing counseling and preparation programs and planning student exchanges, including Fulbright scholarships, and student work assignments throughout the world. Since moving to Beaumont in September, May has enjoyed being near her daughter, Nancy, a lawyer in Philadelphia. May’s son, Rabi, a musician-percussionist, lives in New York. She has four grandchildren: Olivia, Justin, Tagrid and Lucia.
Ladies in Purple
Photo by Louise Hughes Making a fashion statement at a recent “Tea Social” at Beaumont were (from left) Jane Garrison, Barbara Cooney and Mary Yurchenco.
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Therapy Room proves a popular place By Mary Schnabel
Up and Down. Backward and Forward. Right and Left. That’s at least several of the ways to describe the Physical Therapy department. People are coming and going all hours of the day, doing exercise under the watchful eyes of the small staff. It’s a bright, cheerful room with big windows looking out on the drive and the main entrance to the Health Center. The two young women who run the place, Marian Hall, the Occupational Therapist, and Kisa Wolf, the Physical Therapist, make us feel so welcome it’s no wonder we actually enjoy going there (except when they say “OK, 10 more times on that”). Even one of the deer that paid a surprise visit to our building last year made straight for the Therapy Room. Most of you know that Marian, as Occupational Therapist, deals with her clients’ activities of daily living. This means that Marian spends time in apartments and villas, checking on anything that might interfere or endanger the residents’ Marian Hall health or safety. Bars in showers, placement of beds, and convenience of kitchen appliances are among the areas Marian checks carefully to make sure the home environment is safe before discharge from the Health Center takes place.
Kisa, the Physical Therapist, sees as many people from Independent Living as she does from the Health Center. Residents come to her for exercise after surgery, a fall or any number of physical problems. She helps people regain mobility, balance and freedom from pain, among other things. Kisa and Marian work together in deciding who would benefit from a cane or a walker and both help familiarize scooter owners with the operation of their new vehicles. Residents are referred to Therapy by a doctor’s prescription. The length of time a person spends there is dependent upon that person’s progress toward a set goal. Health Center residents are usually seen five to seven times a week, while Independent Living residents are limited to two or three times a week. If one person needs more time, a new prescription can be obtained. Both women work closely with the nurses Kisa Wolf and aids in the Health Center and often are in communication with a resident’s family members—who can be of enormous help, they tell me. Marian and Kisa feel like family to those who use that cheerful facility on a regular basis. Somewhat like a mommy who says, “Don’t stop now, keep going!”
From newcomers to neighbors By Jean Kirk
John Gregg grew up in this area. He graduated from Episcopal Academy and Trinity College. He then taught English for two years at the Pennington School near Princeton. After receiving a law degree from Villanova University, he joined the firm of High, Swartz in Norristown, where he still practices. John has been on the Board of Directors of Rittenhouse Book Distributors, Lower Merion Affordable Housing Corp., Lower Merion Shared Housing Corp. and the Episcopal Academy, where he also received the Distinguished Service Award. He is on the Stewardship Committee at the Church of the Redeemer of Bryn Mawr, and has been a fundraiser for Resident Activities at Inglis House in Philadelphia. John enjoys bridge and gardening and plays two weekly tennis games at the Merion Cricket Club. 7
John Gregg
Looking good with Fitness Bob Clockwise, from top left: Dr. Clayton Kyle, Jeanne Cortner, Sanna Steigerwalt, Bob Stedeford (showing Norma Fabian how Wii works, with Dr. Dean Snyder lurking mistily behind), and Margie Manlove. Photos by Bob Stedeford
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