newsletter_june2009

VOLUME TWENTY THREE, NUMBER FOUR

JUNE 2009

Despite challenges, 2008 was a good year at Beaumont

By Mary Graff The economic news we were all waiting for at the 22nd annual meeting May 11 turned out to be not so bad after all. Bruce Mainwaring, chairman of the Finance Committee, said the committee hoped to be able to set our monthly fee increase for 2010 even lower than this year’s, which at 3.5 percent was among the lowest in comparison with increases set by our peers.

An increase, along with other budget details, will be announced in the fall. In the meantime, retiring director Mary Schnabel had this to say on behalf of the Board about 2008: “While the economy and politics made most of the headlines, it’s comforting to know that Beaumont has continued to operate in a sound and forward-thinking manner.”

Mrs. Schnabel pointed to these accomplishments, Photo by Louise Hughes among others: Ivan Ramos of the Maintenance staff receives the award for ■ Completion of the new porte-cochère, so that “now maintenance study established by Mrs. Mary Page (right) in honor of we do not get wet when getting in and out of our her late husband, L. Rodman Page Jr. cars.”

■ Awarding of $21,000 in scholarships to 22 young ■ Replacing of all the heating and air-conditioning units. employees.

■ Redecorating the Ross Lobby.

Mrs. Schnabel welcomed new managers Brock Nichols, director of housekeeping and laundry; Cathy ■ Continuing to replace villa decks.

Fox, vice president for health services (see profile on ■ Installation of new roofing shingles, gutters, and page 5); and Renee Connolly, nurse practitioner. downspouts on the Austin and Baldwin apartment continued on page 2 buildings.

A range of health-care choices offers options to all

By Pauline Foster, Ph.D. The decision to move to a retirement community is a complex one, and involves different considerations for each person. But health care, actually life care, is near the top of the list in almost every case.

It is important that we recognize the basic health-care philosophy at Beaumont. We believe that each individual, as long as he or

she is able, must be an active participant in setting and pursuing health goals. When problems arise, the clinical staff will recommend the level of care indicated by the individual’s physical, mental, emotional and social needs. If the patient rejects the recommendation, he or she will be encouraged to work with the clinical staff to determine Pauline Foster

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Despite challenges . . . .

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“They join a staff that is 235 individuals strong,” Mrs. Schnabel said, “who every day try to make Beaumont a better place” for its 305 residents “to live and to enjoy.”

The community elected two directors, John Alden Philbrick III (see profile on page 8), and Jay W. MacMoran, M.D., to replace Mrs. Schnabel and Barton Linvill, also retiring. Dr. MacMoran, a Dr. Jay MacMoran retired radiologist who teaches as an adjunct professor at Temple University Hospital, serves as a medical adviser to the Beaumont News.

Ivan Ramos, of the Maintenance staff, received the award for maintenance study established by Mrs. Mary Page, a resident, in honor of her late husband, L. Rodman Page Jr., who enjoyed woodworking and doing odd jobs.

Ivan, who was licensed as an architect in his native Ecuador, will use the award to study various aspects of safety in the workplace. Board Chairman Jack Miller, announcing the award, urged residents to hear Ivan play his guitar during the Tableside Dining dinners at which Chef Mark Robison displays his culinary skills for a limited number of diners who sign up to both watch and eat.

Photo by Louise Hughes Joan Thayer continues the mysterious work of the puzzle pixies at Beaumont library recently.

Jigsaw puzzles take shape with the help of elusive pixies

By Mary Schnabel Our Beaumont library is very similar to other libraries. The size may be smaller, the customers fewer, the rules less stringent, but we still have the look and feel of a regular, public lending establishment.

Volunteers keep shelves neat, users manage to borrow and return books within the guidelines, and quiet is usually maintained (except twice a month, when the creative writing group meets and reads its works).

Generally we find things in that space unchanged, day after day. Regular borrowers know exactly where to find what they want: Newspapers on the table near the computers, committee reports and resident photographs next to the desk, and new books straight ahead as you enter the room. It is a cozy space and a comfortable one.

Yes, it’s almost always the same, but one thing is sure to be different. Every time we cross the threshold and glance to the left, we catch a glimpse of an everchanging sight. It’s the jigsaw puzzle, something that is never static! One time the puzzle table is full of jumbled, scattered pieces, revealing nothing of its eventual evolution. Next time we notice a picture taking form and then, suddenly, the puzzle pixies have obviously completed the piece and a new one is there, ready for the puzzlers to begin yet another project.

And when do they work? They are never there when I am. There must be several of them, because their progress is generally rapid and puzzles change frequently.

These anonymous toilers work their magic, tiny piece by tiny piece, fitting it all in place with patience and endurance until the task is finished. We can imagine their sigh of satisfaction when the confusion of pieces has been tamed and they sit triumphant before a job well done.

Part of the mystery was revealed to me by Mary Yurchenco, the “Puzzle Proprietor,” who told me that all

Photo by Louise Hughes

puzzles are donated, just as books are. She accepts them, checks them in, and selects each new candidate for the puzzle table. Because of the size of the table, puzzles have to be limited to 750 pieces or fewer. But Mary assures me there are plenty of puzzles available for those who enjoy them. After one has been completed it goes back to the closet, but not before Mary dates it with the month and year it was finished so that it can be recycled at a later date.

That one small table holds the promise of many hours of puzzle pleasure. (And the prospect of a sighting of the puzzle pixies!)

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

Managing Editor Production Editor Editor Emeritus and Historian Circulation Manager Medical Advisers Photo Editor Events Manager

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Mary Graff Christine Johnson-Hall Louise Guthrie Bea Goldstein Dr. Jay MacMoran Dr. Herbert Diamond Louise Hughes Kim Norrett

Where lightning bugs echoed the starry night sky

By Carol O. Allen

If you grew up on a farm, and Pennsylvania was pri- put a bathroom in the house. Our neighbors thought marily an agricultural commonwealth, you were inti- we were rich. mate with nature in its overwhelming beauty and capriBut it was glorious to see the sun rise and set cious cruelty. After WWII you could buy a farm for the unobstructed by trees or buildings every single day. same price as a row house, so my parents paid $100 Red-winged blackbirds rose in joyous spring song an acre for a 78-acre farm, complete with a solid slate- above the meadow purpled by wild grape hyacinth. We roof brick house, pump house, outhouse, summer picked the sweet wild strawberries and built a little dam house, chicken shed, utility shed for vehicles and a in the creek to swim in when school let out, and on a beautiful red bank barn (a two-story barn built on the summer night the lightning bugs echoed the sparkling side of a hill), complete with tool shed, pig pens, cattle starry night sky. We still remember the damp smell of stalls, a dung yard, straw and hay mows, and a silo. rotting leaves and the dusty rustle of the corn stalks on There were cool fall woodlots, nights. The meadows, old sleigh in creeks, a well the barn, head and which the fields. It was a local boys put great place to on the barn’s explore, to peak on grow up and Mischief to learn about Night, was life. This was our vehicle for a small genthe deep tleman’s farm, snow, drawn with a sample by an old of everything, horse. The full rather than a winter moon large working on the quiet farm. snow-covered We three earth kept me older children awake all walked a mile night until it up the road set at dawn. each day to My mother the one-room and younger c o u n t r y siblings loved Drawing by Carol O. Allen school house. This two-story red bank barn held a sleigh that transported the family in snowy winters. the farm.

A teacher Aunts, uncles, applying for the job had to be able to start a coal or and cousins loved to visit in the summer for campfires wood fire to heat the school on cold mornings. There under clear starry nights. My brother brought his family were about 24 children in grades 1 through 8. The boys from Georgia for hunting. When my father’s health were bad, the girls mean, and they all smelled of wood deteriorated, the farm was sold to a neighbor, and my smoke from the large kitchen stoves that heated their parents removed to the Brethren Retirement houses and on which the food was cooked. We talked Community, where they lived until the ends of their funny and so did they. Corn cobs and Sears catalogs lives. were no joke. You pumped your own water. My parents Beaumont’s lane names remind us that we are living on what was once a farm. And eager as I was to escape factory work or the hard life of a farmer’s wife, here I am back on the farm.

IN MEMORIAM

Barbara H. Carvolth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 29, 2009 Frances Markle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 6, 2009

Other Beaumont residents must have childhood memories of farms as they used to be. The Beaumont News would like very much to hear about them.

Please see page 8 for our contact information.

Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to their families and friends.

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Social workers form network of support for residents

By Rena Burstein As Director of Social Services in the Health Services department at Beaumont, Kristen Ganley is one of the first staff members all new residents meet shortly after arrival. She serves thereafter as their link to resources that can help meet their developing needs.

She helps coordinate post-surgery requirements.

She works with the clinical team in supporting patients’ adjustment to being in the Health Center, while preserving their individual independence as much as possible. And she acts as the communicator between patients, families, companion agencies, and the resident review committee. A congenial and supportive

Photo by Louise Hughes New Resident Care Coordinator Lea Culp (left) chats with Kristen continued on page 5 Ganley, director of Social Services in the Health Services department.

Life care . . . .

perhaps some part-time help. At this point the spouse becomes the primary caregiver. If at a later time it whether there is an alternative course of action that becomes evident that the ailing member needs a higher level of care than the spouse can provide, a decision they can agree on.

Let’s take the case of a couple who move into an must be made as to what level of care that should be.

Assisted Living in Liseter Hall is designed for those apartment or villa and are both in good health. Their who do not need constant skilled nursing care but health-care requirements will be met by the Outpatient who are unable to function satisfactorily on their own.

Department. It is there that they can review their present Their problems may include difficulty in dressing or and future insurance needs with Office Manager feeding themselves.

They may have trouble Jeanne Drumheller. They will be urged to schedule a maintaining their medication schedules, or may be yearly physical. And they will choose a primary care unable to get in and out of bed without assistance. physician. If they have been with a physician in this area for many years, they may decide to continue They may show signs of decreasing mental ability: forgetfulness, confusion, a tendency to without change. In that case they should get lost. Or they may need support on a inform him or her about their move and short-term basis as they recover from request that reports of all treatments and surgery or an illness. medications be sent to Beaumont to be Of course, when assisted living is available in case of emergency. Or they recommended, residents may choose to may decide on the convenience of continue to live in their apartments or selecting one of the Beaumont physicians villas and employ Beaumont-approved as their primary care physician. caregivers to supply the support needed.

It is likely that for many years, Jeanne Drumheller Skilled nursing care is provided in the Outpatient will meet all of their needs and Health Center for those who need full-time nursing answer their health questions. Is that recurring ache or care and close supervision by professional staff. pain something serious? What do we do about cutting Patients in the Health Center, as in Assisted Living, our toenails or checking and treating our painful corns may be temporary, long-term, or permanent. They or bunions? Can you help us manage all the medicines include postoperative patients, those recovering from we’re taking? How often should we have our blood pressure checked? Should either of us be wearing a a stroke or heart attack, or those with moderate to late hearing aid? These and many other concerns they can stages of cognitive impairment.

For more detailed information, consult the new bring to the Outpatient staff. Many times the staff will schedule an appointment with the patient’s physician. Resident Handbook, which will be distributed this But often the nurses or nurse practitioner can handle month or next. Questions? Email me at ppfphd@verizon.net or call Cathy Fox, vice president for health the question and put their minds at ease.

As time moves on, more serious health problems services, 610-526-7006.

Dr. Foster holds a doctorate in counseling may arise. And these may bring into question the ability of either husband or wife to continue living independ- psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is ently. Usually if the partner is still in good health it is starting her eighth year as chairman of the Health possible for them to continue much as before, with Care Committee.

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After lifetime in nursing, new Health Services v.p. lands at Beaumont

By Margie Manlove Before I could even ask her any questions, Catherine Fox told me Beaumont was the most beautiful, kind, and friendly place she had ever worked. We had sat down together to talk so that I could introduce the recently appointed vice president for Health Services to the community at large via the Beaumont News.

Cathy, one of seven children in a close and loving family, was raised by her (working of necessity) mother after the death of her father at age 36. As Cathy says, she, too has been working all her life, always in nursing.

Although as a high school student she prepared for office work, the illness of her beloved grandmother led to her caring for her “Maman” for two years. Still very young, she showed her talent for giving loving nursing Photo by Louise Hughes care and made a promise to go to nursing school.

Margie Manlove (left) interviews Cathy Fox, new vice president for While attending nursing school she worked as a nursing health services. assistant. (When I remarked to Cathy that I thought the work of a nursing aide was hard, her immediate grandchildren, and Abby, a boxer. I asked Cathy about hobbies. I don’t think she has time for any, but having response was, “Oh, but it is so rewarding.”)

Cathy continued working after earning her LPN, grown up with five brothers she confesses to being an married, had two sons and a daughter, went to college, ardent Eagles fan. She considers her children and a got her degree and RN, and was separated and total of four beautiful grandchildren her most precious divorced. She is a licensed Nursing Home gifts in life.

There is just one resident of the Health Center with Administrator and is working toward certification in whom Cathy will not be very friendly: Beau, the Health Risk Management.

In her first job as an LPN, Cathy worked for a short Center cat. Unfortunately Cathy is allergic to cats, so time in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. When she Beau will never get a Cathy hug.

As we were ending our interview Cathy again said, became a mother, rotating shifts were no longer possible and she returned to long-term care, where she has “Beaumont is the nicest place I have ever worked. Best remained and has served in increasingly responsible of all is the people.” positions for the past 33 years.

Margie Manlove visits regularly with her husband, Happily remarried, Cathy lives with her husband, Frank, who has been a Health Center resident since Mark Wlotko, who is also a nurse; a daughter, two March 2007.

Social workers form network . . . .

Care Coordinator, who came to Beaumont in 2007 as a Recreational Therapy assistant to Jenny Hadfield.

Lea (pronounced Lee-ah) received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wake Forest University.

She returned to this area, where she grew up, to study toward a master’s in counseling at Villanova University, where she was to have received her degree shortly after this issue went to press.

She is planning to be married in October in Asbury United Methodist Church in Allen, MD, a small town on the Eastern Shore where her parents now live. She will be the fifth-generation bride in her family to have been married in that church. She and her future husband, Aaron Knarr, whom she met in 8th grade, and her English bulldog, Harold, will make their home in Downingtown.

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person, she encourages the formation of family and resident support groups when appropriate.

Kristen has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and both a bachelor’s and a master’s in social work, all from Widener University, where she first became interested in the aging population. She has been at Beaumont for two years, as the Resident Care Coordinator before promotion to her current position.

Her office is adorned with photographs of her beautiful new son, Hayden, born Nov. 14, and other family members, including her husband, Dan, and their Yorkshire terrier.

Working with Kristen is Lea Culp, the new Resident 5

On the road with Whit and Stanley Whit and Stanley are pedal bikers who ride surfaced streets and trails. Both have a desire to join thousands of others who have traversed the United States on bicycle. But the similarity between these two ends right there. Whit is a fictitious name in honor of Sam Whittingham, who holds the world’s record of 81 miles per hour for a pedal bicycle. Stanley is named in honor of just another wannabe biker. Whit is 30 years younger than 82-year-old Stanley.

In summertime, Whit rides the Swiss Alps for two weeks. The rest of the time he rides the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A 50-mile ride is the norm for him, weather permitting. He rides every day on the streets of Providence. During the winter, Whit mounts a bike on a trainer, where he can duplicate the stationary ride of 30 to 50 miles in his exercise room.

In his house there are multipurpose bikes. There is the bike for real riding. One for riding to work. And two more just for the hell of it.

Stanley rides the Schuylkill Trail and its tributaries exclusively. Once or twice a year he captures a change of scenery in Virginia. For Stanley, a 20-mile ride is about the maximum. Stanley owns but one off-the-rack bike, a girl’s because for him it is easier to mount and dismount.

Compared to Whit, Stanley is slovenly: dressed in common attire and helmet. Being younger, Whit has a more sophist i c a t e d appearance.

He has it all.

From top to bottom: helmet, colored glasses, layers of fourway stretch clothing designed to evaporate moisture and insulate against the cold.

His summer time Photo by Louise Hughes riding shorts Ever hopeful for a cross-country summer bike are of the adventure with Whit, Stanley displays his bike at same materi- Beaumont. al. His shoes are equipped with ankle protectors, which act to guard against the crank and chain sprocket. He has special shoes that lock the foot to the pedal, making it possible to pull as well as press the pedals.

Dressed for the road, Whit poses with one of his bikes.

Other accessories include an onboard computer which registers rpm’s (pedal rotations per minute), distance traveled, and average ground speed. Whit knows that the secret to enjoyable riding is dependent upon an ideal marriage of strength and endurance, and that saving strength enhances endurance. He knows that pushing the bike with strength alone will limit his endurance. While the on-board computer monitors his rpm’s, his feel of the effort used to pump the pedals tells him the proper gear to be using (there are 21), and therefore stretch his endurance.

Other accessories include tire tools and repair kit, a pump, and a bottle of water. Flat tires on the road are not uncommon. Dehydration is a constant health threat for bikers of all skill levels.

Except for a couple of details, both boys are ready to go. As for Whit, he has a little item of an unfinished bathroom, which he has foolishly promised to complete, while Stanley has a medical issue yet to be resolved.

Whit may, just may, finish his bathroom in time to make the trip. But Stanley’s problem is a bit more perplexing.

For Stanley there is a cardiologist who, after every test he could dream up, said: “Don’t call me if you have a problem.” Then there is Mrs. Stanley, who is ready to do whatever it takes to have her faithful husband of 58 years institutionalized unless he quits being foolish. In case that fails, she declares that should something happen to him on the trip, she will command that the buzzards be permitted to pick his bones clean, leaving the remains where he fell.

By now it is perfectly obvious that Stanley’s dream of a cross-country bicycle tour is growing dimmer by the hour.

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concealing the old trail.

Chairman Jack Miller was the first to arrive. He greeted everyone and was first to wield a trowel to plant a clump of flowers. Soon we were 20 strong, residents and staff. Everyone set to work. Jake Bean and Kurt Mueller handed out the flowers –10 clusters each of asters, bee balm, butterfly plants, cardinal flowers, phlox, and ox-eye sunflowers, and helped with the planting. Mark supervised the pruning, showing us what to save, including viburnum, blackberries, and raspberries, and whacking with us at the invasives, thorny, tangled, and everywhere. Pat Nardizzi was ready with a pitchfork to carry away our piles of debris.

We all worked hard, felt very good about our achievements, and welcomed Chef Mark’s offering of fruit, Toll House cookies, and bottles of water. Please join us next year!

Wielding trowels, pruners, staff and residents welcome Earth Day

By Ann Louise Strong Earth Day, April 22, 2009, dawned clear and sunny.

Soon, though, the sky clouded over, a breeze came up, and doubts crept in. Would the rain hold off for us

The basics of hummingbird feeding

By Hank Hallowell It is that time of year. Now that spring has fully arrived, the ruby-throated hummingbirds are here. Many people have questions about hummingbird feeding, hence Photo by Ann Louise Strong this reminder.

Use only a mix of one part Board Chairman Jack Miller (left) and Jake Bean of the Grounds staff plant a butterfly bush on Earth Day. white sugar to four parts of water. Do not add anything else including food to plant 300 native flowers and prune huge clumps of coloring or antifreeze. Any additives may be harmful to multi-flora rose and other invasives? the birds. Artificial nectar mixes are a waste of money.

By 8:30 Mark Hritz and his crew were ready. A white Do not use artificial sweeteners. Do not use canopy and white chairs, adjacent to the 2007 Earth molasses, maple syrup, or honey.

Day swamp oak given by Be sure to stick with the 4:1 ratio in your mix. At the late Frances Markle, higher concentrations there is a risk of dehydration. beckoned to us volunThe hummingbirds will drink the higher mix like teers. A strip of meadow children going for sweets. That doesn’t mean it is good adjacent to the new postfor them. and-rail fence, cleared of Clean your feeders at least once a week. Be sure to sod, lay ready for plantuse a bottle brush to scrub the inside of the feeder. If ing. Down by the foot the weather is extremely hot, change the nectar every bridge an assortment of Jack’s shoes, after he had tracked few days. As one expert says, “If you wouldn’t drink out tools awaited an assault most of the Earth Day mud on the of it, don’t expect a hummingbird to.” on the thicket of thorns carpet, according to Mrs. Midge and dead wood Miller.

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Newcomers enhance Beaumont committees

By Jean Kirk

Only a few months after John Alden and Marion Broadbent (Pinkie) Philbrick arrived at Beaumont last summer, John found himself on both the Dining Services and the Wine and Spirits committees. This was a fortunate state of affairs for Beaumont, as his expertise as what he calls “a serious amateur” in these areas is well known to his friends.

When his father died in an airplane accident when John was in his 20s, a close friend of his father’s became his mentor and friend. A serious gourmet, a Fellow of the Culinary Institute of America, the friend took John to the kitchens of such chefs as Henri Soulé and Martin Picard.

John was hooked. He even entertained thoughts of opening a restaurant until Pinkie, also an excellent cook, vetoed that idea. At the same time, he developed an interest in wines and accumulated a prize wine cellar. When the couple moved to Beaumont, their Photo by Ann Louise Strong wine collection was accepted for sale at Marion and John Philbrick, who was recently elected as a director by the Beaumont Sotheby’s. He is a member in the Community, relax in their home recently. second highest rank of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. library in the city (at Logan Circle) named for him. He John’s business career was in marine insurance. He has had a longtime interest and involvement in organwas the senior partner in H.C. Knight & Co. until it izations for the blind, serving at one time as board merged with Posse-Walsh Inc., where he was vice chairman of the Philadelphia Center for the Blind, and chairman for 10 years until his retirement in 1998. he has been chairman of the trustees of the Coriell His considerable civic involvement began more than Institute for Medical Research. He received the 40 years ago, when he became a trustee of the Free Philadelphia Bowl for public service from the Mayor of Library of Philadelphia. The stature of the library was Philadelphia in 1990. considerably transformed when he engineered the Although longtime Main Liners–they moved here change from a static board to a revolving board. He from just down the road in Bryn Mawr–Pinkie was retired as chairman of the board and of the Free originally from Shaker Heights, OH, and John from Library Foundation, but is honored to this day as New York. He graduated from Pomfret and Yale; she Chairman Emeritus. from Bradford Junior College and the University of He was involved with many library organizations, Michigan at Ann Arbor. They have three sons, a receiving many honors and awards, including having a daughter, and eight grandchildren.

The deadline for the July 2009 issue of the Beaumont News is June 10. Please sign your story and either turn it in at the front desk or e-mail it to Mary Graff at graffs@msn.com. The Beaumont News team is interested in items about residents, services, and activities at Beaumont. Many of our neighbors have interesting tales to tell, about their lives or careers, experiences or travels, but hesitate to come forward with them. Please feel free to rat on your neighbors. The News welcomes suggestions for interviews. It is the responsibility of the editors to correct and edit copy in keeping with Beaumont News standards. Contributions, suggestions, and comments are welcome and necessary for the success of the Beaumont News.

HOW TO GET A LARGE PRINT EDITION OF BEAUMONT NEWS If you would like to receive the Beaumont News in large print, please leave your name at the desk in the front lobby. A copy will be placed in your mailbox.

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