Aberdeen Village
PMMA Founder’s Day honors its heroes and 72 years of heritage
APRIL 2021
Employees of Aberdeen Village, a PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America) senior living community, will observe the founding of PMMA this month as the company salutes its heroes and heritage.
Aberdeen Village Assisted Living unit
Light at the end of the tunnel By David Meyer, Sales and Marketing Counselor
Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, it has changed the course of history. It certainly has in health care. For a good chunk of 2020, in an effort to protect our residents, we suspended new admissions. It wasn’t until late summer that we could consider new admits for assisted living, and late fall until we could open up our Post-Acute-to-Home (PATH) rehab program to patients. Even after opening things back up, a lot of restrictions were still in place, due to these areas being licensed: No communal dining, no interaction with independent living residents, no on-site tours for interested prospects, and no indoor visitation — to name a few. However, we are starting to see that long-awaited light at the end of the tunnel. It’s been several weeks since a positive resident or staff COVID case. Therefore, some restrictions are able to be relaxed. LIGHT - continued on page 5
PMMA’s roots go back to 1947. Alice Kalb, a widow from central Kansas, appealed to a Presbyterian Church organization to establish a home for seniors. Her vision laid the foundation for the first Presbyterian Manor community in Newton, Kan., and inspired others to do even more. Through the many decades, PMMA remained true to the spirit of Alice’s vision, providing quality senior services guided by Christian values. Each Founder’s Day, staff members re-commit to live our mission by signing the “WE PROMISE” board that lists the pillars of the mission: respecting that seniors retain their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; assisting residents with specific needs; providing compassionate service; serving as a trusted resource; and advocating for seniors. FOUNDERS - continued on page 6
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Aberdeen Village receives 2021 Customer Experience Award from Pinnacle Quality Insight Aberdeen Village, a PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of MidAmerica) senior living community, is proud to announce that they are the recipient of Pinnacle Quality Insight’s 2021 Customer Experience Award.TM In qualifying for the award in both health care and assisted living, Aberdeen Village demonstrates a continued dedication to providing best-inclass senior healthcare services. “The Pinnacle Customer Excellence Award is different from other recognitions because it really comes from our residents and their families who rate us highly for the quality of care and services they receive,” said Tim Allin, executive director. “The award is evidence of the faith our residents and their families place in the way we carry out our mission to provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.” Throughout its 20-year history of serving the community, Aberdeen
Village has placed a strong emphasis on ensuring that the individual needs of every resident are met. Over the course of 2020, a sampling of Aberdeen Village’s residents and their families have participated in monthly telephone interviews that include openended questions, as well as the opportunity to rate Aberdeen Village in specific categories.
Every month, Aberdeen Village has reviewed its real-time survey results to gain a better understanding of residents’ needs and make improvements when necessary. By qualifying for the Pinnacle Customer Experience Award,™ Aberdeen Village has satisfied the rigorous demand of scoring in the top 15 percent of the nation across a 12-month average. Aberdeen Village received this recognition for assisted living in the quality of food category. Skilled nursing residents and their families gave the community high marks in
2021
11 categories: overall satisfaction, nursing care, meeting individual needs, communication from the community, response to problems, dignity and respect, recommend to others, professional therapy services, admission process, safety and security, and overall customer experience. To learn more about assisted living and skilled nursing at Aberdeen Village, contact David Meyer, marketing and sales director for assisted living and health care, at 913-599-6100 or dmeyer@pmma. org. ◆
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Community Matters 913-599-6100 ◆ Fax: 913-599-3810 17500 W. 119th St. Olathe, KS 66061-9524 AberdeenVillage.com
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is published monthly for residents and friends of Aberdeen Village by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
To submit or suggest articles: soehlert@pmma.org Tim Allin, executive director Stephanie Oehlert, director of sales and marketing
OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
Covered in art With COVID creating restrictions that didn’t allow outside artists to display their artwork, staff had to come up with a patchwork solution. Luckily, they found just what they needed in three resident quilters: Judy Otey, Carol McMillen and Vivian Bonham. “Since we can’t have outside artists come in and show work, they were looking for internal artwork to display,” Judy said. “A couple other ladies and I had a lot of quilts we were interested in showing — and that’s how we got to that.” The struggle wasn’t in finding enough quilts to display, but in how to hang and place them, since many of the quilts were larger and heavier than traditional artwork. “We hung up one, and sometimes two or three smaller ones over the windows of the dining room,” said Carol McMillen. “The rest are hanging over the wall cabinets. Each quilt had to have some sort of rod to hang on the hooks. It really turned out easier that we thought it would be.” The artists said they began quilting years ago, so they were happy to share their plentiful selection with their neighbors and friends. “I’ve been quilting for so many years, I probably had 20 quilts to show,” Carol said. Throughout the years, Judy has sewn for Quilts of Valor, which donates quilts to service members, and she is a member of several quilting guilds. “I made my first real quilt at the age of 42,” said Carol. “I’m 85 now. I didn’t really know what I was
doing, except my grandmothers were quilters. They did it all by hand — put the blocks together and sit down and quilt by hand. For weeks, or months, depending on the size of the project. Everything was sewn into eight, 10, or 12inch blocks, then put a border around it. A lot of people send it off to someone that does machine quilting. I have always preferred the hand quilting. On a machine you have to have the eye, hand, and foot coordination together. It’s very hard for me — it’s much easier to sit with a quilt in my lap and follow a pattern I’ve stenciled on the quilt.” In addition to offering the chance to show their work, the display also gave others a chance to share their appreciation. “When I run into someone in the hall, they tell me how much they enjoy it, and how nice it is,” Judy said. “It makes it worthwhile, and it’s nice to know other people appreciate your artwork.” “There are a lot of old women in here, and most of them have quilted,” Carol said with a laugh. “I’ve got a nice response from them.” Even the artists appreciated each other’s work. “Of the three quilters that are in this, we are all different,” Carol said. “Vivian only had two quilts in that she made when she was a younger woman. They are absolutely beautiful, hand-quilted, but they made mine look pretty bad.” Though the quilt show was borne of pandemic restrictions, the artists have some indication that its popularity might extend into future
years. “They announced this was the first of many quilt shows,” Carol said. “Maybe we’ll have a bigger one by being able to spread it into other rooms.” “They called it the first annual, and that makes me think we’ll be doing it again,” Judy said. ◆
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Aberdeen Village Art is Ageless® exhibit and reception features senior artists Local senior artists will be celebrated March 26 – April 30 at Aberdeen Village, as the community hosts its annual Art is Ageless® exhibit and continues to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Art is Ageless® program.
Works will be on exhibit at the community for residents only. The Art is Ageless exhibit will be held virtually for friends of the program on the community’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/AberdeenVillage. Winners will be announced on Facebook. Art is Ageless is a trademarked program of Aberdeen Village’s parent company, PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-
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America). The program offers senior artists the opportunity to share and display their artwork and reaffirms the agelessness of human creativity.
“It’s inspiring to see the beautiful pieces these seniors have created,” said Stephanie Oehlert, marketing director at Aberdeen Village. “The joy it brings to them and others is wonderful, and that’s something we want to celebrate and share with the entire Olathe community.” The first Art is Ageless calendar was published in 1981, featuring art from Presbyterian Manor community residents. Since then, the program has expanded to include a juried art competition
open to all seniors age 65 and older. Winning pieces at the community level move on to a masterpiece level judging to determine which pieces are featured in the annual calendar and note cards. For more information about Art is Ageless, visit ArtIsAgeless.org. For more about Aberdeen Village, visit AberdeenVillage.com or contact Stephanie Oehlert at soehlert@ pmma.org or 913-599-6100. ◆
LIGHT - continued from page 1
Communal dining has returned for independent and assisted living residents, on-site tours can now occur in assisted living, and indoor visitation can now occur. With some of these things returning, there are some new protocols. Social distancing must be in place during dining, visiting prospects must have a rapid COVID test prior to the tour, and appropriate documentation must be presented for an indoor visit to become reality. Any of these things can come undone with a positive resident or staff case, but the fact we have got this far has given us all optimism. Even with this, the buzz is here. Opportunities feel more abundant to help give someone a chance to recover and head home, or find a new place to call home. Our PATH program has 10 available rooms (pictured) available during pandemic times for folks to receive care after a qualifying stay in the hospital, using their Medicare Part A benefit or an approved Managed Medicare
Post Acute to Home (PATH) Rehab program plan. They will have a customized therapy schedule in an effort to get stronger and discharge to an area where fewer services are needed. Our PATH program provides customized patient care after a hospital or other qualifying stay. It deploys physical, occupational, and speech therapy to achieve recovery and independence. PATH patients get the attention and space they need to recover while enjoying the company of other therapy patients. We’re happy to resume this important service now that some
COVID restrictions have been lifted. In assisted living, we currently have several one bedroom (seen in photo) and alcove studio apartments available. After a long and trying year, it’s nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel — such as dining with our friends and sharing activities together again. The fact that we can have loved ones visit (on a scheduled basis, around every two weeks on average) is an additional blessing for which we are grateful.◆
COVID-19 updates continue
Get the latest updates on visitation status, ongoing safety measures and PMMA’s response to COVID-19 on your community website at communitywebsite.org/ covid-19. Visitation status is updated weekly on Mondays and as needed as our COVID status changes. You can also send a message to any resident with the Art is Ageless® e-greeting cards. Find a link on the COVID-19 update page. With vaccine distribution, internal restrictions are starting to loosen, allowing health care and assisted living residents to forgo quarantine if they leave the campus for physician appointments and other activities as long as they are not gone longer than 7 midnights. If an absence is longer than 7 days, the resident is required to quarantine and undergo COVID-19 testing. There will be no quarantine requirement for independent living residents who leave the community for an outing. ◆ Aberdeen Village | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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17500 W. 119th St. Olathe, KS 66061-9524 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
FOUNDERS - continued from page 1
“Our nearly 2,000 employees view what they do as a calling,” said Bruce Shogren, president and CEO. “Our dedicated employees make it possible for us to sustain PMMA’s mission, as well as its heritage. I believe Alice would very proud.” Alice Kalb’s dream has turned into a network of 15 senior living communities and two hospices across Kansas and Missouri. A new senior living community is under development in Colorado Springs. PMMA remains true to its core and mission: to provide quality senior services guided by Christian values. For more information about Aberdeen Village, contact Stephanie Oehlert, marketing director, at 913599-6100 or soehlert@pmma.org. ◆
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Easter - Did you know? • The tallest chocolate Easter egg was made in Italy in 2011. It stood 34 feet tall and weighed an astounding 12,677 pounds. • The art of painting eggs is called pysanka which originates in Ukraine. It involves using wax and dyes to color the egg. • The term Easter gets its name from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess whose symbols are the hare and the egg. • Decorated eggs actually date back to before Easter, and the giving of eggs is considered a symbol of rebirth in many cultures. • Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ; it is the oldest Christian holiday and one of the most important religious days of the year. • The White House tradition of the Easter Egg Roll started back in 1878, with President Rutherford B. Hayes.