The Glen at Aberdeen Heights Community Matters December 2019

Aberdeen Heights

DECEMBER 2019

Aberdeen Heights on U.S. News and World Report Best Nursing Home list Aberdeen Heights is on the U.S. News and World Report Best Nursing Homes 2019 short-term rehabilitation and long-term care lists. The senior living community’s The Glen health care center received the highest score of High Performing to make the lists, available today at www.usnews.com/bestnursing-homes/search.

Students from Robinson School enjoy their time at The Glen.

Activity abounds at Groovin’ in The Glen

The U.S. News and World Report list uses information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government agency that sets and enforces standards for nursing homes. CMS assigns one to five stars to each community for how well it performs in health inspections, nurse staffing and level of quality care.

U.S. News and World Report now uses the CMS star rating for staffing rather than the overall star rating to determine which communities are given the High Performing designation. This decision reflects expert opinion on the importance of staffing in quality of care, as well as the availability since April 2018 of more accurate data on nurse staffing levels in each community or center.

More than 3,100 nursing homes received CMS’ top rating of five stars, while just 1,139 nursing homes earned the top Overall rating for longterm care issued by U.S. News, according to the U.S. News website.

New in 2018 was a Short-Stay Rehabilitation rating evaluating the care delivered to patients after a hospitalization for surgery, heart attack,

Every Friday morning, the Aberdeen Heights community grows a little when kindergarten students from Robinson School walk over for a visit.

While students play balloon volleyball and exercise to “counting” songs they’ve learned, residents enjoy the opportunity to learn more about the children. For teacher Cindy Star, it’s a perfect opportunity to teach children about how they can care about, and for, the people around them. The visits also help create bonds with others and provides teachable moments GROOVIN’ - continued on page 3

LIST - continued on page 4 Aberdeen Heights | A PMMA COMMUNITY

1

Residents and staff celebrate school days

Aberdeen Heights residents and staff reminisced about their school days while enjoying tea and treats for our Back to School Tea Party.

The celebration included the chance to try on a selection of authentic fancy hats from the 1930s-1950s.

Everyone had a great time celebrating the annual return to school for children and shared special memories and experiences from their school days. â—†

Sel flessLove c e l e b r a t i n g

This holiday season, be an angel to a senior in need.

Make a donation to our Good Samaritan Program, which assists PMMA residents who have outlived their financial resources through no fault of their own.

To earn your wings, stop by our front desk or visit giving.presbyterianmanors.org. A bell will be added to our Christmas tree in your honor.

Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.

ABERDEEN HEIGHTS A PMMA COMMUNITY

314-909-6010 â—† Fax: 913-599-3810 505 Couch Ave. Kirkwood, MO 63122-5536 AberdeenSeniorLiving.com

2

COMMUNITY MATTERS | December 2019

Community Matters

is published monthly for residents and friends of Aberdeen Heights

by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizaton.

To submit or suggest articles: devans@PMMA.org Rick Cumberland, executive director Lily Landy, health care administrator David Evans, life enrichment director

OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.

Caricature artist draws a big crowd The favorite part of caricature artist Haram Ahm’s visit to Aberdeen Heights in September was the “reveal.”

“What I enjoy most about caricaturing is seeing how people react to their caricatures,” Ahm said. “My aim is always flattery and light-hearted humor, so I was very happy to see the residents laughing at themselves and having a blast whenever I flipped over the drawing to reveal their caricatures.

A few residents even gave me a hug and thanked me for making them look so wonderful - their reactions were absolutely priceless.”

Residents enjoyed watching Ahm work, and for those who opted to serve as subjects received a nice image of themselves to take home.

Ahm started drawing caricatures about six years ago, just after her graduation from Webster University with a degree in fine arts. She worked for two years at the St. Louis Zoo, drawing souvenir caricatures for visitors, before launching her own business, HA Caricatures. That early work helped

GROOVIN’ - continued from page 1

—such as asking what they might be able to do to be helpful and presenting the students with new opportunities with new people.

“I encourage the kids to know this is about what we can do for the residents, and not the other way around,” Star said. “By the two classes going every week, we start

her learn how to draw faces at fast speeds, in front of a crowd.

“Speed is so important at live events, because the last thing you want is for people to miss out on all the fun by waiting in line for the entire event,” she said.

The process of drawing a person’s likeness begins with a quick scan of the subject. Ahm said she looks for what makes the face unique, then works to amplify that uniqueness to create a caricature. From there, Ahm works to alter the distance, size and angles of the facial features to match her perception of the model.

“I always begin with the eyes, because I think the eyes are the center of everything – not just in the literal sense, but figuratively the center of expression and personality,” Ahm said.

Working as a caricature artist has opened many doors, Ahm said.

She’s visited St. Louis Children’s hospital to draw free images for young patients, and that experience led her to serve as an Art Therapy intern at the hospital.

to form bonds with people that don’t look like us, and hopefully make the residents feel better.”

The residents love to see the children each week and have a lot of fun spending time with their “grandfriends.” Students enjoy leading the exercise classes, and Star has heard residents proclaim that residents look forward to the

Wherever her work takes her, Ahm said she never tires of drawing the unique faces or the reactions that come from them.

“Each event is so unique and different, I never know what to expect but that is what I love about the job,” Ahm said. “A few residents at Aberdeen even gave me a hug and thanked me for making them look so wonderful. Their reactions were absolutely priceless.” ◆

weekly exercise routine.

“The kids like the balloons and being able to walk there,” Star said.

“We also saw the therapy pony and see the therapy dogs every Friday.

This is my second year doing ‘Groovin in the Glen,’ and Mrs. Intagliata asked if she could do it with me this year so now we have someone going every week.” ◆

Aberdeen Heights | A PMMA COMMUNITY

3

ABERDEEN HEIGHTS A PMMA COMMUNITY

505 Couch Ave. Kirkwood, MO 63122 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

OUR Mission:

To provide quality senior services guided

by Chri stian values.

Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.

LIST - continued from page 1

stroke or similar condition. To be eligible for a short-stay rating, a center’s performance on at least one outcome measure and data on either physical therapy time or RN and total nurse staffing must have been available from CMS. Outcome measures included the percentages of short-stay patients who were rehospitalized within 30 days, had an emergency room visit within 30 days and were successfully discharged to their home or community.

Aberdeen Heights is making its first appearance on the short-term rehabilitation list, and it’s sixth appearance on the long-term care list since 2011. Aberdeen Heights

4

is a community in the PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of MidAmerica) system.

“Our employees continue to focus their efforts on delivering quality care every day,” said PMMA President and CEO Bruce Shogren.

“The High Performing designation confirms their good work.”

In addition to Aberdeen Heights, five PMMA locations are on the honoree list with the High Performing designation for longterm care: Aberdeen Village (Olathe), Emporia, Lawrence and Wichita in Kansas and Rolla in Missouri. Communities recognized on the short-stay rehab list in addition to Aberdeen Heights are Manor of the Plains (Dodge

COMMUNITY MATTERS | December 2019

City), Parsons, Topeka and Wichita in Kansas. Wichita and Aberdeen Heights were among 420 communities that received the high performing designation in both categories.

All Medicare- and Medicaidcertified health care centers were evaluated by U.S. News. To be eligible for an overall rating, a center must have received reimbursement from CMS in July 2019 and had sufficient data to evaluate quality in that rating.

To learn more about the U.S. News and World Report rating system, visit their FAQ page: https://health. usnews.com/health-news/bestnursing-homes/articles/faq-howwe-rate-nursing-homes. ◆