Aberdeen Village Community Matters July 2021

The light of normalcy is beginning to shine JULY 2021

It’s been a very long year — one marked by the loss of anchors that have been a source of joy in our lives.

As the coronavirus spread throughout the world, staff and residents were forced to retreat in an effort to protect everyone.

Unfortunately, this meant a temporary suspension of outside visitors and the normal activities that traditionally marked each day.

“The biggest challenge was to watch our residents longing to see their families,” said Life Enrichment Director Sandy Barnes. “They wanted to come out of their rooms and at least associate with others for some comfort … they wanted the ‘norm’ back in their lives. To come out and eat with their friends, play bingo and cards, paint, and to be out of their rooms for just a little while.”

As vaccinations are readily available, some signs of normal are emerging.

Activities are returning, as are inperson religious services. Families are able to set up appointments to visit their loved ones, and that has elevated everyone’s spirits.

Jo Henderson’s talent has been recognized with a first-place finish in the annual Art is Ageless® competition. “Tribute,” came from a class sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Needlepoint Guild, of which Jo is a member.

Let’s get to the point with Jo Henderson Resident Jo Henderson taught herself to crochet and knit years ago.

“But I didn’t care for it,” Jo said. “I tried needlepoint after buying a book and supplies while on turnaround in Australia. I liked it, but kids and life interfered until the early ’90s when I had more time. My husband

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“We have been able to bring back their card games and bingo for them to enjoy,” Sandy said. “We are still having some of the mystery carts with snacks and drinks on them that we used to surprise them with each Thursday. They sure liked seeing the mystery cart each week. In June, we started the neighborhood meetings again, so we can let them know what is coming next and we can learn

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Get the latest on visitation and COVID-19 at our campus at AberdeenVillage.com/covid-19.

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Celebrating National Skilled Nursing Care Week The second week in May is National Skilled Nursing Care week.

We sure had fun with all of the things our life enrichment department coordinated for us each day.

TIE-DYE MONDAY kicked off our Community Week festivities.

Staff wore their tie-dye shirts, and Rachael looked hip in her ’60sstyle outfit. We had a week full of games, starting with “guess how many Starbursts are in the jar” and a selfie scavenger hunt. We finished the day with root beer floats.

THURSDAY was Crazy Hat/Blue Day. Our staff came up with some creative headgear!

Congratulations to our winners: Cory, our director of environmental services, in his turkey hat; Terri, who rocked every theme this week; Ellen, the crafter and planter on our life enrichment team.

FRIDAY was the last day of Community Week at TUESDAY was day two of our community week, with Smiley Aberdeen Village. We had Face/Yellow Day. Terri went all out and we loved it so much, she a great time this week was the winner of the smiley face theme! Terri is our adminwith all the games and the istrative assistant/receptionist, and she does a wonderful job. outfits. Friday was Red/Patriotic Day, and we had a lot of red in the Our winner for the yellow theme of the day house! The winners were Linda is Phil from our environmental services Mwanzi and John team, wearing the brightest yellow shirt we have ever seen. The smiley face sticker on his Westmacott. This is shirt blends right in. Congratulations to Phil, what you call teamwork: John provided who brightens our day in so many ways. the red, Linda ON WEDNESDAY, we wore white to honor brought the white and our nurses. Samuel Roa was our winner. He blue, and together really looked sharp in his all-white ensemble. they fit the patriotic We had a cookout to celebrate, and everyone theme of the day. u enjoyed the delicious food!

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Community Matters 913-599-6100 u 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 Oehllert, director of sales and marketing

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

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encouraged my creativity, and then I discovered a needlepoint shop in El Dorado, Ark., when I lived in northern Louisiana. Kindred spirits sealed the deal!”

Now Jo’s talent has been recognized with a first and second place finish in the annual Art is Ageless® competition.

The first-place piece, “Tribute,” came from a class sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Needlepoint Guild, of which Jo is a member.

Debbie Rowley, an accomplished national teacher and designer, led the class. The materials for the piece came with the two-and-ahalf-day class.

“It is a creative combination of Jean Hilton stitches, colorful threads and beads,” Jo explained. “The secondplace winner, ‘The Old Wooden Cross,’ was an original piece which was the fifth step in my journey to the Embroidery Guild of America’s Master Craftsman in Canvas designation. It was exhibited at the 2019 National Seminar of the

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what they are concerned about or want to see come back.”

Also returning are the Painting with Christa classes.

“They love to express themselves, and Christa assists them to paint a portrait and take it home with them at end of the class,” Sandy said. “Sing-alongs are back also, and they love singing. As we move

Embroidery Guild of America in Saint Louis.”

This isn’t Jo’s first time in Art is Ageless: She once entered a piece that depicted the differences between a normal brain and one afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease. It was later selected for a three-year traveling exhibit with the Embroidery Guild of America — one of only 50 such pieces selected.

In 2002, Jo began her journey to earn the Master Craftsman designation through the Embroidery Guild of America.

“My area is canvas, which is an evenweave product, meaning threads that are counted 10, 13, 14, 18, or 24 threads per inch in both directions,” Jo said. “The threads have been treated with a sizing which makes them fairly stiff. The judging criteria, where relevant, can include knowledge and application of the principles of color and design, interpretation of the design, workmanship, materials, technical excellence in stitch execution and/or technique involved, solving technical problems and accuracy in following directions. Submissions can be made

forward, there will be more things we will get back to, like trips outside the building.”

During the past 18 months, both residents and staff have worked to get through the worst of the pandemic, to a place where everyone could safely enjoy daily activities.

While residents struggled through isolation and separation from inperson visits, staff struggled with additional duties and the pain of

in May or November. If a submission is not passed, if the errors can be fixed, then it can be resubmitted the following cycle.

Sometimes life happens and the journey is interrupted. It can continue, though. Some people can make it happen in three or four years, others are unable.”

Six of her pieces will be shown at the national EGA seminar in Chicago this September.

In addition to EGA and the Kansas City guild, she’s a member of the Santa Fe Trails Guild and the American Needlepoint Guild.

“I started on the Master Craftsman journey with EGA because I did not know of ANG at the time,” Jo said.

“Besides, ANG required writing about your work — and I have to work really hard on my writing. I tend to write too much, then go back and edit heavily. When I open my mouth, I tend to only change feet.”

In addition to exercising her talent with needlepoint, Jo enjoys her four sons, nine grandchildren and all her great-grandchildren. She also likes to read and play sudoku and solitaire on her iPad. u seeing residents lose their sense of normalcy.

“They are very happy to finally start to see the light at the end of this very long tunnel,” Sandy said. We didn’t have as many to come out for the activities as we thought to begin with. Some were a little unsure if they wanted to come out or not, but we are now getting larger crowds as the days go by. They visit about their

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17500 W. 119th St. Olathe, KS 66061-9524 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

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families and the new grandbabies that they finally got to see in person.

Lots of smiling faces around here again.”

Staff is doing a great job caring for residents, Sandy said, despite the challenges of the past year and a half.

“Staff took on jobs that were not in their realm. Some assisted with serving meals, others assisted with the video chats, some just said, ‘Tell me what is needed and I will try my best to help.’ They have worked long hours with masks on, face shields, gloves and full PPE. Everybody did what was needed in a time when

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none of us knew when things would change again and something new would come up,” Sandy said.

Employees in every department — from administration across the board — did yeoman’s work to care for residents and keep them safe and make them feel loved.

“The administration team were great leaders amongst the things changing on an hourly basis at times,” Sandy said. “They made sure staff, residents and family members were abreast of the situation at least on a weekly basis. I just want to say that most of all here at Aberdeen Village, I think we have the best executive director ever in Tim Allin. He spent multiple hours here making sure everything

was OK before going home at night and then coming in very early to make sure things were in place for another day of pandemic. We could not have made it through this if it was not for him.”

Though the past year has brought us all considerable loss — including beloved entertainer Lenn Anderson and Wally, one of our Pets for Life dogs — there’s reason to be hopeful for the future. Soon outside volunteers should be allowed in, and we’ll all be able to enjoy our friends again at parties and social functions in the community.

“I just really want to say that it takes a full team, and we have a great team,” Sandy said. u