Lawrence Presbyterian Manor
A year after COVID started—AUGUST 2021
I want to be honest with you, I lived every day worrying about all of you. I relaxed a bit after most of us got vaccinated. Nonetheless a constant fear of, “What if one person tests positive again?” made me feel very anxious. However, when we entered into the season of spring the beauty of new life around us made me sing:
Wellness is always in style Residents and staff recognized the importance of mental and emotional health during a recent wellness event on campus. Throughout the past year, it’s been more important than ever to take time to care for oneself and be aware of changes in mood or behavior. We celebrated with a special event, complete with tips for managing emotional health — as well as a few treats and goodies. Joey Cassity was the lucky winner of our grand prize raffle package. u
How are we doing a year after COVID has been on my mind lately. I also completed a year as a chaplain at PMMA-Lawrence that became my second home.
Fair are the meadows, Fair are the woodlands Joey Cassity was the lucky winner of the grand prize raffle package.
Healthy snacks were available during the wellness event.
Robed in flowers of blooming spring; Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, He makes our sorrowing spirit sing (Beautiful Savior, verse 2). While I write this, I realized we entered into another season: The summer. The warm temperatures, though sometimes we feel miserable, brings the beautiful dancing daylilies who love sun, the thunder, the blue skies, the crimson sunsets, singing birds and running rabbits, which all give me peace. “This too will pass” was my grandmothers’ favorite phrase, I often remember. Together, we made it so far and will continue to stay strong and positive. If you know the song Beautiful Savior, I invite you to join and sing with me.
Grab bags contained resources for physical and mental health.
The second verse I shared above encourages us to stop for a moment
Year after – continued on page 4 Get the latest on visitation and COVID-19 at our campus at LawrencePresbyterianManor.org/covid-19.
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Lawrence campus shares customer service survey responses
Lawrence Presbyterian Manor continues to seek customer feedback through monthly telephone surveys. Each month, residents and their representatives are randomly selected to participate in telephone satisfaction surveys conducted by Pinnacle Quality Insight.
Manor residents and their families gave the community high scores in demonstrating dignity and respect, and ease of the admissions and move-in processes. Residents and families also indicated a high willingness to recommend the campus to others.
The graphic above highlights some of the survey results. All scores are given on a 5-point scale, with 5 being the highest score and 1 the lowest score. Between June 2020 and May 2021, Lawrence Presbyterian
“I recommend [Lawrence Presbyterian Manor] all the time,” one respondent said. “The staff, all the employees, are very nice and polite and courteous and
dependable. All the residents are friendly, and I just think it’s great! Most important is just feeling like I belong here. I would like to think it’s home.” We greatly value the opinions of our residents and their representatives about the care and services we provide, and we encourage them to participate honestly when contacted by Pinnacle Quality Insight. All state and federal confidentiality laws are met in Pinnacle’s service. u
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Community Matters 785-841-4262 ◆ Fax: 785-841-0923 1429 Kasold Dr. Lawrence, KS 66049-3425 LawrencePresbyterianManor.org
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COMMUNITY MATTERS | August 2021
is published monthly for residents and friends of Lawrence Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
To submit or suggest articles: cphelps@pmma.org. Christie Patrick, executive director Christopher Phelps, marketing director
OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
Couple found place to ‘settle down’ at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor Audrey and Duane Mortensen spent their working years and the period shortly after retirement moving all over the Midwest. “Duane worked for Deere and Company his whole career, right out of college, and retired with over 30 years,” Audrey said. “Then when we started retirement, we’d spend a few years here and there, and then decided we should settle down.” When their daughter left New York City to start her own business in Lawrence, they decided that might be the perfect place. “We found out that we could find another way of living when our daughter moved,” Audrey said. “Our other kids are in Indiana and Chicago. We thought we might as well leave southern Missouri where we had no ties.” That was 11 years ago. “We tried to find a place that had a lot of activities,” Audrey said. “We’re not in a big city, but we’re near one. We’re not in the country, but we’re near it — we’re both country people. We just drive west and we’re there.” Moving to Lawrence was an easy choice, Audrey said. She and Duane knew people who had lived here, and no one had anything bad to say about the community. They also drove around the campus beforehand and saw all the activity. Now that the world is returning to normal, Duane and Audrey are enjoying some of their regular activities again. “I’m a great bingo fan,” she said. “We
like to go walking, and since we live in a duplex, we walk all over. If you walk around about 8-10 times, you’ve gone a mile — and it’s better than a treadmill. I just like to visit my friends at the Manor, and they will have a lot more activities now for people to participate in. The activities director is so good — she’ll set up to go visit some place, and it’s very entertaining. We enjoy being part of the whole PMMA system.” Travel has been a big part of Audrey and Duane’s life as well. “We’ve been to every state in the union except Alaska and Hawaii,” Audrey said. “We like to travel. Now that we’re both past 90, people ask when we’ll slow down. I say, ‘Oh, I don’t know.’”
Audrey and Duane Mortensen enjoy their life at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor.
Though the past year has been a challenge and limited the ability to get out and visit others, Audrey said they are enjoying the chance to choose from multiple activities on any given day. “When we get our weekly newsletter from the Manor, we look and see what’s happening. Sometimes we have to choose between a couple of things. As long as we can both drive and have our licenses, there are so many activities around here. I do like to go downtown.” But there’s also plenty to keep the couple busy at home as well — be it the activities, the woods behind
their home, or working through a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. “We really enjoy it here at the Manor. Our place is as big as some of the houses we’ve had, and I have plenty of room for whatever I want to do, and I can go for a walk if I feel stifled inside,” Audrey said. “We have a nice deck, and I just put some cherry tomatoes out there. We go to the Manor for our noon meal, and we don’t have to do the dishes. We’re just thrilled with the place.” If you would like to learn more about the carefree lifestyle at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor, contact Chris Phelps at 785-841-4262 or cphelps@pmma.org. u
Lawrence Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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1429 Kasold Dr. Lawrence, KS 66049-3425 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Lawrence Presbyterian Manor earns zero deficiencies on health care survey Lawrence Presbyterian Manor had zero deficiencies on its annual health care survey conducted on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in June. The survey was conducted by the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS). “It is a tremendous achievement to earn zero deficiencies on a health care survey,” said Christie Patrick, executive director. “I am so proud of this team’s hard work and dedication to our mission to provide quality senior services guided by Christian values. It is our staff’s commitment to our mission and residents that led to a deficiency-free community.” Each year, senior living communities are surveyed by their licensing agency for compliance of regulations established by CMS. These
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COMMUNITY MATTERS | August 2021
regulations, which number in the hundreds, are designed to ensure a standard of care is met. By meeting this standard, senior living communities are able to renew their licenses and continue to provide care. CMS delayed annual surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on infection control surveys.
life, from dietary choices, to dental care; from frequency of physician visits to ease of access to mail.
There are 17 major areas assessed, which include quality of care and physical environment. The surveyors look at every aspect of a resident’s
The achievement by Lawrence Presbyterian Manor places the senior living community in the top tier of survey performances in Kansas. u
“Being recognized as a deficiencyfree community demonstrates our staff’s compassion and desire to make Lawrence Presbyterian Manor a place our residents are honored to call home,” Patrick said.
Year after – continued from page 1 and worship God our creator with our eyes and ears as we encounter the world that our beautiful Savior has created and called good. “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) I thank God for each one of you. I feel blessed to serve God at PMMA-Lawrence together with all of you. u