Lawrence Community Matters June 2019

Lawrence Presbyterian Manor

JUNE 2019

Where were you when Apollo 11 landed on the moon?

Celebrating our CNAs As we celebrate National Nursing Assistant’s Week June 13-20, we want to shine the spotlight on two CNAs who provide support, friendship and hard work to our team every day.

Taylor Royal joined the Presbyterian Manor staff in September 2018 and works the evening shift. The thing she enjoys most about her job is helping others.

“My favorite part of my job is just having five minutes to connect with my residents. CNAs are always busy, but whenever I have two or five minutes I like to just sit down with our residents and talk to them about their day or if they’ve done anything exciting or had family come to visit,” said Taylor.

“Taylor makes an impact on the residents by the way she cares for them, like they are family to her,” said Michelle Willhite, director of nursing. “She takes her time when she is assisting them in whatever their need. She actively listens to residents tell the story of their lives. She treats all residents with dignity and respect.”

Taylor Royal, CNA, says her favorite thing to do at work is to connect with residents.

When she’s not at work, there’s a good chance you’ll find her hanging out at her sister’s house in town and spending time with her three nieces.

This September, Beth Chee will celebrate working at our campus for 10 years. As a CNA, her mission is to help the residents whenever they need it.

“Whatever they ask me to help them, I help them, and I enjoy helping them. Sometimes I talk with them and sometimes I make jokes and they laugh,” said Beth.

“Beth is a quality caregiver for our residents,” Michelle said. “She ensures all their needs are met and goes over and above to make sure they are comfortable. She is always rounding -CNAs, continued on page 2

The Apollo spacecraft

July 20, 1969, is one of those days resident Ken Lohrentz will never forget.

“It was a Sunday evening in June, and my wife, Lola, and I were driving across Syracuse, N.Y. That’s when we heard the announcement on the radio that a man had been placed on the moon. It was really exciting to hear this. Those years between when Sputnik landed – as I recall, that was 1957 – it was talked about all the time how Russians were getting ahead of us and how we have to improve our systems and catch up. It was an important national debate we were having. So, the event in 1969 was a real culmination of all those efforts and was very much in the fore front in our political and social consciousness at the time,” said Ken. The United States’ Apollo 11 was -Apollo, continued on page 2

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- CNAs, continued from page 1

during her shift, vigilantly providing quality care.”

Beth has three children and three jobs. When asked how she handles her busy schedule she replied, “I do it all by good time management.

I’m never sick, I’m so thankful.”

“Both women are always willing to jump in and assist other team members, stay late, come in early and pick-up open shifts when needed. They are always smiling and helpful, making them true team players and vital to the nursing team at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor,” said Michelle.

Thank you, CNAs, for all you do for us! ◆

CNA Beth Chee will celebrate 10 years as an employee in our community in September.

Honor the people who make our community great.

Make a gift to the Employee Scholarship Program today.

Stop by the front desk today for more information.

PMMA

Presbyterian Manors Of Mid-America

another one which was established several years after Sputnik in the the first manned mission to land on education department. That was the moon. There were six manned a legislative effort to establish U.S. landings between 1969 and national resource centers that 1972. So far, the U.S. is the only would specialize in the studies country to have successfully of various parts of the world to conducted manned missions to the improve our language, history and moon. overall knowledge of certain parts While the event is one that is clearly of the world,” said Ken. etched in Ken’s memories, little did The result was a program he know that the event would make establishing national resource a lasting impact on the rest of his centers and the National Defense life.

Education Act of 1965 was set up “One of the national focal points to establish these centers in various which grew out of Sputnik and the universities. concerns to catch up that night was “One of these was a program of a national program to beef up our eastern African studies at Syracuse university capacities to produce University, which is what attracted graduates in certain areas. One me to Syracuse. I had taught of those was science, space and -Apollo, continued on page 4 exploration. But then there was

-Apollo, continued from page 1

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LAWRENCE Presbyterian Manor 785-841-4262 ◆ Fax: 785-841-0923 1429 Kasold Dr. Lawrence, KS 66049-3425 LawrencePresbyterianManor.org

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | June 2019

Community Matters

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) organizaton.

To submit or suggest articles: afonseca@PMMA.org Christie Patrick, executive director Curtis Jones, ind. living marketing dir.

Angela Fonseca, health care marketing dir.

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

The problems with do-it-yourself online wills As a professional trustee and executor, I have seen hundreds of estate-planning documents, including some from do-it-yourself online services. I appreciate that using a DIY site to draft a will can save money and time. But I’m also concerned that sometimes doing it this way could lead to expensive and unpleasant estate planning mistakes.

I recently saw one DIY estateplanning service that had typos on its site and its estate-planning “packages” had the same document labeled with three different names.

Worse, the packages I looked at were missing a key estate planning document which very few users would know to ask about.

This service, like many other DIY estate-planning sites, has attorneys on staff, but access to specific help for your personal documents is rarely available. If personal advice is offered, it then appears to cost a great deal more to receive.

But what if you don’t know which questions to ask?

Online DIY wills vs. hiring a professional For some people with complicated personal and financial lives, today’s complexities may not be fully addressed with a do-it-yourself service for wills and trusts. While many of us would prefer to fill in the blanks in silence than have to talk to anyone about our doubts or concerns, sometimes it helps — a lot — to get professional advice.

If you prepare your taxes yourself and they end up incorrect, you and the Internal Revenue Service may

end up working things out. If you decide to do your estate planning by yourself,” however, you may never know the results of your work, but your loved ones will.

There are lots of DIY options for completing your own estate plan, and they have been available almost as long as we have had the internet. (Longer, if you count all the software packages you could buy off the shelf.) With the ease and availability of these programs, and their low price, you might think more of us would have an up-todate estate plan.

Yet according to the AARP article, Haven’t Done a Will Yet?, “only 4 in 10 American adults have a will or living trust.”

What good estate planning is all about Our power to express our preferences is what good estate planning (or life planning), is all about. In my work as a trustee and executor, I’ve learned that the documents which provide me with detailed instructions are critical to avoid court involvement, to reduce administrative confusion and to know when our job is done.

The four basic estate planning documents: a will, a trust, power of attorney for financial matters and an advance health care directive. If you plan to use any or all of them through a DIY site, expect to be offered a fill-in-the-blank approach.

Keep in mind that each state has its own probate code (the body of law governing estate planning and implementation). The software package you use may have different names for the same documents I

have listed above.

Some of the DIY sites I visited have all of these documents for you, but only if you purchase their higherend packages. Some offer limited attorney consultation; on one site, it was really a drop-down of questions with pre-written responses, not an actual conversation with an attorney.

Pros and cons of DIY estate planning The advantage of using a DIY service is that you will have a plan, as quickly and cheaply as possible, and that may be better than having no plan at all. This is especially true regarding getting a will, power of attorney and advance health care directive. Those handle most emergencies for people who don’t own real estate or much else.

The range of DIY services also has a range of prices — like $69 for just a will, to several hundreds of dollars for what may be described as a “complete plan.” Some sites have more information than others about their options.

Most presume that you already know what you want. But the reality is that many people have no idea what they want or need.

Once you get into the complexities of family dynamics and perhaps trust language specific to your state and situation, DIY estate planning can cause more challenges - Wills, continued on page 4

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-Apollo, continued from page 2

secondary education at a boy’s school in east Africa (Tanzania) from 1962-1964. So, in a sense, I benefitted from this new emphasis from the area that developed in higher education. I came back to enter the field of teaching and entered the program at Syracuse – so my expertise would dovetail the personal experience I had from - Wills, continued from page 2

than working with a team of professionals.

My caution about DIY online wills Here is my caution, based on my experience: You don’t know what you don’t know. You know some things about how you want to dispose of your assets after you die.

What you may not know is all the

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teaching in east Africa. I was given the opportunity to study at one of these programs that had one of these newer international studies programs that focused on different parts of the world. I capitalized on that by becoming an academic librarian with an African focus,” said Ken. Ken had jobs at various places but came to Lawrence in 1984 case law and legislation that have evolved into your state’s probate code.

If you do decide to look for an attorney who specializes in estate planning, I recommend interviewing two or more. This way, you will get a feel for how each handles client relationships, payment, follow-up and his or her own succession. You may already

and spent the rest of his career at the University of Kansas until he retired in 2006.

Next month is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. On reflecting about significant historical events in our lifetime, Ken shared, “They trigger memories down memory lane and dovetail our personal path that we couldn’t foresee.” ◆ have other trusted professionals (a cpa, a financial planner) who can refer you to estate planners in your area.

However you choose to get your plan completed, DIY or with the help of an experienced attorney, please get your estate plan done, and soon. You never know what surprises life will bring that will invoke your estate plan. ◆