Newton Presbyterian Manor
JUNE 2020
Playing scrabble alone By Sue Ice, resident
Dana Johnson, right, with another pilot on a training flight while stationed at Fairmont Army Air Field, Fairmont, Nebraska.
Residents share history:
‘I remember where I was when …’
As we’re all living through COVID-19, which will no doubt become a historic event in all of our lives, residents at Newton Presbyterian Manor have reflected on other historic events in their lifetimes and share those memories with you here. We begin with Dana Johnson, who shared his memories of World War II shortly before passing away. VJ Day “During WWII, I was assigned to an aerial reconnaissance unit and at one point was stationed on the island of New Guinea. Sometime in April 1945, we were shipped north to the Philippine island of Leyte near the town of Tacloban. We had been inactive throughout the following summer months. One evening in August, I decided to see a movie at a neighboring MEMORIES - continued on page 3
If you’re “securing in place” as you should be, if you love to play Scrabble and if being left to your own devices has become boring, challenge yourself to a game of Scrabble. Here’s how I do it. 1. I invite two players, Sue#1 and Sue#2, to play the game. 2. From the upside down tiles in the lid of the Scrabble box, Sue#1 and Sue#2 each draw seven tiles and place the tiles face out on their respective rack. 3. Whichever one, Sue #1 or Sue#2, can make the longest word from her seven tiles goes first and makes the first word on the board. The one who goes first doesn’t replace the tiles on her rack until the other SCRABBLE - continued on page 8
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Bravo of the Month Bravo of the Month for April goes to Anyssa Thompson, life enrichment assistant for Anderson Place. Hailee Owens, who also works in Anderson Place, wrote: “Since the beauty shop has been closed, Anyssa has taken over the role as hairstylist in Anderson. She goes out of her way to make sure the residents are happy.” Though many employees have taken on additional or different roles during this time, Anyssa graciously said yes when a neighbor asked for assistance and stretched her daily schedule to accommodate these one-on-one times. Thank you for everything you do for our community, Anyssa! ◆
Congratulations to Anyssa Thompson, Bravo of the Month for April!
Dorothy McCollum, left, and Anyssa Thompson look pretty in pink for National Bright Pink Lipstick Day.
COVID-19 updates continue
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, you can count on regular communication from your PMMA community and PMMA leadership. PMMA’s President and CEO Bruce Shogren’s latest letter to residents and families are posted to your community website, NewtonPresbyterianManor.org/covid-19. Get the latest information about visitation and restrictions on deliveries and learn more about PMMA’s infection control efforts to contain COVID-19 across the PMMA system. ◆
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NEWTON Presbyterian Manor
316-283-5400 ◆ Fax: 316-284-5900 1200 E. Seventh Newton, KS 67114-2862 NewtonPresbyterianManor.org
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Community Matters
is published monthly for residents and friends of Newton Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
To submit or suggest articles: ndickinson@PMMA.org Marc Kessinger, executive director Noelle Dickinson, marketing director
OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
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camp to reduce the boredom. About halfway into the show, we became aware of a cacophony of horns and whistles coming from boats and ships in the harbor. Our movie was immediately stopped, and we were given the news that the Japanese had unconditionally surrendered. Our jubilation was instantly joined to those of the sailors … the war was finally over and we would soon be going home!”
gone in to eat supper and when we came out, there were hundreds and hundreds of people everywhere in the streets. We were finally able to ask someone what was going on. They told us that Japan had just surrendered.” —Bernice Hanson JFK’s assassination “It was the 22nd day of November 1963. I was in the farm kitchen, listening to the Elmer Childress Family Singers on TV. They stopped short when a clear voice interrupted the singers. J.F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. I ran out to tell Silas. He was sitting in Elmer Dyck’s truck ordering some DeKalb seed.”
pilot who had attended President Kennedy’s speech in Fort Worth. After an early lunch, I was in my attic, reviewing some research. My first sergeant entered my attic, white as a sheet. “‘Sir, Kennedy’s been shot,’ he said. I thought that he might be kidding. He was not! “Orders came down to cancel all activities on base. In the hospital, all clinics closed. The doctor on call became just that. The rest of us quietly went home.
“Everyone was stunned. Our political preferences were “The first historical event that I immaterial. We respected him, and remember is August 15, 1945. I was our Commander in Chief had been six years old at the time and I can shot. We were allowed to turn on still hear the gaiety in the streets the TV for news. The entire base —Edna Stucky had become the sound of silence. and the horns blaring. It was VJ Day, the Japanese had surrendered, “In November 1963, we were in Eerie! and the war was over. I didn’t know the army assigned to Fort Walters, “During the two weeks of the significance of this day until Texas, which is less than 20 miles shutdown, the base chapel held a much later.” from Fort Worth. I was in the memorial service for the president. — Larry Thompson medical corp. and was the chief There was also a farewell ceremony. of the aviation medicine section. All of us assembled in dress blue “Do you remember where you Fort Walters was then the Army’s uniform for the final farewell. were on VJ Day? I was in Chicago primary helicopter training school. with my parents visiting an aunt “We all watched the funeral parade It was a bustling place. Lots of and uncle of my father’s. We had helicopters were in the air, the explosions and cracking of the gunnery range and other sights and sounds of intense activity assailed us daily. —Dana Johnson
“The evening before JFK’s assassination, Sondra and I were in Fort Worth. We attended a piano concert at Texas Christian University and had a late dinner with friends. The buildings in Fort Worth were already lit for the Christmas season. The atmosphere was festive. Bernice Hanson with her late husband Jay on their 50th anniversary.
“The next day was clear and beautiful. I made rounds that morning and saw patients at the clinic. I talked briefly with a senior
Dr. Frank Chesky served in the medical corp of the U.S. Army. MEMORIES - continued on page 6
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Satisfaction surveys by Pinnacle Quality Insight As part of Newton Presbyterian Manor’s ongoing customer service initiative, residents and their representatives are randomly selected to participate in telephone satisfaction surveys conducted by Pinnacle Quality Insight. Here’s just a sampling of what some shared: “We chose [Newton Presbyterian Manor] because of the staff. I appreciate the care [my loved one] was given from everyone there. [My loved one] was comfortable there. That warmed my heart knowing [my loved one] personally liked it.” The graphic 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 March
Source: Pinnacle Quality Insight (12 month ave. Mar. 2019 - Feb. 2020)
5 4
4.73
4.76
Cleanliness
Dignity & Respect
5.00
4.86
Activities
Overall Satisfaction
3 2 1
ASSISTED LIVING
HEALTH CARE
2019 and February 2020, Newton Presbyterian Manor residents and their families gave the community high scores in cleanliness, showing residents dignity and respect, and activities. In addition, residents and families also reported a high willingness to recommend the community to others.
PATH
INDEPENDENT LIVING
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. ◆
Your health: Why aging immune systems are more vulnerable to the coronavirus By The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) for Next Avenue
Dr. Sean X. Leng and his laboratory team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study the biology of healthy aging with a focus on chronic inflammation in late-life decline. The lab also studies “immunosenescence”—the decline in immune function as we age. Leng’s team is interested in the relationship between immunosenescence and the basic biological and physiological changes related to aging and frailty in the human immune system.
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A professor of medicine, molecular microbiology and immunology and a board-certified geriatrician at Johns Hopkins, Leng is also president of the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation, which works to improve world health by developing mutually beneficial partnerships between the U.S. and China, as well as greater Asia. We recently talked with Leng—a 2006 Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging recipient—about the role of immunosenescence in the COVID-19 pandemic, and
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how a geroscience approach can help address the problem. AFAR: As a researcher in the field of aging research who has studied viral infections and immune function, what have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about how it effects older adults? Dr. Sean X. Leng: The thing that’s most pertinent to aging and gerontologists is that older adults are at the greatest risk of hospitalization, winding up in the intensive care unit (ICU) and death from COVID-19. The case fatality rate is far higher among older adults than among the young and middle-aged. When you look at the data from China through Feb. 11, 2020, for those in their 80s and older, the case fatality rate is 14.8 percent, compared to basically zero among children under the age of 10. In Italy, as of March 17, the case fatality rate for those over age 80 was 20.2 percent, compared to zero for those age 29 and younger. It should be noted that older adults account for a much higher proportion of Italy’s population (22.8 percent) than in China (11.9 percent). This may explain why Italy has a much higher overall case fatality rate than China. And in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of March 18, 45 percent of hospitalizations, 53 percent of ICU admissions and 80 percent of deaths associated with COVID-19 were among adults age 65 and older. And the highest percentage was among those age 85 and older. Clearly, older adults are the ones most vulnerable to COVID-19. ◆ Newton Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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and the services. The sound of the drums was burned into memory. The riderless horse and the strains of Brahms Requiem ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’ were imprinted in our memories forever. “The two weeks passed. Life resumed, but it was not quite the same. The entire nation was in mourning. I’m not sure, but that in subtle ways, it still is.” —Dr. Frank Chesky “I was a 16-year-old high school senior, just returning with the rest of my class to the main building of my school in Guymon, Okla. We were on lunch break and came into the building to find most of the sophomores and juniors standing at either end of the main hall, crowded around televisions. Considering the nearly 500 students in the hall, it was strangely silent. “It took us several minutes to get someone to tell us what was going on. The two televisions in the building (both black and white) were showing pictures of lots of cars and people running, etc., but there was no sound at that point because the TVs had been mounted high on the wall and no one could reach the volume buttons. The principal came running out of his office with the remote controls. “Some of the kids who were closer to the front of the crowd had already seen enough to understand what we were seeing, and had in fact seen the actual shooting because the TVs had been turned on so students could watch the president’s motorcade that day at noon. “All we really knew was that the
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president had been shot and was being rushed to a hospital. Finally, about 1:30 or so, the entire high school was asked to go to our fifth-hour classes. It couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes until teachers received notes from the office that the president had died and that Lyndon Johnson would soon be taking the oath of office and would become the 36th president of the United States. School was dismissed for the day. “The next week was Thanksgiving week but I don’t recall anything about being in class on Monday and Tuesday or the trip 200-plus miles east to my grandparents for the holiday. All I remember of that week is watching hours and hours of news on television: the jailing of Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby killing him, etc., and finally the President’s funeral. I can still see Jackie Kennedy with her motherin-law and sisters-in-law, walking behind that flag-draped casket carried on a horse-drawn black artillery caisson.”
Arlee and JoAnn Johnson Oklahoma City bombing
“April 19, 1995, found Arlee and me living in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. That is the date of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. I was working as a teacher assistant in the Chilliwack Public Schools. A co-worker heard about the bombing on her drive to school. I was shocked and —Ruby Kleymann in disbelief at this tragic news. Born and raised in Oklahoma, I immediately thought of family and friends there. I wanted to be near them. Fortunately, no family members or friends were injured or killed in the tragic events of that day.” —JoAnn Johnson September 11
Ruby Kleymann in high school in Guymon, Oklahoma.
“On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, between 7 and 8 a.m., I was pedaling my stationary exercise bicycle and watching the “Today Show” on NBC in the parsonage of the Herold Mennonite Church MEMORIES - continued on page 7
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in Cordell, Oklahoma. Matt Lauer was interviewing someone about the life of Howard Hughes. The interview seemed overly long when Matt Lauer interrupted it with the statement that they were going to a breaking news event. But first they would take a commercial break while they made the necessary connections. One of those was a McDonald’s commercial. When they came back, they had a film of the western tower of the World Trade Center in New York City with a large amount of smoke coming out of it. “For the next two hours, I watched the events unfold on live television. Initially, no one was sure just how this had happened. Then it was revealed some people had seen a jet plane crash into the building. As I was watching, suddenly a second airliner flew into the other tower of the Trade Center. Then it became apparent that the first crash had probably not been an accident. It wasn’t very long before we learned that another airliner had crashed into the Pentagon building in Washington, D. C. Finally, we learned that a fourth airliner had crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and seemed to be connected to the other three planes. “Over a period of time that day, we learned that it was a terrorist attack that had killed more than 3,000 people, with about 400 of those being police officers and firefighters. “The days after became a blur of how this would affect me. How would it impact my plans for the Sunday morning worship service five days after this event? How would this change the future for
all of America? How would our political leaders react to this?” —Arlee Johnson “September 11, 2001, what has since been called ‘9/11’ happened on a Tuesday morning. I was ready to go across the street to the Chapel to teach the Ladies Bible Study. Clarence was watching the news on TV as I came through the living room with the handouts for the next week, my notebook and Bible in my arms. I couldn’t help but notice on TV what looked like an airplane hitting a tall building. I stopped just briefly to look, but it was time to get across the street. I told Clarence to tell me what happened when he’d come a bit later to attend the Men’s Bible Study. Quickly I put the handouts on every chair in the Chapel, and my notes and Bible on the podium. About that time Clarence came and told me that there had been a second plane that hit the Twin Towers in New York City, and it looked like it had been done on purpose. I decided not to say anything about it to the class, as I didn’t want to cause the ladies to be worried when I didn’t know all the details. After the class was over, one of the ladies who had come in late, told me that there had been a terrorist attack on our country. There were several ladies still there and we stopped to pray for God’s intervention and protection for all involved. Then we went home and of course there was nothing else on the TV. What a sick feeling to think that this could happen in America!” —Eleanore Myers “It was early morning. School had just started that beautiful September 11th morning. Teachers
were called, several at a time, to the principal’s office, where he informed them that our nation had been attacked, possibly by terrorists. As a paraeducator serving in 2nd grade classroom, we were all instructed to continue our day, do the best we could, while not sharing with the students the horrible news that was coming from Washington, allowing the value of having each parent explain the events of that day to their child. Lots of tears. Times to comfort one another ... to pray ... to go back into the classroom ... with a bright, cheerful smile on our face, helping the students. What a memorable day and week!” —Carol Schrag Hesston tornado “The tornado sirens had started about 4:30 p.m. but I, like many others in those days, didn’t get too excited about it. After all, we have heard those sirens for years every time a summer storm came over. So, I just continued what I was doing. At about 5 p.m., I decided to go home. When I stepped out of the office, I saw the big black cloud in the west. It was sure menacinglooking alright, so I dropped by the house and grabbed my camera and drove out to a country road to see what I could see. Boy did I get an eyeful. There was the biggest tornado I had ever seen, and it was coming straight for me. I grabbed a few shots with the camera and took off for home. When I got there, two more cars were parked in the driveway. My daughters Sarah and Emily had come to give Nettie and I a nice surprise. Emily said, ‘Dad, did you look out of the dining room window?’ I looked and MEMORIES - continued on page 8
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NEWTON Presbyterian Manor
1200 E. Seventh Newton, KS 67114-2862 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Our Mission: to provide quality senior services guided by Christian values Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.
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player has had her turn at making a word.
A shot of the Hesston tornado, taken by Duane Graham’s daughter, Emily. saw the beast clearly continuing towards Hesston. Emily and I went out in the backyard and shot some photos of the thing until Nettie (my wife, Emily’s mom) told us to get back into the house. Which of course we did.”
—Duane Graham ◆
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4. Each player tries to make as high a score as possible with each turn. Neither Sue#1 nor Sue#2 has any thought of setting up a good score for the other when she takes her turn. Nor does either make sure that the other doesn’t play on a turn that is going to be good for her next turn. 5. Each player is trying to win. 6. The game ends when all the tiles have been drawn. After each player has subtracted from her score the number to which the remaining tiles on her rack adds up, the winner is the player with the highest score.
Now, here’s the problem I ran into when four games had been played: Sue #2 won ALL four! The scores were very close in each game but Sue#2 was still the winner each time. Sue #1 stomped angrily away from the table after losing the fourth game. And now she refuses to play any more Scrabble games with Sue#2. If the games are to continue throughout the COVID-19 lock down, it appears that I am going to have to invite Sue#3 to take Sue#1’s place. Sue#1 can play Solitaire. We all need to stay calm during this difficult time. Author’s note: I have been a Newton resident for 58 years. I do not like conflict between family members and always seek harmony in the home (this being easy because I live alone).◆