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Commun ty Matters Salina Presbyterian Manor

March 2017

Mary’s musings Thirty years ago I was invited to join a group of Lutheran women from all over the United States. Our purpose was to study issues involving “Peace with Justice.” I didn’t have a clue what that would involve or even what it meant. All I knew is I would be spending a week in Phoenix during the coldest part of winter. The scripture that guided this group was Micah 6:8, which is one of the most popular verses among both Jews and Christians promoting social justice. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” During my time with this group I visited homeless shelters, safe houses for abused women and children, and Humboldt Park in Chicago, which at that time had more gang-related violence and murders than anywhere in the city. During this experience I began to MUSINGS continued on page 6

A photo of the statue installation atop the Kansas Capitol dome.

Capitol contribution

Resident Jack Gillam played a role in designing statehouse statue For 15 years, a sculpture of a Kansa Indian has adorned the Kansas Capitol dome, and Salina Presbyterian Manor resident Jack Gillam helped put it there. Jack created the original drawing for “Ad Astra” for his good friend, Salina artist Dick Bergen. Dick was exhibiting his work in 1989 at Crown Center in Kansas City when he was approached by “Topper John,” a Kansas City attorney who was president of the Kansas Art Commission. He asked if Dick had entered the competition to create a sculpture for the capitol dome in Topeka. Dick didn’t know about it, so Topper John sent him the materials. Dick researched state capitol domes, and his favorite was Nebraska, which features a farmer sowing wheat by hand. He decided his statue would show purpose and action. Dick also learned the Kansa Indians were the CAPITOL, continued on page 2

CAPITOL, continued from page 1

original people of the Topeka area, and he developed the vision of a Kansa Indian shooting an arrow toward the north star. Dick’s son, Richie, became the model for the artwork. Richie stood on a stool with a toy bow and arrow pointed skyward while his dad took photos from every angle. Jack Gillam, then a principal at Jones Gillam Architects and Engineers, created the drawings from Dick’s photos. The bronze sculpture went on a statewide tour in a truck provided by Long-McArthur Ford and a large trailer from Donahue Trailer. Dick

and Jack vividly remember a stop at the School for the Blind in Wichita, where students studied “Ad Astra” with their hands. More than 20 years after the start of the project, the completed piece was installed on the dome in fall 2002. Gov. Bill Graves, also of Salina, accepted the statue, which is just over 22 feet tall, weighing 4,420 pounds. Dick’s most recent sculpture is “The Last Cowboy,” completed in 2016. He and Jack continue their longtime friendship and enjoy one another’s company. Above: Jack’s original drawing Below: Dick, Jack and Richie with the sculpture.

Community Matters

is published monthly for residents and friends of Salina Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at PresbyterianManors.org. Bradley Radatz, executive director Jenni Jones, marketing director To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact Jenni Jones, jjones@pmma.org. Telephone: 785-825-1366 Fax: 785-825-6554 Address: 2601 E. Crawford, Salina, KS 67401-3898 Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values. SalinaPresbyterianManor.org

Community Matters March 2017

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Employee of the Month

Congratulations to Traci Peterson, our employee of the month for February. Traci is a dining services assistant and has worked for Presbyterian Manor for 10 months. She has two children, Jessica and Bradly, and between them she has three grandchildren: Levi (9), Olivia (7), and Hunter (4). When she isn’t taking care of all of us in the dining room, she enjoys sewing and crocheting. She, of course, loves to spend time with her grandkids as well. Traci also has two dogs: Ceejay, the poodle, and Emmett the Yorkie. One thing we might not know about Traci is that she has worked in food service since 1982. Also, she enjoys participating in our Stitch and Pray group. Please congratulate Traci when you see her!

Health care happenings March’s theme will be Women’s History Month. We will learn about women trailblazers, women inventors, wives of the ‘50s and “When Females Rule the Roost.” Also, we will be having fun with food. We’ll try some of Eric’s tamales, have a waffle day, and take a cake mix and make a Caramel Pecan Poke cake. We will put paper ladybugs with our address on them in balloons, then letting them go – kind of like Flat Stanley, to see who will return their picture.

March activities By Cathy Boos, Life Enrichment Director We have had a great start to the New Year with many trips and activities. I am very happy to see the residents so excited to get the new calendar for the month. March has us heading to Wichita to see the Museum of World Treasures. We’ve also started a coffee club to try out coffee shops in the area. Mokas is on the list for March. Romeo breakfast club is always a big hit for the men. They have chosen Bayard’s Café for this month. Manor Monologue will feature Don Boos, Director of Development for Blue Beacon International. He will update us on the downtown development. Travel and Taste is always great fun, and we fill the bus quickly. This month we will head to Daimaru Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi. March is not complete without a St. Paddy’s Day Pot Luck. We are quite busy living every day to the fullest! March 1 - ROMEO Breakfast Club

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March 9 - Museum of World Treasures March 16 - St. Paddy’s Day Pot Luck March 20 - Manor Monologue: Don Boos, Downtown Development March 22 - Travel & Taste: Daimaru Steakhouse & Sushi March 28 - Martinelli’s & Movie, downtown Salina

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Notes from the heart Mary Johnson has been painting since the age of 12. She enjoys producing beautiful works and has participated in our annual Art is Ageless® exhibit.

Cancer Center for their Wellness Totes, which are Recently Mary made a generous given to gift to Salina Presbyterian Manor of cancer her painting “Tulips” for use in our patients. Notes from the Heart project. Thank We also made you, Mary. comfort Chaplain Mary Bridges started pillows Notes from the Heart to extend our for this mission into the Salina community. project. Presbyterian Manor residents and other volunteers gather to write supportive messages on cards. Then, the notes go to Tammy Walker

Community Matters March 2017

Mary suggested to then-marketing director Kim Fair that our volunteers use our own Presbyterian Manor cards for Notes from the Heart. Kim suggested Art is Ageless artwork and offered to go through prior years of photos.

Pronto Print added Notes from the Heart at the top of the artwork and printed the folded cards. On the back is text that acknowledges the cards are Salina Presbyterian Manor, and Mary is credited as the artist.

When she opened 2013 photos, the winning painting “Tulips” by Mary Johnson caught her eye. It was colorful, but calming and uplifting. Chaplain Mary liked it, too.

When she lived in Brookville she had a studio behind her house. After moving to Salina she converted a large room in her basement to a studio.

A limited number of cards may be purchased at this year’s Art is Ageless exhibit, March 7-9. Mary has taken art classes over the years and has tried different techniques of her own.

In addition to painting, Mary also crochets, draws and sculpts in clay. She painted murals on her grandchildren’s bedroom walls, from Bambi to the Dukes of Hazzard, and she has given many artworks to friends and family over the years. Like us on Facebook

Meet RaShelle Hensley, social services director When RaShelle Hensley was about 7 years old, her parents became foster parents. About two dozen foster children cycled through their home over the next four years.

They serve as a liaison between a community and residents and their families. They help people transition to life in the community after a move. Sometimes, they just listen.

Margaret Presley, who taught RaShelle at Bethany College, remembers a time when RaShelle was uncertain that she could do social work or work with anyone but children. But since then Margaret When she first applied for the said she has enjoyed watching her job, RaShelle wasn’t sure she was blossom. “She would periodically prepared to work with older adults. consult with me about ethical or Her clients had been mostly mothers other problematic matters. I always and children. But after a few weeks felt that she was on the mark with at Presbyterian Manor, she said, her judgment,” the professor said. “I realized this was where I was supposed to work.” In senior living, RaShelle is waiting to hear if she has been accepted into the master RaShelle said, it has been easier to nurture relationships, and the slower of social work program at the University of Kansas. “I feel like pace helps. with my masters, I will be able to go “My job is all about building those further and add more support,” she relationships and keeping the said. “Mental health with the elderly lines of communication open, and is a hot topic. I want to have more encouraging people to come to me skills and the knowledge base to if there is a concern – not just with address any mental health issues my families, but with residents and the residents have.” nursing staff. They’re the ones I If accepted, RaShelle will begin depend on to follow through on a studies this summer at KU’s lot of things,” she said. Johnson County campus. She said Social workers play a vital role the Saturday classes will fit into her in senior living communities. routine of traveling to Lawrence The experience inspired RaShelle in part to become a social worker herself. Since 2006, she has been director of social services at Salina Presbyterian Manor.

most weekends to see her three sons and her grandson (“who is perfect,” says the proud grandma). In her admissions essay, RaShelle reflected on how her childhood experience influenced her: “I learned a lot about empathy, compassion, and respect for diversity as my parents cared for children of different races, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds.” Clearly her family influenced those children, too. About two years ago, one young man reconnected with RaShelle’s family. He first came to their home when he was two, and her parents stayed close with his mother and him until they moved away. “He has been through a lot of stuff, but he seems to have turned it around,” RaShelle said. “It was goosebumps after all those years.”

Senior artists invited to enter Art is Ageless® exhibit Salina Presbyterian Manor is now accepting entries for the 2017 Art is Ageless competition and exhibit. Entry forms are due March 1; artwork may be delivered March 2-3. The exhibit will be from 1 to 4 p.m. March 7-8 in the lower level activity room. A reception with the artists will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 9. For more information, contact Jenni Jones, 785-825-1366, or jjones@ pmma.org. Like us on Facebook

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MUSINGS continued from page 1

look at our world through a different lens and listen to news in a new way. In 1992, I traveled to the Middle East and spent a month in Ramallah, on the West Bank. There, I experienced a never-ending war, and because of my time there with the Palestinian Christians, I underwent extreme security measures at the Tel Aviv airport when returning home. After an exhaustive search I was found to be bomb free and allowed to board my airplane. In my quest to learn more, I learned how important it was to become an advocate and a voice for those who had no voice. I’m sure you have all heard people say, “I’m just one person, what can I do?” I think this story answers this question: “‘Tell me the weight of a snowflake,’ a coal mouse asked a wild dove. ‘Nothing more than nothing,’ the dove answered. ‘In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,’ the coal

mouse said. ‘I sat on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not in a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,471,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch – nothing more than nothing, as you say – the branch broke off.’ Having said that, the coal mouse ran away. The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on peace, thought about the story for a while. Finally, she said to herself, ‘Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come to the world.’” – Source unknown Metaphorically, welfare is like giving Band-Aids to people after they’ve had a trauma. Justice is seeking to prevent those traumas from happening in the first place. And over the years, many people have leaned toward

each of those two things. People like Florence Nightingale and Mother Teresa excelled in personal acts of charity and mercy, and people like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah and Martin Luther King Jr. focused on prophetic calls for social justice and transformation. I am still learning how to help others and advocate for those who have no voice, or for those whose voice isn’t being heard. I’m blessed to be part of the Social Services department here at Presbyterian Manor, and I am still learning much from our RaShelle Hensley, who is an amazing, caring social worker. I believe that those words from Micah were the first written job description for social workers. But we can’t wait for others. We are called to be that “one snowflake” that changes our world. This is your job description,: To love KINDNESS, to do JUSTICE, and to walk HUMBLY with your God.

Fitness routines Everyone knows fitness is important. How have you taken steps to be fit? What’s your regular fitness routine? If you’ve started a fitness routine late in life, what advice would you have for others? How do you think you benefit from regular exercise? If you’ve got a story to share, contact Marketing Director Jenni Jones and your story could be featured in an upcoming edition of Community Matters.

Community Matters March 2017

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