by Carolyn Brown of our Riverside Court location in Woodstock, NB

The excitement continues to build as we approach the opening of our Memory Care Unit. New residents are set to start arriving next week with staff orientation done, the final touches and painting being completed and we even see furniture starting to arrive. We have some very thankful families recognizing that their loved ones will be safe and comfortable and well cared for in our specialized unit.

We want to say a special thank you to our facility Director, Emily Atherton, for her leadership as she guides everyone through this challenging project in addition to managing the day to day requirements that running the “ big yellow house”  requires. We’ve seen her hands on with everything from staff orientation to ordering the curtains and yes, we’ve even seen her lugging the odd box to the new unit. So thank you, Emily. We will all get there together.

In a conversation yesterday with a resident we were commenting on how lush and rich everything seems to be this year. Growth seems to be happening ahead of time and our gardening ladies planters reflect just that! I have to say the grass is growing fast too and I have to wonder if we asked Maintenance Manager James Grant if he loved the richness of it this year he may not be as excited as we given the grass has to be mowed. We appreciate the great job James does and that job entails far more than mowing grass in a house this sixe with many residents. So thank you James for all you do.

I had a conversation with one of the ladies making arrangements for her husband to live in our Memory Care unit. A few days later she e mailed with a question regarding that and then said she had another question. She said she was an EA in an elementary classroom at a local school about 19 years ago and she said I so thought after I left your office the other day that it was you. She gave me the class teacher’s name, said she had gone on a trip with her husband and thought I was the substitute teacher. She said the other thing she remembered was there was a little girl in the class named Mallory but couldn’t remember her last name but clearly remembered the little girl called the teacher Grammie. Well, after a chuckle and a check back to Memory Lane, I answered her and told her she had a great memory, she was indeed correct and Mallory was indeed my granddaughter now studying for a Masters. One of the joys of this job has been the interesting stories people share and the conversations we have.

So we move through July with many new experiences in our home for everyone and all the excitement summer brings with residents enjoying family visitors home on vacation and staff taking some time to be with family and enjoy summer. We always seem to have a little burden knotting our hearts but let’s try to be the reason today somebody smiles!! You will likely smile too!!