October

2020

Program Ponderings

Director of Programs - Brad Ray

Happy October to all! As we continue to live in a world where we are all anxious to get back to “normal”, we are con-tinuing to exercise precaution here at Village Shores. Howev-er, that certainly has not damp-ened our spirits! Dezso and my-self have dedicated our ener-gies to set us apart from other senior living communities by utilizing our talents and har-nessing our energies to create offerings that continue to help our residents grow and thrive. In this section of this month’s newsletter, I will describe in de-tail the many fun and exciting programs and activities that one would not find on the cal-endar of events that are offered at other communities.

Stretch and Sing with Brad happens every Monday at 11:00. Join me (Brad) in a 20 minute energetic stretch and exercise program that really gets the heart pumping. Then join us as each resident chooses a song to sing from one of three songbooks that I have created, while I lead the group on acoustic guitar! You will feel alert, refreshed and rejuvenat-ed afterwards, I guarantee!

I also have begun a fun new game that takes place eve-ry other Monday. Trivial Pur-suit Card Race with Brad. For this game, I challenge indi-viduals to answer a question from each category on a classic Trivial Pursuit card, and finish each category. Whomever an-swers a question from each cat-egory first is the winner! From the feedback I have gotten, the

residents are really enjoying this challenging new game!

Our very own “Professor Dezso” has really been cooking things up for all of the Village Shores intellectuals. We had to add a second weekly calendar ap-pearance of his ever popular His-tory Lecture with Dezso Bar-tha, M.A. On Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:00, residents have the opportunity to be engaged in informative lectures on numerous subjects, including the events leading up to WWI, WWII, the rise of Greek civilization, the rich and fascinating aspects of Norse my-thology, and a myriad of other engaging and interesting topics. You would be hard pressed to find another senior living community that offers anything like it!

Along with these wonderful opportunities, we also offer Wii Bowling, Scenic Drives with Victor, and 3 weekly concerts with Dezso and myself! Dezso is an accomplished pianist and he and I alternate which floors we give our afternoon concerts. Dezso, of course, performs famil-iar selections of classical pieces from Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and others, while I strum my in-terpretations of favorites by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and more! Be-cause of all of the wonderful mu-sic we provide, we have been told that Village Shores by far has more musical offerings than near-ly any other senior living campus in the metro, especially since the COVID crisis has began. Dezso and I are keenly aware of the positive and healthful effects that music has on people, and we are

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Get to Know John and Shirley Daffer

John and Shirley met when she was in 9th grade, and he was in 10th while attending a teen party. Later that night, she and her friend were dropped off af-terwards by John and his friend. They seemed to hit it off, and Shirley expected a call from this boy who attended a rival high school in Minneapolis. However, it was 7 months later when John got up the nerve to find the house she lived at, which took some luck as it was dark when they last met. But as luck would have it, he found her and a con-nection was made. After high school and John’s stint in the Navy, they married and bought a home in Minneapolis. John’s career as a school counselor kept their summers open, which was a delight to the five children that would eventually come. John’s aunt Mil-lie was an expert in the field of marionettes. When she passed away, she handed down her handmade marionette collection. Well John, being a natural ham, soon started performing for their children, Soon Shirley joined the fun and as their children grew, they discovered that children really enjoyed their show! They started “The Daffer Marionettes” and per-formed at daycares and kindergartens throughout the metro! They did this for 15 years until they retired around 2001. Here at Village Shores on the Reflections floor, they enjoy bingo, piano with Dezso, and sing a long with Brad. They are truly an amazing couple!

Resident in The Spotlight October Birthdays

Page 2

Happy Birthday to these Residents and Staff

From all your friends at

Village Shores!!

5 Barbara Moltumyr – Staff-VS 5 Helena Welleh-Staff-LifeSprk 5 Dick Nylander (1004) 6 Kathleen Darland (805) 6 Bennet Woltjer-Staff-VS 7 Elaine Regan (410) 9 Naomi Nycklemoe (720) 13 Harold Fratt (713) 13 Raymond Wilson (907) 20 Adele Davis (1003) 20 Jim Gullikson-Staff-VS 21 Patsy Kahman-Staff-VS 25 Keith Karg – Staff - VS 30 Bradley Van Gorder (412) 31 Lorraine Enger (719) 31 Phil Sparish – Staff - SCDS

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Executive Director News Rick Meyer—Executive Director

Silver Advantage

OCTOBER 2020

Silver Crest is committed to creating sen-ior communities of excellence through vi-brant and engaging lifestyles of wellness, independence, dignity, and care. We want input from you about how we are doing at achieving our R.E.S.P.E.C.T. goals. Please visit our Silver Advantage Board on 1st floor and fill out a slip for our hardwork-ing staff. This is an incentive for them to be recognized by management. Here are a few kudos that were posted recently:

The last warm days of the year are upon us and are what we call the “Indian Sum-mer”. With Covid-19 still present, I hope we have a warm October, so that it will be easier to get outside for fresh air and visits. There are many activities that have returned to get you back en-gaged with your friends. The dining rooms are opening up and fitness programs are expand-ing. You will be pleased to know we are 72 days Covid free and still maintaining the safety precautions of mask, face shield, six foot distance and hand sanitizers. Thanks for your adherence to these means of limiting exposures. We are thank-ful for each of the Essential Caregivers who are permitted to enter your apartment now, as they do so much to assist and make life more mean-ingful.

Have you met the new staff members? Just to name of few, we have Nola at the reception desk during the daytime, Kayla in Marketing assisting Judy, Keith director of dining, Sarah director of Lifesprk Nursing, plus Henry and Depearo, chefs at your service. With each new hire, we hope our services will increase your satisfaction and contentment. Progress on several projects can be noted. The newly installed water softener system was turned on Monday Sept 28 with several noticeable bene-fits to you such as savings on soaps and deter-gents. Comcast has been doing pre-installation construction work getting our building ready for the bulk rate cable tv system we have been promising which was delayed by Covid-19. Those of you with a Comcast box will need to be sure to turn in that box which is assigned to you and re-ceive a new box assigned to Village Shores. We will work closely with each one of you during this transition so we can limit the problems necessari-ly associated with change. I feel I can safely say we will be installing sometime before the end of October. Every year, at this time, we move into budget preparation and planning for the next year. With revenues down and some expenses like paper products and disinfectant chemicals up, all due to Covid-19, it is difficult to plan not knowing when the impact of the virus will be over. Our main goal is to ensure that the services you enjoy and re-quire will be there at an affordable cost. That’s why we take three months and three reviews to create this plan. I wish you a warm, colorful, and wonderful fall with lots of time with your family and friends.

Sincerely,

~Rick Meyers—Executive Director

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“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people”

Victor Borge Do you know anyone with a disease? Can-cer, Multiple Sclerosis, or dementia for ex-ample? Most people, and I stress MOST, do not want to always talk about their disease/diagnosis. Did you know that with any dis-ease, dementia included, laughter can im-prove the quality of life? Even without a seri-ous disease we all feel calmer, happier, and healthier after a good belly laugh. Researchers have found laughter has a wide range of health benefits from laughter. Who knows maybe laughter might even reduce your risk of dementia! Promising benefits of laughter:

Stimulates your heart, lung and muscles and increases oxygen to our brain Lower stress hormones Eases anxiety and tension Increase in social interaction and strengthens family relationships Lower blood sugar levels Strengthened immune system Eases symptoms of depression and pro-motes good mental health Release of pleasure-inducing neurochem-icals in the brain which may reduce pain

Next time you are visiting a person with de-mentia and are not sure what to say, think of some amusing stories to tell or watch a funny show on TV. While you are laughing, reap the benefits of a few pieces of dark chocolate candy and really start feeling healthy. “I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable”. — Viktor Frankl

~Hala

Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group

Starting on October 21st Hala Randall

and Meagan Vander Kolk (Reflection Di-rector at Summit Place) will be offering

an Alzheimer’s Care Giver Support group virtually with Zoom! The virtual support group will be offered every 3rd Wednes-

day of the month from 11am to 12 noon. Please see Hala with any ques-

tions.

NEW!! INTERNET CLUB STARTS IN OCTOBER!

Our new internet club “The Village Shores Voyagers” will begin meeting in October. This will be open to any residents but must not exceed 10

persons. We will discuss various as-pects of our interests, goals, prob-

lems, and potential solutions we may have regarding maximizing our col-

lective online experiences. Come and join us! Thursday October 8th and Thursday, October 29th at 6:30 in

the Richfield Room.

OCTOBER 2020

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Maintenance Larry Webb– Director of Environmental Services

As the days get more brisk as we slip into fall, you can find comfort knowing that we have turned on the boilers and all of our heating systems are working flawlessly to provide you with comfort

and warmth. If you have any issues of any kind in regards to heating your apartment, don’t hesi-tate to contact the Maintenance Department post haste. Please note that your recyclables can not be bagged in plastic bags, then thrown into the recycle bins in the garage. Please dump your recycle waste directly from the provided bags into the recycle dumpster. You can also use pa-per grocery bags. That is a handy way to allevi-ate waste. Remember, no plastic bags of any kind can be recycled, this includes the provided recycle bags. If you have any maintenance or housekeep-ing concerns or need to put in a work order, just remember to call Reception at 612-861-1186. ~Larry

Cardio not calories! This month we are focusing on our cardio-vascular health. We know that it may be up-setting to complete a workout and not see a lot of calories being burned, but there are so many other great benefits to exercising than just burning calories. Join us in The Club to learn about the benefits of using our cardio equipment. As a bonus, for every 10 minutes you use the treadmill, CyberCycle, NuStep, or bike, we will give you 1 minute free towards a personal training session. Starting October 5th- 30th, collect your minutes and trade them in for your free per-sonal training session by the end of the year! As always talk to Megan or Bennet in The Club or call us at 612-746-4712!

In addition to our October cardiovascular challenge, we have good news for class-goers. With all our diligent efforts to rid our building of COVID-19, and keep it out, we are happy to inform you that our exercise classes can now have 9 participants instead of 6! Now we can have a bit more rambunc-tiousness and hooting and hollering while we move and groove and better ourselves! We will love to see as many of you as possi-ble, so come on down!

We look forward to seeing you there!

To the Wellness in your Village,

~Bennet & Megan

The Club News Bennet Woltjer - Director of Wellness

VILLAGE SHORES

HALLOWEEN

DRIVE THRU / WALK BY

TRICK OR TREATING EVENT

TUESDAY OCT 27TH

3:00—6:00 P.M.

Seniors drive thru our front lot and get a treat

bag! No costume

Required.

(Open to All)

Page 6

Health & Wellness

Campus Director of Life Care - Sherrie Willis

Therapies You Should Try—and May Come to Love!

Therapies around art, music, aromas, and pets might significantly improve the health and well-being of older adults. Reputable health systems around the world use these techniques to relieve a wide range of symptoms (even those like Mayo here in Minnesota!)

Here are a few opportunities you can do now to help improve your wellbeing:

Art Therapy - Making art can reduce your pain, stress, and anxiety. It may also ele-vate your mood and increase your mind-fulness and wellbeing.

Music Therapy - Try music therapeutically to improve your cognition and manage pain, stress, anxiety, agitation, and de-pression. It’s also used to improve the gait, balance, coordination, and posture of people with Parkinson’s disease.

Aroma Therapy - The scents of essential oils might boost your mood, enhance your sleep patterns, and ease your pain, indi-gestion, and nausea.

Pet Therapy - The human-animal connection can improve your heart health and signifi-cantly reduce your pain, anxiety, depres-sion, and fatigue.

HERE’S A TIP: The caregivers in your life may want to try these therapies too!

Talk to your Life Care Manager or swing by the Lifesprk office to get connected with a certified therapist in any of these areas.

~Shine on!

Food For Thought

Keith Karg - Director of Dining Services

October is coming soon! I am hoping to put a Food Committee together starting in October. If you are interested in being a part of this commit-tee, please contact me at 612-746-4710.

With safety in mind, I would like to keep it to no more than 10 people. In keeping with tradition, we will be doing some fun and festive fall meals this month, so keep your eye on the upcoming menu!

Any recommendations are appreciated. We are always open to suggestions.

~Keith

kkarg@villageshores.com

CALL THIS NUMBER FOR MEAL

RESERVATIONS

612-746-4713

Village Shores Medical Shuttle Returns

Beginning on Tuesday, October 6, we will be once again offering transportation to various medical facilities on a limited basis. The medi-cal runs will take place every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The time slots will be 2 riders per hour, and the distance limit will be 5 miles maximum. For reference, St. Louis Park is 7 miles away, and therefore unavailable as a destination offer. There will be two slots per hour. The first run will leave at 9:00 a.m. and the final departure will be at 2:00 p.m. These will be free of charge. Please be patient as we get the wheels rolling on this complimentary service. The sign-up sheets will be posted on 1st floor at the sign up table. We are hoping to offer more outing and transportation opportuni-ties once the Coronavirus pandemic is on the downswing. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

OCTOBER 2020

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Program Pondering (cont.)

Brad Ray– Director of Programs Salon News “The Shores” Hair Salon

Lani McConnell - Owner 612-746-4708

Seasonal hair loss is actually normal in the summer and late fall. It might be a bit unsettling to look at your brush and see enough hair for a year's supply of Donald Trump's tou-pees, but some extra shedding in the months leading up to winter is no cause for panic. Humans tend to shed between 50-100 hairs per day, a typi-cal strand of hair has a life cycle of between 24-72 months during that time it will grow normally. However about 10 percent of a person’s hair may be in the ‘resting' phase which is (known as telogen), at which point the hair can fall out. Research has shown women experience a slightly higher rates of telogen during the summer month of July, which sees the affected hairs fall out around 100 days later, around mid October or November.

Although seasonal shedding may be noticeable to you, the entire pro-cess is perfectly normal and no cause for concern. Seasonal hair loss is common amongst all mam-mals, including humans, although it is not restricted to Autumn. Women may also experience slightly higher levels of hair loss during the Spring, although the autumnal loss is more noticeable.

~Lani

(continued from page 1)

more than willing to share our talents with the residents of Village Shores.

Prior to the COVID crisis, our cal-endar was packed with many resident run groups and games. Now with social distancing and safety in mind, we are happy to have a number of them back and flourishing. Bible Study with Al, Current Event Discussion, Needle-workers, Book of the Month Club, Bookworms, and the Philosophy Dis-cussion Group have all been working out nicely. We have excellent resident volunteers who coordinate those inde-pendent groups, and assure that all the safety criteria is being met. I cannot thank those leaders enough for all they do.

We are also happy to be offering movies on the weekends down in the Richfield Room on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as Sunday afternoon and evening. I try to keep the selec-tions diverse and interesting, with some-thing for everyone. If you have a film suggestion, or a DVD that you feel would be an enjoyable selection, please see me and I will get it on the calendar!

As you have seen, Dezso and my groups have become quite popular and therefore most of them have had to be regulated to requiring sign-up for par-ticipation. Please adhere to the sign-up policies to ensure that all of the resi-dents that want to will get a chance to participate. Remember, masks, social distancing, and hand sanitization are key factors in keeping everyone at Vil-lage Shores safe. If you have any ques-tions or ideas, always feel free to call, email, or pop in to my office!

My door is always open to you!

~Brad

HOURS OF

OPERATION

Monday - Friday

8:00 - 5:00

Walk-in or

By appointment

612-746-4708

Executive Director - Rick Meyer 612.746.4703 Administrative Services Manager - Pam Propper 612.861.1186 Director of Marketing - Judy Koznick 612.746.4711 Director of Programs - Brad Ray 612.746.4705 Director of Life Care - Sarah McCauley 612.746.4716 Director of Dining Services - Keith Karg 612.746.4710 Director of Maintenance- Larry Webb 612.746.4701 Director of Wellness - Bennet Woltjer 612.746.4712 Director of Resident Services - Monica Whitson 612.746.4707 Director of Reflections - Hala Randall 612.746.4714 Director of Housekeeping - Eve Morgan 612.746.4701 Marketing Associate—Kayla Beehler 612.746.4706 Housekeepers - Sattie Khublall, Marge Chism Bus Drivers - Vic Larson, Amy Miller, Bernie Haas 612.803.6718 Lead Receptionist - Nola Roberts Receptionists - Pat Coy, Pego Dailey, Barb Moltumyr, Patsy Kahmann, Jim Gullickson, Jane Long, Analisa Hillman Maintenance Techs - Juan Nicolas Noyola, Matthew Fahrendorff Activity Coordinator - Dezso Bartha Reflections Coordinator - Glenn Kennedy Wellness Coordinator - Megan Van Der Beek Chefs - Phil Sparish, Henry Lang, Depearo James Dining Room Supervisor - Crystal Wilson Dining Room Wait Staff - Lillian Hatley, Nan Thompson, Winny Amenya, Rachael Coulter, Mary Stratton, Sherry Partlow, Cheryl Partlow, Anna Nelson, Linda Ricksham, Ben Bury, Henry Lange, Edube Jideonwo Dishwasher - Gemma Guthrie

www.villageshoresseniorcommunity.com

6501 Woodlake Dr. Richfield, MN 55423

Things You Should Know

• We have a free shuttle for medical appointments, grocery shopping, banking, restaurants, and casinos. Talk to Brad if you have more ideas.

• (SHUTTLE CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE) • The meal charges that appear on your monthly invoice

can be confusing. The date that appears next to your meal charges is the date that the charges were posted, NOT the date when you ate the meal. That date of posting includes all meal charges incurred over 30 days.

If you would like to refer a friend to Village Shores, please contact

Judy Koznick at 612-861-1186.

All Village Shores Staff members are available by calling reception at 612-861-1186.