NO MISTAKE

A few days ago I was a patient in the hos-pital……NO KIDDING! I am the same guy who recently rode his bicycle 3,500 miles across the United States. A mere five weeks after finishing that little jour-ney, I was flat on my back in the emer-gency room with a “text book” case of heart flutter. I had ZERO symptoms but luckily I checked my pulse one day while at work. My heart rate was about 3 times faster than normal but even then, I ig-nored it thinking it was just a “glitch”. After two days of my classic “DENIAL”, I finally gave in and drove myself to the hospital where I received a cardioversion which put my heart back into its normal rhythm.

More than 40 years have passed since the only other time I was in a hospital as an overnight “patient”. And I must confess that while I received very good care, I did not like the experience. I was literally confined to my bed. I was not “allowed” to walk to the bathroom by myself which was less than 10 feet away. Multiple ca-bles were attached to my chest, my left hand had a monitor taped to a finger with an accompanying cable and my right arm was punctured with a needle for my IV. Needless to say, it was not a conducive arrangement for a pleasant night of sleep.

In the days following my “surprise” hospi-talization, I found myself thinking about my wife’s sister who for many years has had a license plate on the front of her car that reads: NO MISTAKE. The “essence” of this simple message is this: EVERY-THING that happens is absolutely no mis-take! While I initially was angry and thinking that my body had “let me down”, I gradually began to realize that maybe my experience was NO MISTAKE.

Scott’s Monthly Sharing

Resident of the Month

Barbara Ott

Employee of the Month

Shannon Shields

Activities: Life at WRC

Spotlight #1

Shanda Farquahar

Spotlight #2

Shannon Hall

www.wellsvillerc.com volume 7, issue 11

Rather it has given me a wonderful oppor-tunity to see with “fresh eyes” what many of our residents have recently experienced prior to moving to WRC. Also, it has made me pause and think again about what we are committed to providing our residents each and every day.

My staff and I are ABSOLUTLEY commit-ted to “CREATING” and “BEING” a home for our residents. We are also committed to being a great place to work and visit. Your feedback whenever we fall short of your expectations is what allows us to continue to improve…….we welcome such feedback and THRIVE on it – REALLY! Thank you for your on-going support!!

‘til next month,

Scott

**The following poem was written by our newest member of the housekeeping staff.**

FORAGE

Lay your gifts at the Lord's feet

Pull up those stakes, a new chapter seek.

Deliverance and faith are right there to touch,

Gold holds you dear and loves you so much.

Versed in Jesus and longing to repeat,

You stay in the Word and talk to those on the

street.

Everybody is in need these days,

Go to them and help them, you know the way.

Passion and support are there from the Master,

You are still here, He hasn't put you to pasture.

Written by: Kelly Devine Colson

NOVEMBER 2015

Scott Averill Owner

Ashley

Washington Business Office

Manager

Jill McCoy Reception/Human

Resources

Dorothy Adams Social Services

Myra Geer

Food Services

Jeanie Good Environmental

Services

Jennifer Carpenter

Lifestyle Coordinator

Kristine Martinez Director of Nursing/

MDS Coordinator

Jenn Blaine Therapy Director

Arlene Tomlinson Housekeeping/

Laundry

Barbara is a resident of our Meadowlark Neighborhood and a past resident of our Sun-rise Assisted Living Neighborhood. Barbara spent most of her life in Lawrence until she and her late husband, Jerry, moved to Wells-ville and opened a hardware store. They owned the business for 15 years.

Prior to becoming business owners, Jerry worked as a dairyman and Barbara was a den-tal assistant. Jerry and Barbara have 2 chil-dren, Kevin and Traci, and several grandchil-dren and great-grandchildren.

In her spare time here at WRC, Barbara enjoys doing crossword puzzles to keep her mind sharp.

When asked what she likes about living at WRC, Barb replied, "The people are just really great."

Shannon was born in Virginia and spent most of her childhood in Texas before settling in Wellsville with her family. She has one son, Jordy, and he is her favorite person in the world. Shannon says, "He's funny and he makes me smile."

Shannon chose healthcare because, at the end of the day, she feels like she has made a differ-ence in my residents’ lives. She says, “Learning about their lives is a great way to spend my day.”

Reading, swimming and shopping are Shan-non’s favorite pastimes. She loves trying on clothes! She is also fascinated by ancient his-tory and enjoys learning about different cul-tures, religions and beliefs. Shannon would love to live by the ocean someday.

When asked why she loves working at WRC, she stated, "It's a family environment. We have fun activities. People smile and laugh. It's a home!"

Barbara Ott Shannon Shields

Barb and Shannon

share November honors.

Barb in her

Halloween costume.

Shannon and her son, Jordy.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I would first of all like to thank the “Sassy Sen-iors” made up of Shirley Fort, Laurel Edstrom, Sharon House, and Kathy Hill, as well as our own Kathy Collins for the time and effort put forth for the fabulous Halloween Community Room decorations. We had a wonderful Hal-loween party and an outstanding Trick-or-Treat event that had over 220 children walking through the halls of Wellsville Retirement Community.

If you haven’t visited our Facebook page, you should really check out some of the pictures from Halloween. The resident’s and commu-nity had a blast!

For the past month, we have enjoyed the 6th graders from Wellsville Middle School coming to participate in activities on Monday morn-ings. These children play “Wacky Ball” and help with crafts/baking. The residents thor-oughly enjoy the liveliness and helpful atti-tudes of these wonderful children. Thank you to Mrs. Lawyer for teaching these kids the value of volunteering.

We would like to welcome some of our newest members of our volunteer staff, Scott Shea and David Wasserfallen. It is amazing to see such wonderful people in our community willing to bring joy to our residents.

We invite each and every one of you to any of our fabulous activities that are scheduled for the month of November. We have the Carlson’s on the 7th, Veteran’s Day Program the 11th, Wellsville Elementary 4th graders on the 13th, Ladie’s Tea the 16th, VA Coffee on the 19th, Dr Frank performs the 22, and many other events. Please look at the calendar enclosed for a com-plete listing.

Here is a poem submitted to us by Marilyn Hill

The truth about aging memory….

Brains of older people are slow because they know so much. People do not decline mentally with age, it just takes them longer to recall facts because they have more information in their brains, scien-tists believe. Much like computer struggles as the hard drive gets full, so too, do humans take longer to access information when their brains are full.

Researchers say this slowing down process is not the same as cognitive decline. The human brain works slower in old age, said Dr. Michael Ram-scar, but only because we have stored more infor-mation over time. The brains of older people do not get weak. On the contrary, they simply know more.

Also, older people often go to another room to get something and when they get there, they stand there wondering what they came for. It is NOT a memory problem; it is nature’s way of making older people do more exercise.

Now when I reach for a word or a name, I won’t excuse myself by saying “I’m having a senior mo-ment.”

Now, I’ll say, “My start-up disk is full!”

Just a few of our Trick-or-Treaters.

Wellsville Retirement Community

304 W. 7th

Wellsville, Kansas 66092

Thanksgiving Celebration

Shanda Farquahar

Spotlight #1 is on Shanda Farquahar

who works as a Certified Nurse Assis-

tant on the night shift during the week.

She is married with 3 children. Her

husband has worked for the Kansas

Department of Transportation for 15

years. Shanda has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal

Justice and is a Certified Medication Aide. She also

has her Social Service and Activity Director Certifi-

cates and is a Medical Assistant. Following are her

responses to our world-famous Spotlight Questions:

Favorite High School Memory: When I met my hus-

band….he had just gotten out of the Navy.

A person in my life who has inspired me: My

grandma and grandpa!

3 words that describe me: caring, loving and bossy

(according to my kids!)

If I had a time machine and could travel anywhere

in time, I would: Go back to see my brother. He died

in 1989.

If I could buy anything with price not being a con-

cern: A new house. live in an old farmhouse now.

If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing

about the world: Nobody would go hungry.

Our 2nd Spotlight is on Shannon Hall

who is a Certified Nurse Assistant who

works in our Countryview Neighbor-

hood during the day Monday through

Thursday. She was born in Wichita

and raised in Ottawa where she gradu-

ated from high school. She currently lives in Ottawa

with her two children who are 14 and 5.

Favorite High School Memory: It actually was when

I was in 8th grade – my last year of middle school.

There was a food fight in the brand new building and I

just stood there and watched it!

A person in my life who has inspired me: My

grandma!

3 words that describe me: stylish, happy and hard-

working.

If I had a time machine and could travel anywhere

in time, I would: Go to the 1800’s before electronics.

If I could buy anything with price not being any

concern: I would buy a house in the country.

In 5 years I want: to be a registered nurse and eventu-

ally own a home for disabled kids.

If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing

about the world: No more mean people.

Shannon Hall