Our Charge Nurse at East Mesa Healthcare Center placed a call to the family member of a resident who was receiving hospice care and whose condition was deteriorating.  The resident’s daughter, Melissa, lives in a small community near Phoenix and indicated to the nurse that it had been quite a while since she had visited her mother.  Melissa became tearful as she said she lacked transportation to get to the facility to see her mom.  Jason Cleveland, our van driver, took the initiative and drove to pick up Melissa on Mother’s Day so she could visit her mother on that special day.  Melissa was so grateful that she was able to spend time with her mom.  Tears flowed as she thanked the facility for making the visit happen on what proved to be the last Mother’s Day they would spend together.

Jason was thanked repeatedly by Melissa for making the visit possible on this most special of days.  Thank you, Jason, for loving our residents and families the way you do.

911 was the call that went out to Peter Duncan, Social Services and Activity Director at Brookside Healthcare Center. It was 9:30 p.m. and a resident was stranded at an acute hospital that refused to provide transportation back to the facility. Peter woke up his four children, changed them from their warm jammies, and loaded them in the car to head to the hospital. The resident was in the Emergency Room, feeling confused, with IV fluids still running.

Peter got the resident dressed and transferred him into his car. Peter’s daughter held the I.V. until they reached the facility. When they arrived at Brookside, the resident was extremely nauseous, but safe and cared for well. Peter and his children were very happy to get back home and in bed at 2:00 a.m.

What an example of going above and beyond to care for a resident!

WA6 Jolly Old Amateur (WA6JOA) was the call sign of Clifford N. Robertson, who is now a resident at Victoria Care Center of Ventura, California. During World War II, Cliff was onboard a U.S. Naval Ship translating international code. After the war, Cliff continued to communicate with many of his buddies in Idaho, Arizona, and California using the Hamm radio. When WA6JOA went silent, Cliff’s buddies thought the worst.

George Myers , a resident’s son, met Cliff in the hall of Victoria Care Center. They began to share stories about the war and found they had much in common. George Myers (W7CWW) went into action. He contacted a Hamm radio friend, Randy MacAlister (KA6WZR), who was willing to connect all equipment and set up an antenna outside the facility. At first, when the five buddies were all connected, Cliff was so choked up that he couldn’t respond. Then, all the “net of buddies” were back in communication after many, many years.

The Station called 40 Meter Band is back on air.

Tony Reed is a CNA who works night shift at Highland Manor.  One of our long term care residents stays up every night that Tony works so he can put her to bed.   When Tony heard that one of our new residents had no clothing and no money, he brought clothes in for her to wear.  The resident was so happy that she was crying and showing everyone what Tony had done for her.

Tony spends extra time with another resident who is on hospice care.  He gently feeds her and makes sure she is clean and comfortable.  At Christmastime, he brought in a Christmas cane made of fluffy material. This resident likes to crisscross her arms and this sometimes causes sores. The cane is to put on her chest, so that she has something to rest her arms on to protect her hands and chest.  She always says to Tony, “Take me home with you.  You take such good care of me.”

Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes had a 47th wedding anniversary that was, in the words of their children, "The most precious anniversary that we have ever shared with our parents. We truly feel that angels were sent to us."

With just twenty-four hours’ notice, the staff at Royal Court turned room 408 into a five-star dream for the Rhodes family. From the fresh floral arrangements, room service, and the mints on the pillows, the staff at Royal Court had a wonderful time making a dream come true.                    

When Mr. Flores came to Glenwood Care Center, he was 100% dependent.  He arrived on a stretcher and was unable to do anything for himself.  He was unable to speak at all and was so unhappy with his feeding tube that he kept trying to pull it out.

Through therapy, hard work, and a lot of love, Mr. Flores is close to going home and is independent.  He is eating through normal means, even though he does still need some supervision, and is walking all over the place.   The progress that Mr. Flores has made is because of our employees, CNA's, Therapists, and many more, and the care they give.

The Flores family has been amazing.  As a means of giving back, they arranged Christmas gifts for all the residents, bringing two pair of socks for each resident in the facility, wrapping and distributing them.   Two of the family members are Karate instructors, so they brought in their classes to do a show for the residents.  They also helped with the Easter celebration for the children of employees by making candy eggs and helping to hide them.

At North Mountain Medical and Rehab Center, we can always count on Barbara Fairchild to do so much more than her job Respiratory Therapist position requires. Caring for our residents does not stop when Barbara goes home at the end of her work day. One of her many talents is crocheting beautiful blankets that can be sold for more than $20 each. Barbara devoted her personal time and materials by crocheting blankets for every resident on our second floor west wing. This generous “labor of love” is appreciated by residents, family members, and employees too. Whether it is creating blankets or making pasta with meatballs and serving lunch to residents, Barbara is always going above and beyond for North Mountain.

Thank you, Barbara!

On Friday, August 26, 2005, the staff of Rose Villa held a luau for the residents and family of the facility.  The luau was planned and executed entirely by the staff without the help, or the knowledge of the Administrator, who was out of the facility that week.  They came together and raised the funds necessary to provide an exciting and entertaining event that included a roasted pig and Polynesian dancers.  Many of the donations to support the luau came from the pockets of the staff themselves, because they wanted to do something special for our residents.  Understanding what it means to give themselves in order to make our residents’ lives better seems to come naturally to these wonderful people.

Precy Templo, Antonette Santiago, Jose Alvarado, Pamela Stewart, Lisette Maico-Tan, and Dodjie Frankera are members of the Rehabilitation Department at Mission Care & Rehabilitation Center. They are helping us change the way people have traditionally viewed nursing homes by providing top-caliber nursing, rehab, activities, and customer service. Our rehabilitation department has established a very high standard that in turn has produced amazing results for our residents. The following stories are just a few examples of the ways our dynamic and highly-qualified therapists have gone the extra mile as they help our residents recover and improve their quality of life.

One wheelchair-bound gentleman told us he had long “forgotten the meaning of shoes” because of a 10-year period of inactivity. After a stroke, his primary physician sent him to Mission Care because he knew about our excellent therapists. With a great deal of encouragement, the nursing and rehab departments unified their efforts and he was able to walk 30 feet for the first time in 10 years. No words could describe the happiness of the resident when the facility bought him shoes—a symbol of the literal great strides he made at Mission Care.

Another long-term resident had accepted that she probably wouldn’t walk again. No one had seen her walk during her three years at the facility. Following an encouraging rehab assessment only weeks after Mission Care took over the facility, she was able to walk 120 feet and eight weeks later, she graduated from rehab after regaining those physical abilities.

When another female resident was first admitted to Mission Care, she was very depressed. She was 60+ years old, recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and was ready to give up. Her condition demanded intensive care, requiring two to three people to assist her in order to stand. In just four weeks with our focused and caring therapists, she was able to go to the commode with the assistance of just one CNA. Two and a half months later, she danced out of our facility on her way home—crediting our therapists for their skills and belief in her potential!

In November of 2004, Vicente Escomilla, Dietary Cook, prepared a wonderful centerpiece display made up of fruits and vegetables for our Residents’ Thanksgiving Party. He repeated this for our Super Bowl Party Dinner in January, and again for our Sweetheart Luncheon in February. These center-pieces took a lot of time to prepare, and Vicente often purchased the ingredients during his time off.

Sea Cliff Residents really enjoyed the displays and had asked Vicente how he made the various centerpieces for the special events. Vicente agreed to perform a special demonstration for the Residents during our Master Chef program on February 17th and the demonstration was nothing short of wonderful! Vicente interacted extremely well with the Residents, answering their questions and giving instruction on how to prepare the wonderful centerpieces. The Residents were very appreciative that Vicente took extra time to demonstrate his talent and it was obvious that Vicente truly enjoyed spending time with them.

On behalf of the Residents and staff at Sea Cliff Healthcare Center, thank you, Vicente, not only for taking time to demonstrate your talent, but for the genuine compassion and love that you show.

Pete Lewis has been visiting his wife at Whittier Hills Health Care almost every day for years. When Pete did not show up at the facility for a few days, LaTanya Garth, his wife's LVN, called to find out where he was. Pete was sick with pneumonia and confined to his home alone. LaTanya, along with Martha Naranjo, Martha Martinez, Edward Mottolla, and Gisela Yoplac, the CNA's who care for Mrs. Lewis, set up a schedule among themselves to go out for visits to see Pete and make sure he had meals, groceries, and anything else he needed while he was recovering. Pete is back on his feet and visiting regularly again - in fact he was the facility Santa Claus at the Christmas Party!

It is caring nurses like Edward, Gisela, Martha, Martha, and LaTanya that go above and beyond, who make the staff of Whittier Hills World Class.

When you talk about Service with a Smile, the first person that comes to mind is Arturo Lemus, a housekeeper at Shoreline Healthcare Center.  For many years Arturo has added a bright light to the halls of Shoreline.  Not only does Arturo work in housekeeping, but also helps out in maintenance and laundry as needed.  He is also our local green thumb, and grows a garden at Shoreline that provides fresh corn, peppers, tomatoes, and gorgeous roses to beautify the facility.

Emily Dy, Treatment Nurse, works long hours with her healing hands to help people get better; she also works with her hands at home to reach out with love. A good example of this was during Christmas time, Emily found the time to make Beanies for a large group of residents in our home, providing an extra touch of love and kindness to those she serves. We are grateful for Emily’s clinical efforts to heal people’s wounds, which has helped Upland Rehab to gain a reputation of healing the most difficult challenges. We are also grateful for Emily’s warm heart, which has shown the community that they can trust our employees to go above and beyond. We help heal, not only by taking care of the physical body, but also by providing a loving, family environment.

Thank you, Emily. We appreciate the special touch of love and care you add each day.

Gail Lage is a CNA who has been dedicated to the well being of Sabino Canyon for seventeen years.  She has embraced the community here and treats it like family.   She offers a hand to help in anyway possible and better the lives of all around her.  Gail exemplifies a positive attitude and greets our community with warm smiles.   She has worked extra days when staffing is short to ease the strain, in addition to coming in on her days off to help residents with their showers.

Gail is endearing and polite to the residents as well as their families, always trying to accommodate their needs as fast as possible.  During her days off, she sews lap robes to keep residents warm.  The curtains for the facility dining room were made with love by Gail and improve the environment and atmosphere for all of the facility. Gail also stays with residents during their last hours to bring them comfort and companionship. We are grateful that she demonstrates a standard of care that all of us in the community can admire.

At Palm Terrace the Medical Records Director, Kathy Stevens, is referred to by our residents as the "Laker Girl."  She has been known to print out schedules of the games and pass them out to our Laker fan residents.  She has brought smiles to the faces of our residents by sharing the highlights of the games and discussing the players.  She has often gone out of her way collecting Lakers memorabilia to bring back to residents.  When one of our residents asked for a specific logo design, Kathy hunted high and low until finally deciding to go home and make the logo herself.  She really put her creativity to work and the end result looked so authentic that her stickers are now proudly displayed on the back of our residents’ wheelchairs. 

Thank you, Kathy, for cultivating pride at Palm Terrace.

A resident of Brookside Healthcare Center was eagerly awaiting his discharge date, so that he could be reunited with his family and fulfill his dream of helping them prosper.  Everything was packed just right and he was dressed as if he had a dinner to attend.  After everything was arranged, he sat and waited for his family to finally pick him up.  Hours passed by and even after fifteen phone calls, no one arrived to pick him up.  His family had deserted him.  This broke the heart of Amira Becirovic, RNA.  She loaded up her car with all his belongings and drove him to his new apartment.  When they arrived, it occurred to Amira that this resident would not have enough food to last even a few days.  Amira contacted the local Senior Center to locate an apartment within walking distance of various stores.  A place was found but would not be ready for move-in for ten days and the resident had already been discharged from the facility.  Amira invited him to stay at her home while his new apartment was being made ready.  She provided for his needs from the kindness of her heart. 

We are thankful and honored to have Amira at Brookside Healthcare Center.