Caregiver of the Month

Mavis Abdulla from Woodlands recently received a Certificate for Caregiver of the Month.  Mavis is well known for always going the extra mile for her Residents and for her big smile and kind heart.

Here is a short video clip from one of our Support Groups that we have once a month with the staff.  We played the "Who am I" game.  Mavis had to figure out that she is Mandela.

I thinks she's very good at the famous Madiba Dance, don't you?

Happy Weekend

Have a Good Easter Weekend Everybody

Below:  John Robert Lee 1 (yes, we do have two residents with exactly the same name), one of our most cheerful Residents showing off his Easter Hat...

To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent -that is to triumph over old age.
                                                                     Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Easter Bonnet Parade

Elphin Lodge had its annual Easter Bonnet Parade yesterday.  This was a fun and colourful morning, with a few surprises here and there :)

This year we had a French lady, Micheline who entertained us with a few songs.  Combine that with hot cross buns, a cup of tea and two rabbits called Snoekie and George, as well as a rainbow of wonderful, colourful hats, and you have the perfect recipe for a fun-filled morning.  

Here are some of the photos of the morning:

A very happy Mrs Rachel Whitehorn

Complex Manager Helen Petrie decided to put the Bunny back into Easter

Mr Bob Papenfus, who won a price for the Sexiest Hat

And the Most Colourful Hat -  Mrs Anna Marks

Meet Snoekie, our little visitor from Our Pets (Edenvale).  Volunteer Carole Tank introducing Snoekie to Mrs Anna Lospoto.

*Snoekie got renamed quite a few times:

• Isaac
• John
• Fluffy Little Bunny 

It was also mistaken for a bird at one stage (huh?).

Nonetheless, Snoekie and George were such a surprise for the Elders and they enjoyed their company a lot.  Animals definitely have a very healing effect on people and immediately bring out that "Caring Instinct", even in some of the more despondent people.

Some of our residents that came to the Reading Group that afternoon (led by volunteer Lorna van Heerden) were so excited about their hats that they wanted to wear them again.  Lorna also got her own hat and they had their own little "Mad Hatter Party"

Lorna van Heerden ready for an afternoon full of interesting articles, jokes and short stories...

I Did It My Way

I decided to start this blog with the lyrics of Frank Sinatra's Song: "I did it My Way".  Not just because the residents love Frank Sinatra and sing along as soon as I put the CD on, but also because there is a valuable lesson to learn here.  All of us want to know that we lived life "Our Way".  That we made mistakes, but that it was our own mistakes, that we experienced life without too many regrets and that we can say that we laughed, loved and lived to the fullest.

Just because your parents or grandparents have to move to a care centre or retirement village, does not mean that they should now stop doing things "Their Way" or stop living, loving and laughing.  Sometimes the fact that they might be frail or not mentally as sharp as they used to be, make us think that they cannot experience life to the fullest any more..  Sometimes we care so much for them and are so afraid that they aren't going to cope or that they will get hurt or fall, that we take some opportunities for experiencing life away from them without realising it.  

Here at the Ron Smith Care Centre, we want to try and help our residents to still do things "Their Way", by implementing Person Centred Care.  We are also starting the journey of the Eden Alternative Road to make our Centre a Home for the Elders (read more about it at Eden Alternative).  This is a long journey and we invite you to join us, support us, give advice and sometimes just laugh with us while we make memories together that will hopefully last a lifetime...

Frank Sinatra Lyrics

My Way Lyrics

[Recorded December 30, 1968, Hollywod]

And now, the end is here

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and ev'ry highway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few

But then again, too few to mention

I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew

When I bit off more than I could chew

But through it all, when there was doubt

I ate it up and spit it out

I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried

I've had my fill, my share of losing

And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing

To think I did all that

And may I say, not in a shy way,

"Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way"

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught

To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

[instrumental]

Yes, it was my way 

*source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/