(248) 281-2020 |
Contact Us
25200 Telegraph Road, Suite 400 •
Southfield, Michigan 48033-7496
(248) 281-2020 |
Contact Us
25200 Telegraph Road, Suite 400 •
Southfield, Michigan 48033-7496
Presbyterian Villages of Michigan is committed to serving seniors and communities. It’s our goal to be a first-line provider of resources, including information. Aging should be an adventure, not a scary trip!
In the PVM Blog, the experts at PVM will regularly publish articles and information. Topics may range from smart ways to age in place in your long-time home, to tips on how to shop for a senior community. We will have articles on transportation, wellness, nutrition, technology, activities, outlook-on-life, and more.
Please let us know your ideas for topics and comments on our articles. We succeed as seniors in our community have the best Aging Adventure!
We often talk about the importance of Service Excellence and the commitment that we have made to creating this culture throughout PVM. Recently I was made aware of a beautiful experience which was created by the team at The Village of East Harbor and the wife of a beloved resident, Papa Joe. He is a hospice resident who realized that he would not be here for the upcoming holidays and he was missing two very important life experiences. One was not being able to take his wife out to dinner. The other was not being able to make his “world famous banana cream pie” for his family which has been a tradition every holiday since his children were very young. He still keeps his secret recipe in his bedside table.
One of my favorite sayings is: “A life cannot be measured by how many breaths you take, but rather by the moments that take your breath away.” Over the past eighteen months it’s been a bit harder to create those moments. During the pandemic we went for months without being able to hug loved ones. We were unable to visit the special places that take our breath away, such as resorts or just having lunch with a close friend. We all learned how resilient we can be and the importance of never giving up. There is a reason that the word Age begins with an A. It’s our attitude that will get us through.
It is with a great deal of emotion that I write this article, my last as Director of Innovation & Wellness for Presbyterian Villages of Michigan. After almost 13 years of service, my last day with PVM will be September 10, 2021. After a great deal of consideration and conversations with family and friends, I have decided to make a career change and accepted a Head Coaching position for a youth swim team in Wenatchee, Washington, the Apple Capital of the World!
Recently I heard several stories of seniors who tried to take care of tasks which were too strenuous and ended up harming themselves in the process with everything from hip to knee injuries and beyond. They play the game “I’d Rather Do It Myself”. That made me think that it is time to remind all of our readers of advice I have been dishing out for over 20 years! When I first started with this messaging seniors seemed to be much older than myself. Now this includes myself and my contemporaries. Ask loved ones and others for help if there is an object out of reach or if there are chores that may be beyond your capabilities these days. That includes indoor and outdoor tasks such as reaching to change a lightbulb up high or clearing debris from your backyard. My husband and I always say: “Call the guy”!
Recently we have all heard about the challenges of access to healthcare and integration of health services. PVM has made inroads in several ways to address these issues. Of note in this regard are the Thome Rivertown Neighborhood, accessibility to service coordinators in many of our senior living communities and CareSync Solutions which provides home and community-based services. An exciting new innovation arrives with the opening of the Hamilton-McFarlan Health Clinic which will be celebrating its grand opening on Wednesday, August 11th from 10:30 until 1PM. The event will be held at McFarlan Villages, 800 E. court Street in Flint. No RSVP is required.
