Starting in 2006, Pine Run’s Veterans (including Villagers, Residents, and Associates) are honored each year with an annual Veterans Day Breakfast. Ceil Krajewski, Senior Director of Villager Services, started the tradition as a way to thank Pine Run’s veterans who supported her after her son, John, was deployed to Iraq after the events on September 11th.
Honoring our veterans is a privilege, and one we take very much to heart on Veteran’s Day and throughout the year. Each year on November 11, our country pauses to celebrate and honor our veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. The day was chosen because it marks the cessation of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany; it went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
“With over 80 veterans living and working at Pine Run, Veteran’s Day is celebrated throughout our continuum each November 11 to honor our veterans and thank these men and women for their service to our country. Pine Run veterans have served in conflicts including World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan as well as in a wide variety of peacetime roles. With representation from every branch of service, they have contributed so much to our country. We are so grateful to them and proud that they call Pine Run home,” said Maria Santangelo, Pine Run’s Executive Director.
Continue reading Honoring Our Veterans at Pine Run – on Veteran’s Day and Always →
The leaves are changing colors, the days are crisp and cool, and sweaters start to make an appearance. These are sure signs that Fall is upon us and for many in the Pine Run Community, it is a favorite season because our campus is alive with festivals and fun.
One of the first things that visitors and Villagers alike see as they enter the Pine Run Community Center is a selection of creative scarecrows decked out in costumes that delight. The scarecrow contest has become an annual tradition open to Villagers and Associates and each is a treat to see. One features the sparkles of a mummers costume, there’s a mermaid, several witches, Fall goddesses, and “The Saturday Knight,” sporting a bathrobe, a shower curtain cape, and cucumbers over the ”eyes.”
Continue reading Fall is in Full Swing for the Pine Run Community →
No one plans a medical emergency. Or a fall. Or an illness. But when the unthinkable happens you may find yourself trying to evaluate skilled nursing facilities vs. nursing homes, without a clear understanding of the difference. The Pine Run Health Center is available for short and long-term stays to provide the nursing care, rehabilitation, therapies, and support needed to get back on your feet or to help manage chronic conditions and illnesses and improve quality of life.
“Moving to the Pine Run Health Center either for a short stay or permanently is not a choice any of us wants to make,” said Sandy Stiles, Nursing Home Administrator at the Pine Run Health Center. “But for those who require round-the-clock medical care and assistance with activities of daily living, or who have recently had a hospital stay or surgery, a skilled nursing facility provides the medical care that is needed as well as the social, emotional, and nutritional supports for those who need to be here,” continued Stiles.
If you or your loved one has experienced a medical emergency and has worked with hospital discharge planners or are experiencing challenges managing illnesses in your home, the next steps are often confusing. What are skilled nursing facilities? What is short-term care? Rehabilitation? Long-term care? Is this different than a nursing home? And who pays for these services?
Continue reading Skilled Nursing Facilities vs. Nursing Homes: Understanding the Difference →
The Woodworkers of Pine Run Support their Fellow Residents with the Creation of Dementia Activity Boards
After training in the US Navy Seabees and a successful and fulfilling career in healthcare facilities management, Jerry Schmidt is well-versed in all things mechanical. He’s managed and maintained systems large and small, and he has the mechanical know-how to disassemble, fix, and reassemble just about anything. After experiencing significant cognitive loss due to Lewy Body Dementia, Jerry is now a resident of The Garden, Pine Run’s Secure Memory Care neighborhood, located on the top floor of the Health Center on the Ferry Road Campus.
“The environment feels very familiar to Jerry from his time working in healthcare,” said Mary Beth Baringer, Administrator at The Garden. Jerry is, in many ways, still working. “Since coming to live with us, he has taken apart furniture, doorknobs, picture frames, and other items, because in his mind, he is still at work,” continued Mary Beth.
Continue reading Building Dementia Activity Boards: Woodworking With a Purpose →
Did You Have Fun Today? Did you laugh? Did you try something new or silly just for the fun of it? Pine Run Retirement Community is always focused on the seven dimensions of senior wellness in all that we do: Physical; Emotional; Intellectual; Social; Spiritual; Environmental; and Occupational. One area of wellness that is not talked about enough, especially in senior living, touches all of these. And that is play.
You may think of play as the “work” of children. It’s common knowledge and well-accepted in our society that children learn, grow, and develop social structure through play. As we age, there is less focus on play.
Continue reading Senior Wellness: The Power of Play →
Witty, whimsical, wise, or weighty — the topics are diverse, the styles distinct, and each shows off the personality, creativity, and life experiences of the writer. Pine Run Villagers participated in the third annual poetry writing contest earlier this summer. Designed to focus on the creativity and fun of self-expression, Villagers were invited to submit poems on any topic. Some Villagers submitted new poems and some turned in works penned in earlier years. All were reviewed by select members of the Delaware Valley University English Department in a new and exciting partnership: Dr. Brian Lutz, Chair of the English Department; Dr. Wilbert Turner, Associate Professor of English; and Katie Carnevale, Instructor. The winners and the categories are:
Continue reading Pine Run Poets Celebrate Creativity →
Summertime often represents a season of family vacations — perhaps trips to the shore or a lake or a cruise, relaxing picnics in the yard, concerts, hikes, and other types of recreation. It’s also hot. And humid. Air conditioners break, the grass continues to grow and need mowing; the weeds keep sprouting up. Storms come, sump pumps malfunction, and basements flood. Septic systems fail. Your HOA sends out letters after inspections and your house needs to be power washed or you need to replace a tree. The list never stops.
Homeownership continues to be part of the American Dream, but it is a LOT of work. Enjoying time with family, learning a new hobby, travel, reading good books, or just living without worrying about house maintenance and upkeep is not just a dream, but a reality at Pine Run Retirement Community.
Continue reading Freedom from Homeownership Means More Time to Devote to the Things (and People!) That You Love →
That was the situation Jennifer Carlin and her three sisters found themselves in as they considered a memory care home for their mother, matriarch Clare Carlin. It was becoming clear she could no longer could live alone in her cottage in Pine Run Retirement Community’s independent living neighborhood, The Village.
“Everything she did was always on her own timeframe,” Jennifer Carlin said recently. “When she made the move to the cottage at Pine Run, it was absolutely the right time to do it, and she was very happy there.”
Clare Carlin moved into The Village in 2017. Living at Pine Run in her retirement had been her goal since 1976 when she spotted new construction rising from a field on Ferry Road in Doylestown Township. The project that would become Pine Run Retirement Community was located a mere three miles from the Carlins’ farmhouse and 10-acre property on Callowhill Road.
“When Pine Run was being built, she always said that was where she was going to retire,” Jennifer recalled. “She’s a huge fan of Doylestown Hospital, and it was important to her to stay within that community. That was her goal, and so that’s what she did.”
Continue reading Placing a Parent in a Memory Care Home: Making Peace with the Decision →
For more than 75 years, Bob Long has tended to a garden. The size of the garden varied over the years, from his father’s family garden, to the garden he first planted with his wife, to the 40-foot by 80-foot garden they planted on their two-acre plot of land in Solebury Township, Bucks County. Regardless of the size, Long always had his hands in garden soil. For this reason, finding a retirement community with gardening options was at the top of his list.
When he moved to Pine Run Retirement Community in Central Bucks County in 2016, Long didn’t have to leave gardening behind. Back Ache-ers, Pine Run’s communal garden space, was filled with 30 wooden raised garden beds just waiting to be planted with everything from beans and basil to tomatoes and zinnias.
“As soon as I moved into Pine Run, I put my name on the waiting list for a box in Back Ache-ers. I had to wait a year, but I got it,” Long said. “I’ve always been an avid gardener. It’s just that now, my tractor has been replaced by a wheelbarrow.”
Continue reading A retirement community with gardening – Pine Run’s ‘Back Ache-ers’ Grow Tomatoes and Happiness →