Events

More than brushstrokes, masterful and caring careers framed at Pine Run




Photography by Allure West

On Wednesday, January 24, 2018, Pine Run Retirement Community celebrated 38 Associates who reached milestone anniversaries. Representing 375 years of cumulative service, this year’s annual Associate Recognition Dinner was held in the Community Center.

The accolades heard throughout the evening event served to stir emotions and to beautifully frame many years of honorees’ service.

Linda Thomson’s local roots run deep. Not only did her parents live in Doylestown, but her grandparents lived here as well. In fact, her grandfather owned a barber shop on Main Street. Fast forward to 2018, and we find Linda celebrating her 35-year anniversary with Pine Run where she now serves as its highly acclaimed sales director.

Linda started her career in the financial offices which were located in downtown Doylestown, and her boss at the time took her along when their operations were moved to the Pine Run campus. “So many things have changed since I first arrived, but so many things have remained the same,” shared Linda.

“I’m currently working with ‘second generation’ move-ins, residents who have chosen to move to Pine Run based on their positive impressions of our retirement community, thanks in large part to their parents’ experiences here. So I’m still serving the same families, just a new generation with a fresh outlook on retirement. If I find myself working with ‘third generation’ move-ins at some future date, I should probably, seriously consider retiring!”

CNA Brenda Camacho drives 50 miles round trip every day from her home in Philadelphia to serve the residents under her watchful eye in Pine Run’s Long Term Skilled Nursing Care. She is celebrating her 10-year anniversary in 2018, and as testimony to her devotion, her two daughters, Wilma Lopez and Herimar Rivera, also serve as Certified Nursing Assistants at Pine Run.

Brenda looked at a number of facilities closer to her home when she first earned her CNA credentials, but she didn’t like what she saw – until she came to Pine Run. She immediately felt the intangible ‘family’ connection that motivates her actions every day. “You must have a caring heart to work in this environment,” affirmed Brenda. “Our residents depend on us to become their extended family and as such to become their eyes and ears as they become more frail.”

CNA Yvonne Kurtz is being celebrated for her 25 years of service in the Short Term Rehabilitation Center at Pine Run Retirement Community, and when asked, Yvonne says, “I’ve loved every minute of my career here. It’s what keeps me young.”

“Fate” is what brought Yvonne to the community back in 1993 when she was a single mother with two young children, looking for work. “I had taken the kids to the local swimming pool and was talking to another mother who happened to be working as a nurse at Pine Run. I told her I had worked in advertising before moving to this area from Chicago, and she told me Pine Run was holding a class to certify nurses’ assistants right on their campus. I applied, and the rest, as they say is history. I’ve been here so long I’m now taking care of some patients who are YOUNGER THAN I AM!

“I work in short-term rehabilitation, and because our 33 private rooms are usually filled to capacity, I am always busy with the care of patients recovering from surgery and a host of other ailments. Working alongside our nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists, our goal is to help strengthen our patients to return to their everyday lives…sometimes in better shape than they were. As a CNA I get to spend a lot of time bonding with the people in my care, and it is incredibly fulfilling to see their progress and to get to know them personally.”

Yvonne is also known for her acts of kindness to fellow associates, who dieting or not, look forward to her unannounced ‘Donut Deliveries’ on her days off. This ‘Sugar Fairy’ can’t stop for Yum Yums during her work week, so she makes a special trip back to Pine Run on her days off just to be sure that every co-worker, on every floor of the Health Center, gets to indulge in a sugary treat every so often.

“People ask me when I’m going to retire, or wouldn’t I like to try working somewhere else, and I always tell them the same thing, ‘I love the people I serve and I love the people I work with; there is no other place I would rather be. Sign me up for another 25 years.’”

A member of Doylestown Health,

Pine Run is a non-profit provider of

senior living and specialty care services

for men and women living in the bonus years.

For more information, call 800.992.8992.