Champions at Pine Run
Bucks County Women’s Journal
December 2013/January 2014
By Barbara Chierici, Senior Director of Marketing
You might be surprised that I can describe our residents as Champions, spirited men and women, many of whom triumph over the limitations of age and illness by staying intellectually, spiritually, and physically connected. Making the move to a retirement setting, at any level, often reenergizes individuals to engage in educational classes, fitness pursuits, and social interactions simply because the environment makes it easy.
Champion success stories add to the high color
of retirement life:
* A 99-year-old gentleman, a graduate of Harvard and MIT, who walks daily and
does not represent himself as a champion other than delighting in conversation on almost any subject due to his education and travels; he is always filled with purpose.
* A group of women, proud octogenarians or better, who find camaraderie in a weekly game of billiards with “the girls.” Fun is their primary goal; playing by the rules is secondary!
* An 81-year-old athlete with Parkinson’s who continues to jog each morning, no matter the season, to keep his muscles and joints limber. His wife proudly displays a quilt made from T-shirts earned over decades of running races.
* An 83-year-old adventurer who jumped out of a plane on May 17, 2013 with his two sons and two grandchildren. The tandem jump originated from 13,500 feet in the blue skies of Gardiner, New York.
* A 66-year-old potter who teaches others for free at the Pine Run Craft Barn. Toiling with student peers to shape clay on the wheel, applying proper glazes, and firing up the kiln rewards her creative spirit.
Studies show that residents of retirement communities often live longer and better than their peers. Resources such as social workers, professional nurses, drivers, and life-enrichment teams buoy the efforts of individuals to engage in healthy habits and to take pleasure in meeting new friends, learning new hobbies, and setting out on interesting adventures. Preparing meals in the bonus years can be lonely at home. Dining at Pine Run and Lakeview is a happy event, anticipated and shared in good company with a variety of options. Menus change seasonally and often include farm-fresh favorites such as local corn and peaches, soup made from stock, prime cuts of meat or fish, along with vegetarian fare and desserts to please any palate or diet consideration.
Doylestown is a community full of art, history, and a long tradition of caring espoused by the founders of Doylestown Hospital, the Village Improvement Association (VIA). That matriarchal root invites participation in an abundance of events and community projects. Working together, our Champion associates and residents at Pine Run and Lakeview are able to embrace opportunities to stay involved and give back to the community. For example, bake sales at Lakeview in the past year have done more than whet appetites—they raised more than $1,000 for Samaritan’s Purse, Bridge to Uganda, Buck up for Bucks County, and the American Red Cross.
We are privileged to have a cadre of volunteers to power activities in many levels of living. One volunteer in our memory care neighborhood, The Garden, is Doylestown Hospital Lay Chaplain Pat Pizza. He kindly shared a message he delivered to his church congregation in October. His message, reflecting on the care the residents give to each other, emphasizes the importance of truly creating a home (or community). An excerpt follows:
“The care I want to talk about is how the residents care for each other. Some of them are quite mobile, while others are essentially confined to a wheelchair. Some can carry on a near-normal conversation with some understanding, while others are unintelligible or no longer speak at all. Often a resident will be sitting there crying for some unknown reason or one that can’t be expressed. Before I go on, let me assure you that the staff is always around to provide for them. However, more often than not, one of the residents will go over to the person and try to soothe him or her, or, if unable to talk, will just hold that person in a hug. There always seems to be a connection between the two and a calming down of the one disturbed. Trust me; it is a sight to behold.”
Caring for others places importance where it belongs in a not-for-profit organization —
on the quality of life of the people who live and work as Champions throughout our continuum. Pine Run strives to be a progressive, resident-focused community, full of vitality and enthusiasm, promoting independence and wellness in all levels of living.
Pine Run is toasting these remarkable elders with a unique film and presentation, Age of Champions, capping off Active Aging Week in November. The sporting film is an award-winning PBS documentary following five competitors who sprint, leap, and swim for gold at the National Senior Olympics. Fun and inspiring, these true stories echo the strengths and frailties we see daily at Pine Run and opens the mind to reinvention at any stage!
I invite any reader to call me at 215-340-5214;
I’d love to arrange a visit to any of our
vibrant levels of living:
Pine Run Village
Residential cottages and apartments for 65+ independent living
Lakeview Personal Care
Quality care for older adults needing assistance with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, dining, and medication management
The Garden
Specialized personal care for those with Alzheimer’s and related
dementias
Pine Run Health Center
A full spectrum of on-site skilled nursing care and
physicians for short-term rehabilitative therapies and long-term care
