The Cedars Wellness Committee and the American Red Cross
are hosting a Blood Drive
Today at The Cedars 10AM – 4PM
Sign up or just drop by – look for the vehicle at the rear entrance to The Atrium
FMI call 221-7100
The Cedars and MECA at Portland’s Art Walk
Starting in February, MECA students enrolled in the Art for Social Change course moved their classroom every Monday morning to The Cedars. The course goal was to bring the MECA students opportunities to learn about the history of what it means to directly create social and public change through a creative practice.
Part of the course integrated the practice of socially engaged art where the students worked collaboratively with seniors from The Cedars in creating an engaging intergenerational and multicultural community-based art program. Students and seniors met at The Cedars weekly from February to April throughout the course and collaborated together on creating art.
Throughout the months, relationships formed and insights developed – from both perspectives. Here are some quotes from the seniors:
“I want you to teach me everything, just like I want to teach you everything.” –Senior artist
“Art didn’t mean anything to me until older years until it became part of my life…and I had the time. It means not to be afraid of making a mark on the paper, and it doesn’t matter if my neighbor says it’s art. I am the artist! Art is about not being afraid to do what I want as an artist.”-Senior artist
For more information on this innovative program, contact Nick Viti, OTR/L, Director of Life Enrichment at 207-221-7000.
An Afternoon with Tom Snow
Join The Atrium on Thursday April 20
for refreshments and a performance
by celebrated pianist, Tom Snow.
Seating limited, RSVP to 207.221.7100
Tours of our independent living apartments to follow.
MJFF This Week – Join Us!
The Cedars is thrilled sponsor the Free Senior Film
at the Maine Jewish Film Festival
Featured film: Harold and Lillian: a Hollywood Love Story
Thursday March 23, 1PM at the Portland Museum of Art
Tickets for guests 65+ are Free, complimentary reception to follow
Wine Tasting at The Atrium – New Date
As winter continues, we are
rescheduling our Wine Tasting event to
Tuesday May 9 when spring will be in full swing!
Join The Atrium and local wine expert Maia Gosselin
for a wine tasting. Sip and learn about wines and our community.
Space is limited – RSVP today at 207-221-7100
Open House at The Atrium
Wednesday February 15, 2 – 4PM
The Atrium at The Cedars
Tour our newly available apartments
Meet residents and staff
Enjoy some of our chef’s creations
The Cedars Learning Center: the Best of the Bold
The Cedars Learning Center will address the national shortage of skilled senior care providers.
TODAY OUR NATION faces a steep rise in its senior population and a critical shortfall of skilled caregivers. As the second-oldest state in the nation, Maine will feel this shortage more than most. We can’t wait for others to build tomorrow’s workforce. We must do it ourselves—beginning now.
“Over the next two years, in conjunction with industry thought leaders, The Cedars will be committing its resources to the development of a Learning Community™ —an in-house teaching and learning resource with which to train its workforce of the future,” explains Bill Foster, former Dean of the Muskie School of Public Service and former Chief of Staff and Deputy Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Labor. “It will serve as a unique model of open source teaching and learning for all of us.”
Over the years, The Cedars has developed strong partnerships and collaborations with public universities and community colleges, private colleges, high schools, insurance companies, state legislative and regulatory officials, and workforce development organizations. Within the Learning Community™ we can share best practices, discuss topics of common interest, and promote a sense of community to enhance teaching and learning within the field of gerontology. Collaborating with a broad array of partners, this community of learning and practice will enhance the quality and effectiveness of our workforce and offer the same to others in the field.
The Cedars Learning Community™ will:
- Address the challenges of a rapidly aging population and a declining workforce in Maine by creating a better-trained, more stable pool of caregivers skilled in best practices for person-centered senior care Make Maine a center of learning and knowledge-building that others will want to visit and emulate
- Attract additional support and funding, and become a driver of economic development in the growing healthcare sector
- Build a stronger sense of engagement among the many stakeholders invested in quality care for seniors.
Our Learning Community™ will benefit not only The Cedars and its residents, but other providers, educational institutions, and the people of Maine.
Nine Decades Group at The Cedars on MPBN
On January 24, MPBN journalist, Patty Wight featured a story on Maine Things Considered on The Atrium’s group of 90+ year olds. The Nine Decades Group shared their various perspectives at this stage of their lives. The audio is available here, and below is a piece we shared when the group was first formed.
On the first Monday of each month at The Atrium, a select group of members meet. The only requirement for admission? Living on this earth for at least ninety years.
What’s so different about being ninety? If you ask nonagenarians, they may explain that life changed for them when they hit this milestone. Many of the responsibilities of estate and life planning are behind them and they can focus on new priorities and interests. Celebrating Nine Decades is an opportunity to process and share their ideas, goals and bucket lists. Members find renewed meaning in their lives and reflect on the significant experiences and individuals influencing them.
More people are reaching their ninth decade than ever before. According to the U.S. National Institute on Aging, those living to 90 and beyond are the fastest growing group of seniors in our country. The number of nonagenarians has nearly tripled – from 720,000 in 1980 to 1.9 million in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Oliver Sacks, Professor of Neurology at NYU School of Medicine, speaks to aging and reaching this milestone rather well in this excerpt from a NYT article:
“My father, who lived to 94, felt as I begin to feel, not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective. … One has had a long experience of life, not only one’s own life, but others’, too. One has seen triumphs and tragedies, booms and busts, revolutions and wars, great achievements and deep ambiguities, too. One has seen grand theories rise, only to be toppled by stubborn facts. One is more conscious of transience and, perhaps, of beauty.”
“I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that one must somehow endure and make the best of, but as a time of leisure and freedom, freed from the factitious urgencies of earlier days, free to explore whatever I wish, and to bind the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime together.” (NYT July 6, 2013)
At The Atrium at The Cedars, the Nine-Decades group meets monthly and is a continuously evolving forum of ideas and thoughts. If you’d like more information about independent living at The Cedars, contact Angie D’Amours at 207-221-7100.
Concepts in Culture Change at The Cedars
What is Culture Change?
- A PersonFirst approach to care
- It requires knowledge of our residents’ preferences and life stories
- It needs facility systems that support our staff in providing care on our residents’ own schedule and preferences
- It requires empowerment of our staff in self-directed teams so that they can make decisions in the moment, for our residents
The Cedars has been on the Culture Change journey for a while. And now we have a company called Action Pact to help us. They are experts on Culture Change and provide trainings for staff in all departments, volunteers, family and residents.
The PersonFirst Approach
In order to make home, we must start by knowing and honoring an individual’s life, stories and desires. To create a meaningful life, we all have five human needs that must be filled:
- Inclusion: we all need to be part of a larger group, to be included in life around us.
- Comfort: provide warmth, strength, a feeling of security to help us hold it together when we are in fear of falling apart.
- Identity: to know who we are and where we came from.
- Occupation: to be involved in the process of daily life, drawing on our abilities and powers. It’s the opposite of boredom.
- Attachment: to bond with another human being helps us feel safe.
What Makes Your Home a ‘Home”?
Clinical studies have shown that nursing home residents have the same environmental stressors as homeless individuals. Traditional nursing homes lack private spaces, and have many noises and routines that don’t fit what we do in our own homes.
One goal of the Household Model is to create a place that looks and feels like home—so that it can become our residents’ home—a sanctuary and a space where visitors want to stay and visit, and experience the comforts of their loved ones at home.
The Steering Team
This is a group of 15 staff from all departments and volunteers that meet weekly to make immediate changes that will further the adoption of person-centered care and prepare us for the move into our new Households.
Our Mission: To create a home that empowers seniors and staff by facilitating an open and inclusive community that honors all individuals and their life’s journey.
To find out more, visit actionpact.com/resources
Grow bold with us.