Good money, good monny. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's time now
for our community connection right here on K the one you trust and is being
brought to you by Arnold Lauren NK Funeral Home. Today we have this is
Angie Thompson and she's with Eldercare, and Eldercare has got a great story to
tell us. Hey, Tom, it's so good to see you on this
wonderful fall October morning. Great to see you as well. Now we got
kind of like a little birthday thing going in the air, don't we.
You know, we're celebrating our fortieth year this year, and yeah, we're
using the month of October to really commemorate that. We have a special fundraising
breakfast coming up on November eleventh with Jim Bridenstein as our guest speaker. Lots
of folks from our past former board members and staff, our current staff and
board members will be joining us at Tri County Tech on November eleventh at nine
point thirty. It'll be a great celebration that day. It will be.
Now, when I think of Eldercare here in Martinville, I think, well,
you got that nice facility out there. At twelve twenty three, swall
right. Yeah, nice yard, beautiful, beautiful building. And how many
people work there because it looks kind of hooge. It is huge, and
thank you. You know, we have nearly fifty employees who've work in all
of our programs. And yeah, and when you think about where we started
forty years ago, we had an executive director, Mary Luke Bork, a
part time person who handled case management that was Betty Sammer, and the entire
operation was run by volunteers. At one time, I think I counted eighty
nine volunteers. You know, they took care of our programs. They took
care of the participants in Daybreak, They went into the homes. Many of
them were nurses, retired nurses, and they would volunteer their time and go
into the homes as case managers. And now when I think about where we
are in twenty twenty three, you know, we have nearly fifty employees who
run elder Care. But our early days they were run by volunteers. Oh,
my goodness, akes, it's incredible to see forty years prior to right
up here today. Now, Daybreak was your first big flagship. That's your
hallmark. It is, it is the flagship program and when you think about
the reason why Eldercare was formed, the way that kind of unfolded, tom
as a pretty interesting story. Pat McClary was the Washington County Health nurse now
forty years ago the Washington County Health Department was Pat Lowry, That's what I
understand. So she identified a need in the senior adult area. They were
falling through the cracks. Many of their families were taking care of them at
home. They'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's or dementia, and the only option for
them at that time was nursing home placement, and families just wanted another choice.
She and Betty Sammer and Mary lou Burk put together a model for Daybreak,
and that was an adult day health program. And you know, forty
years ago that was a very novel idea very to have an adult day health
program, but they were able to put it together. They held a day
break one day a week in the fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church for four
hours, and the cost was fifteen dollars a day and it was managed totally
by volunteers. And you know, when I look back at the pictures and
I see the faces of the individuals who were participating at that time. I
saw the I can see the joy, you know, as they play the
games and they do the cognitive activities. And what's a thrill for me is
to walk through daybreak right now today as I did yesterday, and I see
the joy on the participants' faces. And I see our staff engaged in meaningful
activities with seniors, word games, puzzles, other activities that stimulate their motor
actions. You know, their hands and their brains are engaged, their eye
and hand coordination. It's really a thrill for me to see that kind of
engagement that's happening for seniors right now in twenty twenty three. Well, they
feel like they're plugged in, they're doing something. It has a little bit
of meaning, and it's a whole lot of fun for most. Yeah.
And you know, I got to give props to our staff, you know,
I see them engaged with the participants, and I think that's what is
such a blessing for me is you can tell they really love what they do.
Oh gosh, yes. And then from that day you've added on other
things like foundation physical therapy. Right you know, about fourteen years ago we
added physical therapy. Of course, we were in our new building at that
time, and that's on Swan Drive. So when that building was instructed,
we added physical therapy and we added our health clinic. So right now,
what you see when you walk into elder Care as you see Foundation a therapy
specialist, and that's an outpatient experience. We have an occupational therapist, a
speech therapist, and physical therapists, and they're able to use a multidisciplinary approach
to help adults of all ages, you know, not just seniors, but
adults of all ages. I've seen them work with college athletes who you know,
need to recover from a sports injury or a surgery. I've seen them
work with the ninety year old, you know, who needs a little help
after a stroke. So we in Foundation Therapy are able to work with adults
of all ages. And I got to tell you it's always a joy when
we have a doctor Josh Andy being here to talk about some of the miracles
that happen every day. Yeah, you know, I just got to say,
our staff, I think are the hidden jewel of our organization. I
can't I can't think of too many organizations that have a staff as committed as
our staff is to a lot of Oh my gosh, you bet you know,
I'm thinking of Carol Davis. She's been a billing specialist at Elder Care
for nearly twenty years. That says something about our organization and about Carol.
It does. Now we also have the clinic we started off once upon a
time. Doctor Jerrold has always been a part of it, still is still
is that company he's got He has a you know, we'll call it the
Posse, the Doctor Jerald Posse. He's got Ronda Lyine now, who is
a nurse practitioner working with him. We have a clinic administrator, a receptionist,
several nurses who work with doctor Jerrell in a scribe. We have our
own lab on site, you know, so you can walk in and if
he orders a lab, you just walk to the next room and they do
that for you. It's an amazing experience. Oh wow, it's true,
you know. It really is a fantastic story. And now each and every
year we do something a little fun around may right good the good barbecue,
and that kind of helps us solidify things financially, to make sure everything,
all the services get taken care of. It does, and it helps us,
you know, be able to tell our story, and that's what we're
hoping with our Day of Giving and fortieth celebration on November eleventh. It's another
opportunity to tell the great work we've done for forty years and how we're moving
into the next decade, you know, retooling our programs, adding programs and
making things possible. Yes, indeed, now we're going to take a quick
break for our more Nika, if you know. Home. When we come
back, we're going to talk maybe about some other things that are going on
with Eldercare and some things that you can kind of key in on and perhaps
get some help yourself or with someone you know and love. What a great
resource we have in Eldercare. We'll be right back after these words. How
does Tim Howell at Arnold Moore and Nie camp Pulal home, No, he's
done a good job. After a funeral, I'll come in and say,
guys, great job, we really hit that out of the part today.
The family was well pleased. And that's the phrase right there, when a
family member tells me, you made this experience so much easier than I thought
it was going to be. Thank you. That is the high five moment
right there, and then six months later you run into them in a store
or a restaurant and they come up to you and shake your hand, put
their arm around your husband and say, this is our funeral director. He
helped us so much when dad died. He is a nice guy. His
staff is so compassionate and so caring. They did a great job. That
is the ultimate experience. They've had time to grieve a little bit and reflect
on what you've done, and they come in and they're still on cloud nine
because you help them pay tribute to someone they really cared about. It'll be
all right. We'll walk through this together. Arnold Moore and Nie Camp Funeral
Home, seven ten Dewey, Bartlesville, We'll walk through this together. Welcome
back to our community connection and we have Angie Thompson and here with us with
Eldercare and Angie, we're talking about all the great history that we have here
with Eldercare, but we have things in the present that are going on right
now. Now. You've recently wrapped up your flu shot drive through, but
that doesn't mean that you're through with the flu shots. No, absolutely,
Our clinic will provide flu vaccines for anyone in the community. You don't have
to be a patient at the clinic. You can just walk in and get
a seasonal flu vaccine. And they also have the RSV and the COVID vaccine.
No appointment is needed, so they have plenty of staff. That's Monday
through Friday from eight to five anytime, just walk in and get your flu
shot. Right. So if you just happen to be in the neighborhood,
and what a beautiful neighborhood you have, Yes, you have great neighbors too.
Also a little thing coming up here for folks who are sixty four turning
sixty five, or you're sixty five and you haven't yeah, yeah, the
medicare term now. Some folks say, oh wow, that's pretty cool.
You know, I get to take advantage of this. Well, you might
need a little navigation, you know, there is you got to have somebody
holding your hands sometimes through that. But every fall we hold the Medicare part
D free counseling. We have staff who will work with folks and help them
make the best choice for their part D. You know, some things change
from year to year, and it's always a very good idea to be on
top of your part D plan and Jerry Lindley and others at eldercare are able
to counsel those folks and make sure they have their plan up to date and
if there are changes that need to be made, they can help them with
those changes. And when you get to be a certain age, your mail
box gets kind of full from Uncle Sam regarding this, and you really kind
of it's really nice that they're on top of it, because it's difficult for
the average person to Yeah, it's right, Oh and it's free. Now
coming up once again, we've got the forty year anniversary and it's a big
breakfast. It's very nice to do, as they say, tell us more
about it. How do we sign up, how do we get to share
the Well, it's a fundraising breakfast and we're holding it at Tri County Tech
because we expect a large crowd. Jim Bridenstein, former NASA administrator, US
Congressman, navy pilot, is going to be the guest speaker. Our theme
is setting new Heights because we really do believe that in twenty twenty four,
the community is going to be amazed at our program development. They're just going
to love what Eldercare will do, but that's on Saturday, November eleventh.
They can call Eldercare to reserve their tickets nine one eight three three six eight
five zero zero, or they can purchase them on our website about eldercare dot
org, forward slash breakfast. All right, suddenly I'm hungry for knowledge and
breakfast. But this is going to be great and it's all about Eldercare and
it's a great way to celebrate. It's a great way to learn about this
great resource we have in our community. It's also a nice way to help
support it. Yeah, that is we need you know. It's always good
to show your support for the organizations that you love, and there are so
many in Bartlesville who need our support. But we would encourage you to give
to Eldercare. Well. Thank you. And you know something we tell everybody
about all the great services that Eldercare provides. But we need to clear the
air here because there is some confusion. Right, Eldercare is not a nursing
home facility. It is quite opposite. Yeah, it's not a residential facility.
We're open Monday through Friday from seven thirty to five thirty most programs,
and we're a resource center. We help aging adults stay independent in their homes
for as long as possible. We connect them with resources, services, and
programs that help them do that. See, you get to stay in your
home. Yes, everyone wants the age at home. Yes we do.
Be independent, be independent, Stay independent. You've been independent since you were
what a teenager? Well you're gonna stay that way till till the Lord takes
you home? Right, Oh, Angie, thank you very much, thank you,