And good the Thursday morning. It is time for our community connection right here
on K one AM fourteen hundred FM ninety three point three and ninety five point
one. I'm Nathan Thompson in for Tom Davis. He's out of state today
doing what he does. We love Tom and we miss him here this morning.
Well we did miss though, is our great conversations that we have with
our friends at elder Care. We have Angie Thompson, the development director and
Claire Rapp, the brand new I Understand Community outreach coordinator. Ladies, Good
morning and welcome to the program. Hey, Nathan's good to see you in
for Tom Davis. Absolutely, huh. Yeah. He had another engagement in
one of his former stations today, so unfortunately it's not a good it's a
funeral, but you know, we'll let him off every once in a while.
Well, it's good to see you, to see you here, Yeah,
I'm telling you this has been a great transition for me working here for
the Potters and talking to a lot of folks. It's always a pleasure.
Of course. You know, I'm a bundles of native of This is my
hometown. I love it here and one of the things I love about buttles
of are all the great services that elder Care that you guys offer for our
community as well. And you know we were talking before went on era a
bit about some of the things that Eldercare does in the community. So just
a real quick introduction for those of our listeners who wouldn't even may not know.
I don't know how they couldn't what elder Care is and what you did.
Give us a brief introduction, Angie. Well, we are a one
stop shop. We hope to be a one stop shop and a resource for
aging in place. And you know it's not just for the elderly at elder
Care. Our programs will also appeal to adults of all ages, Like I
was saying in physical therapy, you know, I treat adults of all ages.
And that was my official introduction me too. I'm in a native of
Bartlesville that I lived here all my life, grew up right down the street
from Eldercare, but never really knew what services and programs they provided until four
years ago when my neurologist in Tulsa said, you know, I think you
could benefit from some physical therapy on your neck. And he said, he
said, don't let the name scare you, but Eldercare is the best.
And of course I knew Josh and his family. Josh Lynn Bloom is the
director of therapy and had worked with Kelsey Cleaver physical therapist, So that was
my official introduction to Eldercare. And boy was I amazed and thrilled with the
services that I received from physical therapy. Right. Absolutely, And you know
some of those things we were again talking before air that Eldercare is kind of
looking at your overall programs and what it is that you offer to the community
and for adults and elders as well, so kind of always looking for discussion
the community about what services the community desires. Is that right? Yeah,
you know, we want to be proactive in a way by getting feedback from
the community to find out what services and programs are needed. You know,
every year, we want to look at programs and evaluate what's needed. And
I think COVID kind of forced everyone into that boat, you know what I
mean. You know, things changed everywhere and it gave us a good opportunity
to evaluate what we were doing. Maybe we could enhance or expand, and
so that's what we're looking at. Yeah, absolutely, Well, and a
lot of people who may not even be familiar with Eldercare. Again, you
know, some events that are coming up here as well, where you can
the community can learn about Eldercare, the services you offer, and those great
facilities that you have over there on Swan Drive. So you know, Claire,
are pleasure to meet you. By the way, again, clear Wrapp
is a fairly new to the elder care community here. So that's some events
that are coming up as well. Correct, Yes, we do for our
community specifically. We actually are hosting to open houses again this summer. We
had one last month and we have another one coming up July and in August.
They're going to be the first Monday of each month at ten am,
and we just welcome the community to come in, come learn about the history
of elder care, what we offer, as well as offer kind of a
tour of our facility which is very special. Yes it is. It is
an incredible facility with lots of programs that I had no idea existed until I
began two months ago. It is a beautiful, beautiful facility. And you
know, again that open house you were saying it's going to be a July
first, I believe, correct, at ten o'clock in the morning. Yes,
okay, so the community can come in and really learn and see what
elder Care is all about. And you know, there's only so much you
can put on your website right about what it is that Elder Care does in
the community. A lot that comes through word of mouth as well as Andie
was talking, I mean physical therapy. I mean, there's so many services
that are offered. The daybreak program just absolutely incredible as well for seniors who
need something to do during the day, right and maybe even family members are
caregivers who need a little bit of a break, that's correct. Yes,
we definitely want to offer that. Make sure people are aware of the services
that we have. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, you're also again a nonprofit
organization as well, so getting the donations in and dealing with that whole financial
side of things as well. There are some fundraising opportunities for you. We
just had the big, the Bad, the barbecue that was just what two
weeks ago to a free experist. Yeah, it was a great success.
We had about six hundred and fifty people and it was at the Hughes Ranch
and you know, just to give everybody a heads up, We'll be back
again next year at the Hughes Ranch on May eleventh, and it's always a
great event. This year was our twenty sixth anniversary event, so it's been
a great opportunity for us to make what I like to say, make the
hug a little bit bigger, you know, and introduce elder care to some
new folks. But fundraising is a big part of what we do with our
community outreach. And thanks to KWN for posting a story about our need and
we were issued a challenge grant from the Carl c Anderson Foundation, a twenty
five thousand dollars grant opportunity was a challenge grant, and I sent the story
to Tom and said, Tom, do you think you could possibly put this
somewhere on your side or mention it And within just a few days we had
the twenty five thousand raised. So yeah, and so that goes into the
programs that need a little extra financial support, and Daybreak is one of those.
We have food costs to cover, we serve three meals a day there,
we have transportation costs and that's a full day's worth of activities from seven
thirty to five thirty Monday through Friday, which you said, you know,
can benefit caregivers as well as those who need a little extra something to do
during the day. Socialization. We have programs, structured programs, don't they
Clay, Absolutely do. They're playing bingo when I stopped by yesterday. Oh
it was a blast all those activities. Yeah, you know, it's important
to keep ourselves busy. I'm not only for our elders in our community,
but for anybody, you know, just getting out there and being able to
socialize with folks. And again we were talking about the big, the Bad,
the barbecue. I had tickets to that, but unfortunately for me anyway,
I had to cover to graduation that night, so I gave my tickets
to Tom and his wife. There is a wife, Tom, Sorry you're
listening well, but anyway, just just a great thing about Eldercare. So
again, just to review Eldercare, give us your location how folks can get
in contact with you. Sure, we are located at twelve twenty three Swan
Drive and you can get in contact with us by calling us at nine one
eight tag Team nine one eight three three six eight five zero zero, or
they can find more about us on our website about Eldercare dot org. And
I always say, you know, it's all one word about eldercare dot org.
What what again? A great organization and we here at K one we
are honored to always have you in studio and talk to you about your needs
or the needs of the community. We are we are very very happy to
be a partner. Thank you you guys as uch what a what a super
organization Eldercare here in Balsville. Come by and see your visit a website at
about eldercare dot org to figure out all the wonderful services that are available right
here in Barlolsville. Angie Thompson, Development Director and Claire Wrap community outreach Coordinator,
thank you so much for joining us today on Community Connection. You're very
welcome. Today's Community Connection brought to you by Arnold Moore and Ncamp Funeral Home.
We'll be back with our words of information after this