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February 2017

The PineCrest Post

Updates and news for the Residents of PineCrest Retirement Community

The “SERVICE” Edition

Every new year sees an abundance of get-in-shape tips and advice. Pho-tos featuring buffed 25 and 30 year olds can leave the impres-sion that folks over 65 need not apply themselves to an exer-cise routine. But in truth exercise helps everyone, and no one is more aware of its benefits than Earl Parker.

Parker admits to having been “fitness-oriented” all his life, and at 80 years old, he shows no signs of abandoning his lifelong habit of regular exercise. In 2014, he purchased a bicycle with the idea of riding the campus of PineCrest Retirement Com-munity in Lufkin, Texas, where he lives. But those sojourns proved too limiting, and he soon found himself turning the handlebars toward downtown Lufkin on Saturday mornings.

Parker recently purchased a rack for his car so he can haul the bike to his daughter’s house, 130 miles away, where he rides the trails near her home on some Saturdays. His rides average 45 minutes — a good workout, with the added bonus of fresh air and sunshine.

On Mondays and Thursdays, he exercises for an hour with a personal trainer, a routine that can include walking the tread-mill, weight training, exercises on the fitness ball or strength training with elastic bands.

RESIDENT SPOTLIGHT—AMERICANTOWNS.COM

New Year’s exercise resolutions — they’re not just for peo-ple under 65

Parker also exercises on his own once a week in the community’s fitness center, where he is often joined by John Woodside, another resident of the community, who—at 100 years old—is further proof that it’s never too late to reap the benefits of exercise.

ABOUT PINECREST: PineCrest is a member of the Methodist Retirement Communities, a leading non-profit, faith-based system of 11 retirement communities spanning across six Texas locations. With a Christian heritage of serving seniors dating back to 1962, MRC has over 50 years of residential senior living and health care experience. Services include independent living, assisted living, certified memory support, skilled nursing, rehab and home health. MRC is listed among LeadingAge/Ziegler top 100 sys-tems in the country. For more information visit www.mrcaff.org

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February 2017

The PineCrest Post

Updates and news for the Residents of PineCrest Retirement Community

Amy Thomas, Executive Director

SERVICE

Serving others is what I like most about working at PineCrest. Every day I am al-

lowed the opportunity to be of service to someone. I think of service as helping

someone. Whether it is helping residents, family members or staff, I enjoy making

a better quality of life for all them. Service, to me, comes in many different ways.

It could be listening to someone who has had a bad day, helping someone with a

task, telling a joke to make them smile, or being their emotionally for someone

who is coping with life’s challenges. I began my career serving others here at

PineCrest as a nurse over twenty years ago and I hope to continue my journey in

caring for others. Serving one another, serving our community, serving our family

are all ways I see we are given opportunities to serve. We have great staff provid-

ing the needed services to our many residents, family members and one another.

Without our staff, we would not be able to serve. I am thankful for every one of

our employees and the dedication they have in carrying out the mission of Pine-

Crest with a servant’s heart.

Amy Thomas,

Executive Director

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Karen Lazarine, Assisted Living/Memory Care Director

February 2017

SERVICE….Being God’s Hands and Feet.

I feel so blessed to be able to work in a place where I can serve and serve from my Heart. God is

truly amazing and has blessed me with the opportunity to serve at MRC PineCrest Retirement Com-

munity. I have grown with you and learn something new every single day.

All is going and going well in our Assisted Living Department. As you know, traditional Assisted

Living is undergoing a remodel. Things are really changing up and it is going to be fabulous once it

is all complete. The predicted completion date is the end of March. Assisted Living has been eat-

ing their meals from the Healthcare Unit who have graciously hosted us during our transition. It’s a

little further to walk, but the exercise is good for us all. We would love to have you all visit once

the construction is complete. We will be hosting some parties and events and will keep you undat-

ed.

Memory Support continues to grow and we are taking this year (2017) to train in every way possi-

ble. We just completed training on a couple of new programs that are new to us. Memory and Mu-

sic is a program that is doing wonders for our residents. This program was given to by a grant we

applied for. We received the training and 14 I-pods, 14 headphones, I-tunes money and all the in-

formation to get us going. The IPods are loaded with the individuals preferred music. This can be

any music they prefer. It has been amazing to see the enjoyment for the residents who use these.

We will be purchasing additional IPods for the rest of our residents.

Another way we are serving is with our essential oil program. Doterra has graciously donated es-

sential oils to our memory care units. We are using these essential oils on residents by using the

Aroma Touch Hand Technique as well as diffusing the oils. We are recording the data for analysis

regarding behavior, cognitive function, and sleep. It has been effective in the reduction in stress

levels, agitation and frustration. Thank you to DoTerra for the donation and willingness to work

with them on their research. We will keep you posted.

It is an honor to work with our seniors. As with anything, it has its challenges, but is very reward-

ing when you know you have made one smile or make their life a little better. We are all here to

serve. Everyone is called to serve in one way or another. No matter what your age, there is AL-

WAYS a way to make a difference in others’ lives.

Until Next time,

Karen Lazarine

Assisted Living/Memory Care Director

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Kim Hagler, Director of Human Resources

February 2017

PineCrest residents please help us welcome Taylor LaFlore to our HR de-partment. Taylor is “volunteering” this semester through Stephen F. Aus-tin’s business department. She is an avid softball player, along with study-ing business management. Taylor received a scholarship in softball and has played as a Lumberjack for the last three years.

Taylor will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management. After graduation Taylor desires to return to her hometown of Forney, near Dallas, and pursue a professional career in HR.

Kim Hagler,

HR Director

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Carol Chmielewski, Accountant February 2017

I have such exciting news for all residents, guest and employees. Pinecrest now accepts your debit/credit cards

to pay for food at the Bistro and guest room charges at the front desk. We have installed the machines at the

Bistro and front desk and they are working perfect. Please pass along this news to family, friends and cowork-

ers.

I would like to ask each of you to look at your mail. Make sure that your Room Number is included in the ad-

dress. If the room number is not on there, the mailman will not deliver it to you. It ends up in a undelivered

pile and they then sent it to us to look up each person. Then we manually write the number on it and put in

your box. If you receive something from the front office in the in house mailbox, please contact whoever sent

it to you and have them add your room number. This goes for when you transfer throughout Pinecrest.

Thank you so much for helping with this matter.

So there was this elderly driver who was late for a doctor appointment.

She is going 65 on a street where the speed limit is 40.

A cop pulls her over and says “ma’am, can I please see your license?”

She says “I’m sorry, officer, but I got it revoked two years ago for drunk driving.”

His brow furrows and he straightens up. “Well, can I please see the registration of your car?”

She says “I stole the car and I killed the driver; he’s in the trunk.”

“Ma’am, DON’T MOVE, I’m calling for backup.”

He mutters furiously into his walkie-talkie…

Five minutes later, half the squad pulls up, the Chief of Police walks over to the woman’s window.

“Ma’am, can I see your license?” he asks sternly.

“Of course, officer,” she smiles demurely and pulls out a license from her purse.

He squints warily at it. “This looks legitimate,” he mumbles.

“Can I see the registration to this car?”

She pulls it out of the glove compartment and hands it to him.

“Ma’am, stand back!”

He bangs open the trunk of the car and flinches: but it was completely empty…

The woman brandishes a finger at the first cop and says accusingly, “And I’ll bet that liar told you I was speed-

ing too!!”

The neighbors thought it was odd, but 93 year old Morton was dating again. One Monday morning Morton

woke up with a funny feeling that something important happened last night. It was during breakfast, that

Morton finally remembered what it was. He had proposed to his date Greta. But what she answered he just

couldn’t seem to remember. Morton picked up the phone and dialed. “Hi Greta”, said Morton, “I have a funny

question for you, do you remember last night when I proposed?” “Oh my gosh” gushed Greta, “I’m so glad you

called, I knew I said yes to somebody but I just couldn’t recall who it was!”

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The Marketing Family

February 2017

February 2017

We are so excited that service is the theme for this newsletter. In marketing we are continuously

aiming to serve our residents, marketing leads, physicians and the medical teams that we work

with. We know that our work here at PineCrest is a wonderful opportunity to share our faith

through how well we serve others. We are truly the hands and feet of Jesus.

First impressions go hand-in-hand with that concept. We only have one chance to make a won-

derful first impression. We are currently going to each department and conducting a first impres-

sions in-service to refresh our entire staff of the importance of first impressions and how they af-

fect PineCrest. Our goal to always strive to give the best service to others is a perfect way to

make a great first impression. The marketing team is so appreciative of how well everyone at

PineCrest works together to make sure that our residents and families have a great experience

here and that our physical appearance is always sparkling. We are looking forward to continuing

on this mission of top notch service to create a great first impression.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men… It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 2:23-24

Many Blessings,

Vallie, Danielle and Amy L.

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Heath Foust, Director of Physical Plant

February 2017

MAINTENANCE NEWS FLASH In the Housekeeping Department we are gearing up with this new year.

We have hired some more weekend staff to help eliminate the rotating sched-

ule in the licensed areas. We will train more staff to work in other areas of

housekeeping and also cross train some of them to other departments to

better use our resources.

In the Physical Plant Department we ended the year with completion of

many projects which included all the guest rooms. The only thing we are

waiting on is the furniture. With many move ins this month we have been su-

per busy getting all the apartments ready for the new residents. The main con-

struction project in Assisted Living is coming along with expected finish date at

the end of March. In February, Johnny and Anthony will be taking a life sfety

class in Tyler to better enhance there skills for the licensed areas. We will be

looking forward to working with the Residents and staff to better enhance the

campus and what we do for this community.

Our theme this quarter is “SERVICE” and what it means to me.

Service is when you become a servant to others to provide a need that is

beneficial to the person you are serving.

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Hannah Pierce, Administrator

Monica Duran, Director of Nursing

February 2017

Monica Duren, RN was recently promoted to the Director of Nursing position for

Health Care and Rehab. She holds a license as a Certified Respiratory Therapist and

worked several years as an ICU and floor therapist at Nacogdoches Memorial Hos-

pital. She decided to go back to school to become an RN. Right out of college, she

was hired on with Memorial Hospital in ICU/Stepdown and soon transferred to Spe-

cialty Hospital. After some time there, she decided to try her hands with home

health. She joined the PineCrest team in 2015 as the Assistant Director of Nursing.

We are proud to have Monica as a part of this magnificent team!

Hannah Pierce, LNFA

Skilled Nursing News

Rehab is really “Rocking.” We a filled to capacity. We welcome a new nurse for 2-10 shift, Britaria Roberson. She comes to us from the Longview area with long-term care background. We also have a few new faces with our Therapy Team; Clay, John and Molly. Healthcare is just as busy, just a little slower pace. We have 3 nurses working on completing the WTA wound care training; Judy Turner, Sharon Davis and Monica Duren.

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Angel Johnson-Branch, Director of Home Health

February 2017

PineCrest Home Health

Suite A

PineCrest Home Health will be sponsoring Tick Tock Tuesday Twice A

Month in the Fireside Area from 11am-12:30pm. Please safeguard your

heart! A nurse will be available to take your blood pressure accurately for

FREE. You can use this to report back to your local physician and to keep

for your records. We will also be available to answer questions or give

medical clarity according to our scope of practice. Please take advantage

of this free service no appointment necessary.

Free Blood Pressure Reading with

MRC PineCrest Home Health

Resident______________________

Blood Pressure ______________

By: _______________Date_____________

REDEEMED AT

MRC PINECREST HOME HEALTH SUITE A

Angel Johnson-Branch, RN Director of Home Health

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The third Friday

of each month,

Audiological Ser-

vices comes at no

charge to check

hearing aids. You

do not have to be

a patient of Dr.

Sally Muhlbach’s

to receive this ser-

vice. Sign up for

an appointment in

the Activities

Please refer to your activities calendar to see a complete list of activities.

Celsa Hurley, Lifestyle & Wellness Director

In the event that the fire

alarm is sounded, please take

this seriously and take all

precautions. Stay put in

your apartment, in an area

that you can hear the inter-

com. If instructed to evacu-

ate, exit the building using

the closest stair case to your

apartment.

The onsite Brookshire Brothers is a satellite

campus of the Gaslight Brookshire Brothers,

and follows their pricing.

The Brookshire’s is open Monday– Thursday

10:00 am—3:00 pm, closed from 12:00 to

12:20 and on the weekends and holidays.

If you have specialty items that are not

found in the store, turn in a list to Melony

and she will purchase and have for pick up

the following business day.

This is not to include deli and meat market

items.

First Bank and Trust is here weekly on

Wednesday’s from 10:00 am to 2:00

pm to take care of all of your banking

needs. You must have an account

with First Bank and Trust to utilize this

service.

You can purchase stamps at the front

desk. Books are $9.40 each or singles

are .47 each.

February 2017

What a fun and exciting time! We have a lot of new residents moving in and more to

come! I wanted to add some details that most “know” but to let the new residents

know :) Looking forward to the next quarter and if you have not been on an adventure

trip…. YOU ARE MISSING OUT! NO we don’t give full details, but they are fun! IF they

were to involve extensive walking, etc… you would be informed.

Just take the adventure.

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Celsa Hurley, Lifestyle & Wellness Director February 2017

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at what-

ever the cost. Arthur Ashe

Why is service so central to Christian belief? Because we follow a God who serves. Or dare we hold ourselves to be greater than God, and hold that what God does is too menial or dirty or lacking in value? Even more, we follow a Christ who loves others. Dare we spurn those whom Christ treasures? And we have in us a Holy Spirit who gives us gifts expressly for the purpose of building up other people. Dare we squander the riches the Spirit has given us?

Apparently, we do dare. Most of us consistently fail to serve, to care enough about someone else to act in their favor. It's not as if servanthood is hard. You can do it. It doesn't take a God to pull it off. But then again, maybe it does in a way, for Jesus was-n't out for self-this and self-that, but rather others-this and others-that, and was able to pull it off. God wants to serve others through you. Maybe we have to rely on Je-sus' character growing in us, as it brings out the fruit of the Spirit, and focuses us on doing right by others.

Servants aren't posers. They know they're not superstars. This helps others see that they too are just people. Servants can be held accountable, because they're not busy with crafty cover-ups and aren't into C.Y.A.. A servant of Christ chooses to be like Christ and serve others. Servants do it in whatever way is needed, but prefer doing it in person. They see freedom not as a great way of doing something for themselves, but as the freedom to do what's needed to lift someone else who needs it. The servant forgives those who do them wrong, since God forgave them in Jesus. Most of all, the servant is actually looking for helpful ways to serve, to give, and to build up. They're glad to do it. The Spirit gives Christ's servants gifts so they can actually accomplish the acts of service.

The way of Christ is the way of being a servant to others and to God, done out of the gifts of love and abilities given by the Spirit. Serving others is the work of the church. Serving others has nothing to do with being servile. It has to do with being a human being among other human beings, nothing more but also nothing less, loving them as Jesus does, with actions as well as words. (servanthood.com)

This spoke volumes to me! This is what SERVICE is to me and this is what this job is in a nut shell. Helping others, serving others, giving myself to others and being the hands and feet of Christ to help build others up. I fail some days (as we all do, we are humans), but at the end of the day, loving each of you is a daily gift. ~Celsa

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Temple Drive Resident’s Association

February 2017

Dear PineCresters,

It has been my pleasure to serve as your president of the Temple Drive Residents Association for 2016 and I appreciate you for letting me serve you again in 2017. What a blessing it has been to have people like Mary Ann Mewbourn, Sue Brawley and Bill Moreau serve with me. Speaking for the four of us, I take this opportunity to thank all of the TDRA com-mittee chair persons and their individual committee members for the good work that they did for all residents in 2016.

We look forward to the ways they will serve us in their various committees again this year.

You do not need me to tell you that even though the Christmas trees are Down, our love and friendship for each other is definitely Up at PineCrest. In addition to love and friendship, the Spirit of Service is also alive and well here on our campus. Service has always been and still is a very important part of our life at PineCrest. In my opinion, all of our em-ployees serve us faithfully. It would be impossible to say which one among all of them serves us best. But as I think about this, I recall that some time ago there was a commercial on television which asked the question: How do you spell RELIEF? The spokesperson for that advertisement went on to answer his own question by declaring that ROLAIDS

spells RELIEF.

If we should be asked: How do PineCresters spell SERVICE? I do not think that we would be out of line to use names like HEATH or JANIE or TAMMY as great ways to spell SERVICE. Hopefully, you agree with me that they represent just three examples of the many dedicated people working at PineCrest. It is also my opinion, that Heath and Janie and Tammy are excellent role models for all the people who work here. So congratulations and thanks to them and all the other employees for the many things that they cheerfully do for us. Because of their collective dedication and work, we are provided a pleasant living environment and a quality life experience. I feel confident that you will be happy to join with me as we extend our heartfelt thanks to all our terrific employees. In addition, I am requesting that all of us endeav-or to complete at least one ICARE card each month this year to honor our employees. By doing this we point out em-

ployees that we personally think would be good ways to spell SERVICE.

With this said, I recognize that I am a little late in reporting that we have had many new things happening in our country generally and here at PineCrest specifically. Some of these new things include a New Year, 2017, a new American president, Donald Trump, and some new physical changes taking place on our campus such as the remodeling of our Assisted Living area. But for me, the most important new thing occurring here is all of the new residents who are moving into our home to be a part of our family. If you have not met our new residents, they all will be introduced at our next

Temple Drive Residents Association meeting. Please join us as we welcome these new residents to PineCrest.

The last time our Temple Drive Residents Association membership met as a group was to present your 2016 Employee Appreciation Fund checks to the employees. It was a very enjoyable affair and I have received an overwhelming re-sponse from the employees expressing their gratitude to each of you for your much appreciated generosity. And while on the subject, I wish to express my thanks to each of you for your donations to our 2016 Employee Appreciation Fund and give a big Thank You to our Treasurer, Mary Ann Mewbourn for the outstanding work that she did in overseeing

this annual fund. Mary Ann your work on this project was greatly appreciated by all of us.

Our next meeting of the Temple Drive Residents Association will be on Wednesday February 8th, 2017 at 1:30 P.M. in

the PineCrest Auditorium. This meeting, as always, is open to all PineCrest residents.

I look forward to seeing all of you there.

Bill Philmon

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Pocket Billiards Fall Championship Tammy Anderson, Director of Dietary Services

February 2017

Dietary Departmental News

Please help me welcome our newest Dining Service members. We are

so proud to have them on our TEAM.

Anita Fuller & Latonya Austin –

Cooks

Melinda Barton, Lakeisha Mask,

Seleana Smith – Dietary Aides.

Reminder the Food Committee

meets the 1st Tuesday of every

month in the Multi-purpose room @

1:30p. Everyone is welcome to visit. If you have any questions please

feel free to contact me our chairperson Iris Reddy.

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Pocket Billiards Fall Championship Hoot and Hats Off

(Honoring family; sharing it with you)

February 2017

Carol’s daughter, Ashley Cornelius got en-

gaged to William Rothhauser on December

3rd. Both are graduates of UT and live in Aus-

tin but no date has been set yet. Their fur ba-

by approves though. Congrats to the family!

Sarah Reggie’s grandson was promoted

to warden of the Oklahoma Correctional

Center in Vinita in November. This is his

first warden position and his grandmoth-

er is so proud!! Hats off!!

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Pocket Billiards Fall Championship Hoot and Hats Off

(Honoring family; sharing it with you)

February 2017

Paula Henderline

in housekeeping

recently had a

granddaughter. The

little girl was born

on January 5,

2017. The little girl

weighed 7lbs

2ounces. This

makes 6 grand kids

Ms. Odessa Kegler, our PineCrest

Health Staffing Coordinator, is so

proud of her son , Mr. Brent Shan-

kle for his completion of the grad-

uating Class of December 2016 of

Angelina College in License Voca-

tional Nurse program. We are very

proud of him and his accomplish-

ment and his contribution back to

the healthcare profession . Look

out, we may see him around Pine-

Crest one day! Congratulations

Brent and Mom!!

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Pocket Billiards Fall Championship Hoot and Hats Off

(Honoring family; sharing it with you)

February 2017

Welcome Taylor LaFlore. Taylor is intern-ing through SFA’s ( AXE EM) business program with us. She is an avid softball player, along with studying business man-agement. Taylor received a scholarship in softball and has played as a Lumberjack for the last three years.

Taylor will graduate in May with a Bache-lor of Arts in Human Resource Manage-ment. After graduation Taylor desires to return to her hometown of Forney, near Dallas, and pursue a professional career in HR.

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Pocket Billiards Fall Championship Hoot and Hats Off

(Honoring family; sharing it with you)

February 2017

Hoots and Hats off to Taylor Thomas {son of Amy Thomas} who is 6 years old. In December, it was

Taylor’s first time to ski. After only a couple of hours of lessons, he was riding on the advanced

slopes and jumping off ramps. Many times he would have to stop at the bottom of the slopes and

wait for me, telling me, “Mom, you are wasting my ski time.” If he had any fears of overcoming this

challenging new venture, he certainly did not let me see it. He almost fell of the mountain, but didn’t

tell me until our ski trip was over. I asked him why he didn’t tell me and he said, “Because I knew

you would worry and I didn’t want you to keep me from skiing.” What I learned from him is we all

have fears. If we are always letting people know our fears, many times they will come to our rescue

not allowing us to show our full potential to finish the challenge. I am proud of my son for learning

something new and pushing himself to master an exciting new sport. Of course, I think skiing is

much easier when you are young and lower to the ground… you don’t have as far to fall and you

can recover faster from the injuries!

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PineCrest Retirement Community

Methodist Retirement Community Affiliate

1302 Tom Temple Drive

Lufkin, Texas 75904

(936) 634-1054

The PineCrest Post

Updates and news for the Residents of PineCrest Retirement Community

We are here to serve you!

The staff at PineCrest

Amy Thomas, Executive Director

Hannah Pierce, Assistant Administrator

Shari Palacios, Executive Assistant

Angel Johnson– Branch– Director of Home Health

Carol Chmielewski– Accountant

Celsa Hurley —Lifestyle & Wellness Director

Chris McKenzie– IT/ Technical Support Specialist

Heath Foust– Director of Physical Plant

Karen Lazarine– Assisted Living Director

Vallie Cross – Marketing Director

Monica Duran —Director of Nursing

Tammy Anderson– Director of Dining Services

Danielle Ferguson– Marketing & Events Coordinator

Debbie Mullen– MDS Coordinator

Janie Havard– Front Desk Receptionist

Kendra Bristol – Life Enrichment Coordinator

Melody Stone, LVN– Clinical Admissions Assistant

Pennie Covington– Billing

Sandra Walker– Medical Records

Shange Blount– Assistant Food Service Director

Tiffany Pierce, LVN– Home Health Nurse

Kim Hagler —Human Resources Coordinator

Karla Kendrick—Life Enrichment Coordinator

Amy Lawrence—Admissions Coordinator

Susan Rouse— Interim Assistant Director of Nursing

February 2017