Sun Valley Lodge Hosts Men’s Grief Support Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Michael Kloberdanz
Sun Valley Lodge
Phone (623) 933-0137
Fax (623) 933-5846
mike@sunvalleylodge.org
www.sunvalleylodge.org


Sun Valley Lodge Hosts Men’s Grief Support Group

Sun City, Arizona – Tuesday, October 15, 2008 – Sun Valley Lodge will host a men’s grief support group entitled “Grief from the Male Perspective” on the first Monday of every month. The series will be held in conjunction with Hospice of Arizona.

The program will meet at 10:00 AM in the Lodge’s Wriston Lounge beginning on November 3rd. It is free and open to any adult male 18 years and older who has experienced the death of a loved one and is open to learning more about grief education and support.

Sun Valley Lodge Resident Services Director Marcia Gunnell is pleased to offer the ongoing series. “We continually look for ways to both support our residents and serve as a resource in the Sun City community. We feel that men are often underserved when it comes to dealing with grief and we want to help fill that void.”

Call 602-678-1313 to RSVP for the ongoing program.


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Renovation Completed!

Sun Valley Lodge has successfully completed its 2007-2008 renovation project and residents are thrilled with the results. As the first retirement community in Sun City, people have become accustomed to the look we created in 1965. Our new look, described by board president, Barbara Levy, as “Tuscan–style”, includes a new front facade, enclosed courtyards, and several landscaping improvements.
The change is so pronounced that we have had several people tell us that they have driven right past the Lodge without even recognizing us!

Lodge residents Yvonne Gyger, Esther Miller, and Eleanore Zahorcik recently gathered on Eleanore’s patio and talked about the renovation and life at the Lodge in general. “I
think it is fantastic,” said Yvonne of the Lodge’s new look. Esther agreed adding, “It sure is a beautiful thing when you come down the street and see how nice the Lodge looks. I am just so proud.”

Eleanore and Yvonne both have apartments facing one of the renovated courtyards where we added walls, iron gates, extended the patio overhangs, and made several landscaping improvements. In addition to the work we did on the courtyards and patios, we also added new stucco and a stone veneer to the front entrance and a painted, wrought iron fence around the outside of the complex.

During the course of the discussion, Esther relayed a story that sums up the way many residents feel about Sun Valley Lodge. “I am always talking about what a nice place to live this is, but I don’t think my kids believed me about just how special the Lodge is. After their last visit, though, my son agreed with me and said, ‘I don’t think there is another place like this in the United States.’ ”

Sun Valley Lodge Celebrates Assisted Living Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Michael Kloberdanz
Sun Valley Lodge
Phone (623) 933-0137
Fax (623) 933-5846
mike@sunvalleylodge.org
www.sunvalleylodge.org


Sun Valley Lodge Celebrates Assisted Living Week

Sun City, Arizona – Monday, September 22, 2008 – Sun Valley Lodge capped off National Assisted Living Week with a party for all assisted living staff last week.

Resident Services Director Marcia Gunnell called the party a way to honor the assisted living caregivers’ commitment to providing care. “We provide services which will promote the highest degree of comfort, security, and life satisfaction for our residents,” Gunnell said.

Sun Valley Lodge provides 24-hour-a-day assisted living care to residents in 72 apartments. Caregivers are certified and a full time LPN is also on staff. In addition to assisted living services, the Lodge also offers independent living and skilled nursing to seniors.

Contact Mike Kloberdanz at 623-933-0137 for information on Sun Valley Lodge’s continuum of care.


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1950's Day at the Lodge

by Patrice Anne Stolz, resident and volunteer

Our imaginative and hard working Activity Directors, Bernadette and Jan, got together to figure out a way to have a popcorn machine for the Health Care Center...and word travelled quickly! These gals are great at performing miracles for us and that's just what was needed for this project: Money and how to get it...

It all started with wanting to make this happen and staff members asking what they could do to help, like: "Let me do this" and "I have one of those at home I can bring in" and, "I can bake lots of those for sale" and "I have a great punch I can make here" and so it went. We had a real party in the making! It was agreed to have this fun day on Friday 30 August and to have a White Elephant Sale included.

The staff generously brought all kinds of goodies - to eat and purchase like rootbeer floats, ice cream sundaes, sodas, milkshakes. They also arrived with everything under the sun for the white elephant sale. All this to the tune of well loved 1950's music playing in the background. I think I even saw Eck doing the Jitterbug with some pretty lady in a Poodle skirt, saddle shoes and bobbie sox! The Skylight Room was the perfect location. They titled the event: SVL 1950's Day Party and boy was it ever fun! Chelsie was dressed as "Rosie the Riveter", Bernadette dressed as Squiggy from the TV show 'Laverne & Shirley' and lots of others too!

It was evident that everyone had a grand time! We succeeded in not only raising enough money to purchase a brand new bright and shiny popcorn machine for the Health Care Center, but we had money left over which will be put to good use for future SVL social activities. It would not have happened without the love, dedication and hard work of our very special staff here at The Lodge - they did all the work. To each and every one who made this miracle happen, we bow proudly to you and give you all a great big round of applause. They all agreed: "It was our pleasure - it all came from our hearts to yours."

HCC Residents Tell Their Stories

Health Care Residents are documenting their personal histories and keeping journals with the help of a computer program called It’s Never 2 Late (IN2L). The IN2L program is specifically designed to make computer use easy for seniors and those who have little or no experience with computers.

The IN2L computer is located in our HCC activity room and allows users to play a variety of games and puzzles, take video tours, explore history, and listen to old radio and television shows. The computer programs can be accessed simply by pushing buttons on the screen. The computer itself has an easily adjustable screen and keyboard that can be adapted to a variety of positions and needs.

One of the most popular elements of this computer is a program designed to help seniors document their thoughts and histories by answering an extensive array of prompting questions. Volunteer April Newell has been aiding residents with their projects and computer training in general. She says helping residents with the program helps her get to know Lodge residents and is a lot of fun. “This is a great way to discuss residents’ lives and explore topics they want to talk about.”

In addition to working on journals, April has been taking advantage of the computer’s history programs and encyclopedias. “I just let residents decide what they want to explore and then we do it,” she said. “The program is very interactive and helps residents get over their fear of using computers.”

Louis Pinter Celebrates 100 Years

Louis Pinter celebrated his 100th birthday in style last month in our Health Care Center. He was joined by over 30 friends and staff members to commemorate the milestone event. Partiers enjoyed cake, coffee, and punch while a local magician entertained.

Louis joined us at the Lodge in 1998 with his late wife Edna. The Pinters’ first lived in one of our garden apartments. Louis is originally from Brooklyn and spent much of his career working for ATT. Louis and Edna were great travelers and on two separate occasions travelled around the world. Louis donated much of the beautiful furniture in our HCC lobby and his extensive owl art collection to the Lodge. Happy Birthday Louis!

4th of July with the Arizona Swing Kids

Residents were treated to the Arizona Swing Kids again this year for our Fourth of July celebration. The entertainment troupe is made up of members between the ages of 2 and 90 who perform World War II and Doo Wop era shows for seniors around the state.

The group was formed in 1999 and trains young participants to sing and dance with an overall focus on improving grades, preventing teen pregnancy, studying arts and American history, improving generational relationships, and preventing drug use. The lessons are free to the participants and no auditions are required. The Swing Kids have performed over 500 shows since their inception and have had over 1,800 youths perform in their programs.

Jan has already booked them for next year’s 4th of July celebration so look for the Swing Kids on July 2nd of 2009.