“Woo-hoo – you can do it. Way to go!”, I cheered to total strangers, from my perch on Second and Bergner Street.

On my way home from errands that morning, I realized that the Harrisburg Marathon was in the neighborhood, and decided to watch the action from the corner. There was another women there, armed with a cowbell. By the time we saw the runners, walkers and juggler, the competitors had been at it for up to 7 hours. The winners of the Marathon had been determined hours ago, and I bet til some of these folks finished, the bottles of water would be gone, and much of the race festivities would already be packed away for next year.

Male competitors in Harrisburg Marathon

And still, they came. When they past us, they still had about 4 miles to go, down Riverfront Park and onto City Island. It’s a beautiful neighborhood, but not a glamorous stretch of race. There are lots of four-way stops so the runners were constantly eyeballing traffic to make sure it was safe to proceed. We saw several people pushing strollers with children, and we cheered extra loud for them. One silver-haired woman trotted by and as we yelled, she shook her head and mumbled, “I always tell people to do this when they’re YOUNG,” but she kept going.
One white-haired gentleman came by, and I’m no expert on age, but he looked closer to 80 than 60. He was walking, so I went up and gave him a high five, and he said “I’m the Abominable Snowman”, which is exactly what the writing on his shirt said. But it was the back of his shirt that caught my eye: “Since 1982. Every mile a victory.”

Female Competitors in the Harrisburg Marathon

Then a car pulled up to us. A woman stuck her head out and pointed to the runners coming up the road. “That’s my daughter, Kim. Cheer for her”. So we did. “Go, Kim, you mom asked us to cheer for you. She loves you. Go Kim’s friend, too!”
At about 1:45, a parade of paramedics drove past us, heading toward the city, and when we couldn’t see any more athletes’ heads pop over the hill, we called it a day. I decided to walk up the race path toward my house, just in case. And sure enough, there was one final man, running slowly, beaming. I crossed the street and turned on my cheering and clapping, sorry I didn’t have my cowbelled friend with me. “Who-hoo! Way to finish!” He gave me thumbs up and said, “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?’

Yes, it was. Life. Embraced.

Chris Wnuk
Author, Contents May Have Shifted During Life:
Unpacking the Stories of a Daughter, Wife and Technology Goddess
www.christinewnuk.com
Now, on Kindle!

photo credits: from www.harrisburgmarathon.com

My neighbor just told me that she was starting to research retirement communities. I don’t envy her. From my experience at Messiah Village and in seeing other communities, I am struck by how much they all look alike. Most have lovely grounds, friendly staff and spacious rooms. How does a person see the difference? I think the key lies in looking behind the trimmings.

I heard a story about something that happened here at the Village a few weeks ago. It is my new answer to, “What makes Messiah Village special?” I was in a meeting with some people on our nursing staff and we were sharing highlights from our departments. A nurse manager told the following story. There was a resident on her unit who was very ill. Her husband came to see her every day, and the staff got to know him. He, too, had some serious medical issues. Over time, various staff members noticed that he was losing weight and looking tired. They asked him if there was anything he was really hungry for. “Oh,” he said, “I could really eat some baked macaroni and cheese.”

The staff called the Fireside Grille (our in-house restaurant) and learned that they made this dish. They collected money to pay for a meal and coordinated the logistics of placing the order and having it delivered to the nursing neighborhood. When they called the restaurant to place the order, they learned that the team at the restaurant wanted to donate the meal. The next time the man came in to visit his wife, he was greeted with his favorite dish. What a blessing that must’ve been for that man, to have someone see his need and want to help.

The next time someone asks me about Messiah Village, this will be my lead story. The pamphlets with the activities and apartment sizes will come later.

WordNerd's cherry pie

Residents of Messiah Village may recognize this picture from our in-house TV channel 78. This is a photo of a sour cherry pie I made earlier this summer. People who know me well know that I come from a long line of uninterested cooks. When my mother passed away, she left, not a recipe book, but an address book full of caterers’ and bakers’ phone numbers. So, when I am occasionally inspired to do something in my kitchen other than walk through it to the backyard, I take photos.

My love of sour cherries goes way back. When I lived in Maryland, a friend and I spent every summer Saturday in a pick-your-own field at Larriland Farms. We would pick buckets and buckets of sour cherries, and my friend would make containers of sour cherry jam.

Longing for that flavor again when I moved to PA, I tried the less labor intensive endeavor of pie making, made even less labor intensive with two invaluable tools: the chef’s grade cherry pitter and Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts. The cherry pitter lay to rest an earlier monstrously tedious process of poking pits out of cherries with a shortened drinking straw. The Pillsbury pie crusts made the whole thing possible because, in the words of fellow blogger, KBiz, “I can’t be bothered” making pie crusts from scratch.

The pie in the photo represents two recent upgrades to my pie making process. This is the first pie made with the new pie plate my husband got me for my birthday. The golden sheen on the crust? You can thank my mother. A few years ago, we were having one of those lazy Sunday morning phone conversations. I told her I was making a pie and needed to remember to separate an egg so I could brush the crust with egg whites. “You should use the whole egg on the crust,” she corrected. “Because that’s how you did your pies?” I snarked to the backseat pie maker on the other end of the phone. “Food Network. Paula Deen. I saw it on TV,” she replied. And she was right. It did look better.

Have you surprised anyone with your culinary prowess lately? Consider showcasing your talents at the Messiah Village Chili Cookoff on Friday, September 10! Or, if you view cooking as a spectator sport, stay tuned for more information on Messiah Village’s Chef Face-Off, happening this fall.

My husband and I are committed to “greening” our household in many ways. We recycle all of our paper, glass, cardboard and plastic. We started composting a few years ago. I also use the water from our dehumidifier to water my flowers. Some things seem less practical for us; converting to geothermal energy, and installing solar panels are a few examples of things we decided are not appropriate for us at this time.

Similarly, Messiah Village has committed to going “green”. Under the leadership of our “Green Team,” we have expanded our recycling efforts, installed a green roof and converted many lighting fixtures to more energy efficient bulbs. One area where we have opportunities to improve is in our use of styrofoam. Styrofoam is used heavily in our dining areas for take-out and for other purposes.

One way to be greener is to use compostable cups and plates. This option, however, would increase the cost of supplies by about $17,000 per year. We are also exploring styrofoam recycling. There is a community in the area that is doing this. A volunteer rinses all the styrofoam and then drops it off at the recycling center.
The desire to go green is often tempered by the constraints of convenience or cost, or both. How has the green movement affected decisions in your household? Are you willing to spend money to be green?

“Run,” the voice intones.  I usually don’t like to be bossed around, but I find this oddly restful.  No meetings, no consultations.  I obey the voice.  I am a slave to the C25k (Couch to 5k) program on my iPhone.

My iPhone has been an unexpected delight in my life.  I bought it because I thought it was pretty and fun, and haven’t stopped finding new things to do with it since.

This spring, I started running.  There’s a program known to many novice runners called Couch to 5k.  It’s a 10-week program that prepares you to run a 5k by having you work a training pattern based on walking and running for set times.  The goal is to build endurance slowly and minimize the risk of injury.   In the early weeks, it’s lots of walking, with bits of running.  As the weeks progress, the pattern switches.  I tried it a few years ago, but found I got wrapped up in watching my watch and keeping track of the pattern.  Then I got bored and ran back to the couch.

Here’s where the iPhone worked its magic.  Now, I have all my favorite motivational tunes stored in my phone.  The C25K application on the phone keeps track of timing and counting the walks and runs and lets me listen to my favorite music while I do the workout.  I just finished week 4.

Couch to 5K application for iPhone

My iPhone has been more fun than I could have imagined.  Fellow blogger “ClownCollector” wrote on April 29^th about an experience at Messiah Village that exceeded her expectations.  What has “wow” ‘d you lately?

As the Director of Information Technology at Messiah Village, one of my favorite questions to explore with people is, “What is technology?”

I’ve got a few standard answers to this question.  The first one is, “Technology is scary things with buttons.  When people are no longer afraid of something, then it is an office supply.”  Think of things that were amazing 10, 20 or 40 years ago – photocopiers, adding machines, solar calculators, and cordless phones.  Now, these things are commonplace.

Another way to define technology is, “Things that make our lives easier or more productive.”  This could include microwaves, cell phones, and email.  But also, by this definition, I could include one of my favorite office productivity tools, my wall-sized whiteboard.  My whiteboard holds random bits of important information, to-do lists and workflow sketches.  It is a constant multi-color reminder of where my department is heading and the things we need to do to get there.

Do Not Erase!!!

Here at Messiah Village, recent technology innovations include major upgrades to the Chapel audio-visual experience, enhancing communication to our residents, clients, staff and friends through a Facebook presence and through the premiere of our first ever video Christmas greeting.

How does technology affect your daily life?

During the blizzard, every nook and cranny was filled with a cot or mattress.  Here are some photos of makeshift sleep areas.

Lois Hutchison

Meredith Fields

Chris Wnuk

From Carl Ginder, Vice President of Strategic Development

Two things that impressed me were 1. The incredibly efficient system of cleaning off residents’ cars and 2. The fact that the kitchen staff served meals to stay-over staff while still serving all the residents despite staff shortages.

1. Apartment residents’ car keys are kept on a giant key ring in the order in which cars are parked in the lot.  This way staff and volunteers can go from car to car, start the engine, clean the snow off the car, back it out of the parking spot, clean off and salt the parking lot and move the cars back into their original spot.  In a relatively short time, but with considerable effort, cars and parking lots are snow free and safe to traverse.

Tim Zimmerman moves a car

2. Although I never heard an exact count, there were perhaps 75 staff members who stayed over one or two nights in order to ensure that we would be able to adequately provide service to residents and to clear away the snow.  Those who stayed were promised that they would not go hungry.  The kitchen staff provided tasty, nutritious meals to all the “extras” even when some of their own staff couldn’t make it to work.

It’s great to work with people who are dedicated, not to their jobs, but to the people who are counting on them.  There was no grumbling.  There was a spirit of “let’s find a way to enjoy what we need to do.”

Dave Lehman and a resident compare snow attire

From Pastor Terry Rose, Director of Pastoral Ministries

I spent two nights sleeping on a mattress in my office.  I heard my mini refrigerator turning on and off as well as the hum of my computer.  I laid there telling myself, “You can do this!  Just think of the people in Haiti who are grieving the loss of loved ones and have no shelter, no food, no water and sleeping under the stars.”  This helped me to put things into perspective quite quickly.

The first day I helped make sleep over bags in laundry as well as match socks.   Since I was not here for the first snow storm, I do remember an e-mail asking for available staff to help clean off residents’ cars.  So, for the second snow storm, I came prepared with warm clothes and shovel and broom.  Therefore, the second day I helped clean off cars in front of Tuscarora and individual cars of those who live in the cottages.

From Lori White, Registered Nurse Assessment Coordinator (RNAC)

I was able to spend two nights with a long time friend of mine in Assisted Living and got a taste of what it’s like to live at Messiah Village when a nurse came creeping in at 2 A.M. to make sure there was a body in the room.  I think she was a little surprised to find two bodies; one on the sofa and one in bed.  I was able to revisit some aspects of my past experiences here at the Village from that of a caregiver, (feeding residents), to a floor nurse passing meds, and even squeezed in a little of my own current job as RNAC.  It was quite an experience, but I was very proud to be part of a team who kept their spirits up and worked together to keep things as normal as possible for the residents.