Homeland Center unveils two new services to care for seniors at home to address underserved need throughout central PA region

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Betty Hungerford, Director of Development

Homeland Center

Office: 717-221-7727, Cell: 717-580-9139

Email:bhungerford@homelandcenter.org

1901 N. 5th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102

 

 

Homeland Center unveils two new services to care for seniors at home to address underserved need throughout central PA region

Expanded services come as Homeland celebrates 150 years of caring for the Harrisburg area

 

HARRISBURG, PA (June 30, 2016) – With 29 percent of Pennsylvania’s population — 4 million people – expected to be 60 or older by 2030, Homeland Center today announced two new services to help seniors remain in their homes while receiving the quality care they need.

Homeland HomeCare will assist seniors with daily tasks such as meal preparation and transportation, while Homeland HomeHealth will provide doctor-ordered medical assistance, ranging from providing intravenous therapy and other medications to physical therapy.

“By 2020, one in five Americans will be over 65 and many will be requiring assistance to remain in their homes,’’ said Barry S. Ramper II, Homeland’s president and CEO. “For 150 years Homeland has changed and expanded its services to meet our community’s needs, and we realize the growing and critical need for home-based care.’’

Homeland HomeCare services will be available starting July 5th and Homeland HomeHealth, in the process of receiving its state license, is expected to begin accepting clients in the Fall of 2016. Initially, both services will only be available to residents of Dauphin and Cumberland counties.

For more information about the new services contact:

“Homeland is the recognized leader in providing high quality care for our community’s seniors,’’ Ramper said. “As our population ages and the demand for home-based services increases exponentially, we want to be there for the families who have always trusted us to care for their loved ones.”

Homeland Hospice, which serves 13 counties, last year became the only service in central Pennsylvania to offer a dedicated pediatric hospice program. Homeland Center is one of the few skilled nursing care facilities in the region to repeatedly earn Medicare’s top Five-Star rating.

While Homeland HomeCare and Homeland HomeHealth are two distinct services, they will work together based on an individual’s needs. In many cases a client discharged from the hospital may need medical assistance for a period of time and then require additional daily assistance on a permanent basis.

A main difference between the two services is that home health care requires a doctor’s order and is usually covered by the individual’s insurance or Medicare. Care is provided by skilled nurses and other medical professionals. Home care, providing help with everyday activities, is paid for by the client, either directly or through long-term care insurance.

“With the addition of these services, Homeland will be able to help seniors as their need for care increases,’’ Ramper said.

“In some cases a husband or wife may need the skilled nursing care provided at Homeland Center while their spouse will remain at home with help from Homeland HomeHealth Care,’’ Ramper said. “Homeland Hospice is available to provide care at the person’s home, a nursing facility or wherever they are residing.’’

Homeland Center Board of Trustees Chair Morton Spector said the creation of Homeland Home Care and Homeland Home Health is a continuation of Homeland’s mission to identify and meet the community’s medical and social needs.

“Homeland Center has changed since it was founded 150 years ago to shelter the area’s women and children whose husbands and fathers had died in the Civil War,’’ Spector said. “But our mission to provide for the needs of our community and deliver quality care has never changed.’’

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Since 1867, Homeland has provided quality care to the residents of Central Pennsylvania. In addition to offering skilled nursing and personal care services, Homeland Hospice offers care for adults as well as providing the region’s only pediatric hospice program. For more information, go to www.homelandcenter.org  or www.homelandhospice.org

Barry Ramper, President & CEO of Homeland Center, announces the launch of two new service offerings – HomeHealth and HomeCare at a press conference on June 30th, 2016, at the John Harris-Simon Cameron  Mansion, Harrisburg.  While planning for the introduction of HomeHealth and HomeCare, Homeland wanted to offer options to individuals seeking care – with the high quality care that they are known for when they need it and at an affordable cost.

Homeland’s HomeHealth and HomeCare services will be managed by (from left to right) Lora Bierce, RN, Susan Minarik, RN and Debra Weigel, BSN, RN.  Susan, the Director of Home and Community Based Services, Lora and Debra – both Assistant Directors – HomeHealth and HomeCare, each have more than 20 years of experience in the home care services field.

Resident Spotlight: Doris Coyne brings the world to Homeland Center

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Doris Coyne brings the world to Homeland Center!

Doris Coyne, far right, enjoys a root beer float with fellow residents Betty Wise, far left, and Mary Anna Borke.

Throughout her 96 years, Doris Coyne has kept her feet moving. Whether she’s kayaking in Fiji, peeking behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin, or serving meals to the hungry, she is always hunting for new experiences and the chance to stay engaged with the wide world.

“I need people,” she says. “I’m a people person.”

Coyne is among the many residents who bring a wealth of experience to Homeland Center, including two decades of volunteering with Homeland. When she shares her stories of travel to 29 countries and her still-active volunteerism, it’s as if a Chinese New Year dragon, a remote Alaskan hospital, and a picturesque state park in northeastern Pennsylvania all congregate under the Homeland roof.

Coyne was born in Scranton, the daughter of a coal company safety engineer and a homemaker. Her abiding love is water sports, starting with a canoe club on the placid waters of Lake Winola. She always loved the challenge of the water, so at age 75, she tried kayaking, not in a quiet stream, but in the Jersey Shore ocean waves.

“I no sooner was seated in the kayak than it flipped over,” she says with a laugh. “The only thing to do is get back in it.”

Coyne’s husband, whom she met while ice skating at Rocky Glen State Park, was a AAA domestic travel manager. They were fortunate to be married for 35 wonderful years, traveling as a couple and as a family with their two children. After his death in 1981, at age 58, Coyne knew she didn’t want a 9-to-5 job, so she worked temp jobs and ran her own small travel agency.

She also joined Friendship Force International, the travel group promoting personal interaction among people worldwide. Living in host-family homes, from apartments to palaces, Coyne dove into local cultures. In Taiwan, she witnessed a Chinese New Year’s parade and its dozens of men carrying the dragon. In Turkey, she rode on a circa-1905 Russian train. In West Berlin, her host’s home overlooked the Berlin Wall, patrolled by soldiers with dogs. She even got a pass to cross into East Berlin, giving up her passport for the day.

“Then you really knew what it felt like to be in a controlled country,” she says.

Coyne and her husband moved to Harrisburg in 1975. She immediately loved the area and started giving back – ushering for the Harrisburg Symphony, serving meals for the homeless, taking mission trips to support an isolated Alaskan hospital.

Through her church, Pine Street Presbyterian, Coyne began visiting Homeland Center residents in 1981. She then joined the Board of Managers and served several terms over 20 years.

“It was a wonderful, wonderful opportunity,” she says. “I enjoyed the employees and the warmth of their responses.”

As a resident, Coyne remains engaged in Homeland life, joining everything from picnics to crafts to bridge to chair Zumba. She credits her parents and her church for instilling strong values and the desire to give back.

“I love anything where you’re active but having fun doing it,’’ she says. “It isn’t selfish to have fun helping people.’’

Celebrating happy hour with root beer floats

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The weather outside was hot and stormy, but on a summer Friday afternoon at Homeland Center, residents were inside enjoying a cool and universally beloved treat.

“Cheers to root beer floats!” From left, residents Betty Wise, Mary Anna Borke and Doris Coyne.

As resident Doris Coyne put it, “Root beer floats, my favorite food!”

Every Friday at 3 p.m., Homeland Center’s personal care residents are invited to their own TGIF get-together. They convene in Homeland’s Gathering Room, the cheery space where Homeland displays its priceless collection of Hummel figurines and plates. There, residents converse and enjoy a treat. One week, Homeland staff might serve up fresh fruit. Another week, there could be cocktails.

“This is our happy hour,” said Director of Activities Ashley Bryan, while the music of Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin played in the background. “It’s a chance for residents to say hello and catch up on the week in an informal way.”

Root beer floats, it seems, were created in Philadelphia, so they didn’t have to travel far to be enjoyed by Homeland residents at this particular TGIF gathering. Made with A&W Root Beer and vanilla ice cream hand-dipped by CNA/Activity Assistant Nina Wyatt, they were an especially popular happy-hour offering.

Resident Mary Anna Borke gets ready to beat the heat with a root beer float.

“Root beer’s one of the few sodas I like, and when you mix it with ice cream, it makes it fun,” said resident Mary Anna Borke. “It bubbles and gets all that white foam on the top.”

Borke remembered another happy hour, when she was pleasantly surprised to find that “the ‘cocktail’ was shrimp cocktail.”

“I was glad I showed up that day,” she said with a smile.

Borke gets involved in as many Homeland activities as she can, “trying to enjoy what’s here and now. They have a lot of good things.” A favorite of hers is Roy Justice, the “Singing Historian,” who serenades residents with classic American songs from different eras and shares the tales that go with them.

Resident Betty Wise came to the airy Gathering Room just for the root beer floats.

“I like ice cream, and I especially like it with root beer,” she said. “They couldn’t have a better treat than this.”

“On a hot day like this, you deserve a perk,” added Borke.

Wise grew up in the Pennsylvania coal-region town of Tower City, eating ice cream floats made with her father’s homemade birch beer. He brewed it from the bark of a birch tree in their yard.

“My daddy was a great birch beer brewer, down in the basement,” she said. She also remembered that her dad and grandfather made wine down there, from fox grapes grown on a huge arbor in the backyard, or from dandelions picked by her grandmother.

“Oh, that was delicious,” she remembered with a laugh. “I really liked it.”

As the root beer float happy hour progressed, some residents sat around a table, sharing the week’s news. Coyne joined the group and recalled why root beer floats were always her favorite.

“If I’d have company, we’d often have root beer floats for dessert,” she said. “They’re just light and refreshing.”

“And,” added Borke, as the temperature outside hit the 90s, “they’re nice and cool.”

Resident Spotlight: Betty Lloyd cherishes her memories

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Betty Lloyd cherishes her memories!

Golf with friends. Bridge. Travel with family. Betty Lloyd has brought a lifetime of good memories to Homeland Center.

Homeland Center resident Betty Lloyd visits with her son, Greg. “Homeland has a lot of activities,” Betty says. “You can join them and do anything you want to pick from. I always enjoy talking to people.”

Betty came to Homeland in March 2015. Here, she follows politics and welcomes her son, Greg, when he visits from Providence, Rhode Island, every month.

Before Homeland, she lived in nearby Susquehanna Township, in the same home since 1961. From that house, one of the first in its development, Betty and her husband, Reese, built a life that revolved around the community. Greg spent summers at the neighborhood swim club. Betty played bridge with several groups. Reese worked selling specialized packaging tape and taping machinery to manufacturers.

“It was about finding interesting ways to use lots of tape,” says Greg.

When Greg was grown and moved to Portland, Oregon, Betty and Reese would make annual visits with stops at interesting sites along the way – New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park, San Francisco, Hearst Castle. Often, they would golf as they traveled. Though golf was a big part of their life, Betty says she wasn’t very good at it.

“There were four couples, and we played together,” she says. “We enjoyed it. The men were good, but the women weren’t good. We went along just to make it easier for them to get out and golf.”

The Lloyds were also longtime members of Zion Lutheran Church in Penbrook, Pennsylvania. Betty worked with circles of women, helping with fundraising, clothing drives, or preparing meals for receptions.

“It’s a little church,” she says. “I still belong there.”

Betty’s room in Homeland is decorated with items recalling the life she shared with her late husband. An enameled ink pot recalls his World War II service with the U.S. Air Force in China. Two duck decoys came from his time woodcarving, which he took up in retirement.

In those years, Betty and Reese were active in the woodcarving community, visiting shows where he would buy tools and books of bird images published especially for woodcarvers. They also took field glasses to nature sanctuaries around Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake Bay, for first-hand looks at migratory birds.

“He liked going out and watching the birds,” says Greg. “It was a good reason to get out and go to those places, and when the weather was bad, he would spend it in the workshop.”

“He did wonderful work,” recalls Betty. “He’d be in his workshop in the basement, and he could hear me starting to get our dinner in the evening, and then I could hear him putting his tools away. Even with his poor eyesight, he didn’t give it up for a long time. It was fascinating. I was glad he had a good hobby like that.”

Today, Betty enjoys her life at Homeland. She chats with fellow residents, follows political news, and votes regularly.

“Homeland has a lot of activities,” she says. “If you want to, you can join them and do anything you want to pick from. I always enjoy talking to people.”

Homeland Center residents start the summer with music and strawberry shortcake

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Everyone loves the signs of summer. Fresh strawberries. Flowers in bloom. Music in the air.

Residents Carol Sweigert, left, and Flora Jespersen enjoy Homeland’s “Signs of Summer” party.

Homeland Center residents and staff enjoyed them all as they welcomed the warm weather during the “Signs of Summer” gathering under the Chet Henry Memorial Pavilion.

Balloons and decorations in bright blues, greens, pinks, and yellows echoed the flowers blossoming in the adjoining Homeland Center garden. The David Winters Quartet played jazzy renditions of classic standards, from “Cheek to Cheek” to “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”

The party, held the day after Memorial Day, kicked off a planned summer series of picnics. Organized by Homeland unit and floor, the events will help residents and as many guests as each cares to invite reminisce and relive the fun and food of classic picnics.

At the “Signs of Summer” event, resident Flora Jespersen took the hands of another resident to dance in the shade of the pavilion. On the pavilion’s fringes, resident Doris Coyne said she loved the delicious shortcake, “Especially the strawberries, they were very fresh.” She also appreciated the music from a combo she knows well.

“This is a band I used to dance to all the time,” she said. “I love that kind of music.”

Residents heard all their favorites played by the David Winters Quartet

Coyne likes Homeland’s “homey atmosphere, and the rapport between the residents and employees.” She also is a longtime Homeland Center volunteer, including more than term on the Board of Managers, the all-female board which organized the celebration and is responsible for ensuring that residents enjoy a good quality of life.

“The Board of Managers does such a good job here,” she said. “It’s so pleasant for the residents. They do programs. These things don’t happen overnight. The residents especially like this, to get outside.”

The Board of Managers organizes events fostering that “homey atmosphere,” said Board Chair Susan Batista.

“We’re essentially here to make sure the residents have a safe, secure, and homelike environment,” said Batista, as the party went on around her. “We try to make it as much as possible like their home as we can.”

Residents paired their strawberry shortcake with planter’s punch, a refreshing concoction of orange juice, pineapple juice, lemon juice, ginger ale, and a splash of Grenadine. Board of Managers Member Kelly Lick, serving the punch, said the board originally planned a May Day party, to help residents relive memories of circling the maypole on May 1, but spring-like weather wasn’t in the forecast that day.

After a cold, rainy spring, the weather gods “are smiling on us” for the summertime kick-off, Batista added.

“Oftentimes, we have parties inside,” she said. “It’s so nice to get everyone outside, especially in this gorgeous setting.”

Homeland’s summertime picnics make everyone smile, Batista said.

“It’s wonderful,” she said as guests applauded the band’s rendition of “Sunny Side of the Street.” “The families so appreciate it.”

Food truck rolls in with French fries and memories for Homeland Center residents

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Homeland Center resident Ray Caldwell remembers the joy of French fries on a warm night.

“As a kid, I’d go to local fairs in the street,” he said. “In the summertime, people had fairs, maybe a block fair or carnival. Fries were always one of the main items. It was a good way to satisfy your appetite.”

Caldwell and fellow Homeland residents relived those memories on a rainy Friday, when a French fry truck pulled into the parking lot. The event, inspired by residents and planned by caring staff and board members, dovetailed perfectly with Homeland’s philosophy of serving nutritional meals without depriving residents of tasty favorites.

The day originated when the Homeland Center residents council, including Caldwell, asked for French fries with their meals. Sadly, their wish couldn’t be accommodated because French fries lose their heat in the transfer from kitchen to dining rooms. But Board of Managers member Kelly Lick said she “put my thinking cap on.”

“How can we get French fries to the residents?” she said. “Fresh, hot, nice, crispy French fries.”

Lick contacted York-based Bricker’s Famous French Fries, and soon, truck wheels were turning. Homeland’s dietary and activities departments joined in, collaborating to bring residents a special treat.

“We have to work together for the residents,” said Asst. Dir. Of Nutritional Services Carmella Williams. A Homeland employee for 24 years, Williams said the residents keep her coming back.

“I can have a bad day, and I come in here, and they have smiles on their faces,” she said. “Having a conversation with them can change everything. It’s all about the residents.”

Homeland balances delicious, nutritional meals with treats that boost quality of life. Among the elderly, vibrant quality of life that averts complications like depression and overreliance on medications “always trumps the diet as far as making sure they have adequate fruits and vegetables,” said Director of Nutritional Services Yolanda Williams. Moderation is encouraged, but diets are rarely restrictive.

“If someone wants ice cream every day and it improves quality of life, that’s what they’re going to get,” Yolanda Williams said. “Besides, if you do everything you need to do health-wise and nutrition-wise to get to 85, why can’t you have what you want?”

When the Bricker’s truck arrived at Homeland, Plan A was to take residents outside for the delight of getting their fries straight from the fryer, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Instead, Lick and other board members ran out in the rain, piled servings of French fries and ketchup on trays, and brought the goodies inside.

Residents were delighted, accepting the fries with exclamations of “Wow!” and “Very good!”

Homeland residents are “absolute dolls,” said Lick. “If there’s something they like, I’m going to make sure they get it.” As for the mystique of French fries, she agreed with Caldwell that “they take you back, to memories of going to the beach and the boardwalk.”

The lunchtime treat confirmed Caldwell’s belief in Homeland as “a wonderful place.”

“It’s one of the nicest places you ever want to consider,” he said. “People go out of their way to be friendly.”