‘They just love people’: Homeland Center and Homeland Hospice volunteers honored

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When Ronald Brinkley visits Homeland Hospice patients, he believes he gets more out of the encounters than they do.

Maryann Smith and Tessy. who enthusiastically greets visitors to Homeland Center’s gift shop.

“It’s been a blessing and truly a privilege,” said Brinkley. “You get to know them well. Most of them are very gracious and thankful that somebody came to see them.”

Brinkley was among the volunteers honored at the Homeland Center and Homeland Hospice’s Annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet in April 2016. Dozens of volunteers filled the Homeland Center main dining room, decorated with pansy centerpieces and tiny stars sprinkled on the tablecloths.

Homeland Hospice Coordinator of Volunteers Leanne Porterfield thanked the volunteers by reciting the lyrics to “Seasons of Love,” from the Broadway musical, Rent which emphasizes the theme of all the friendship and love that can be measured in a year.

“I can’t think of a better thing to share with all of you, for all that you do for the seasons of life that our patients at Homeland Hospice and our residents are Homeland Center are going through,” Porterfield said.

Homeland Center Director of Skilled & Personal Care Activities, Ashley Bryan, revealed that Homeland Center CEO Barry Ramper challenged her to increase volunteerism by 10 percent, and it rose by 15 percent.

“That’s all thanks to you, and it’s a benefit to our residents,” she said.

All volunteers received gifts reflecting their time in service, while individuals honored were Jeanne Shellman, most gift shop hours at Homeland Center; Kelly Lick, most hours by Board member; Tierra Meade, most companion hours at Homeland Center; Ronald Brinkley, most patient hours at Homeland Hospice; and Sherry Lank, most administrative hours at Homeland Hospice.

“Homeland Center and Homeland Hospice volunteers are part of the foundation which enables our organization to provide consistent high quality outcomes to our patients and residents,” said Ramper. “Our volunteers are the best. We very much appreciate their heartfelt commitment.”

Meade was recognized for cheerfully helping Homeland Center residents one-on-one and wherever needed. “The residents put a smile on my face,” she said, “they keep me laughing.”

One Homeland Center volunteer who didn’t get a gift but received plenty of attention was gift shop greeter Tessy, a 9-year-old teacup Yorkshire terrier wearing a sparkly green dress. She came to the dinner with her owner,  Maryann Smith.

“If someone is distraught, she listens to their problems and gives them a kiss,” Smith said. “If they’re in a wheelchair, I put her in their lap. They pet her and talk to her. She’s very patient with them all.”

Homeland Hospice volunteer Brinkley enjoys conversing and getting to know the needs of patients. His wife, Brenda Brinkley, also is a Homeland Hospice volunteer and was a longtime member of Homeland Center’s Board of Managers. They both had relatives who lived in Homeland Center, including Brenda’s mother, who celebrated her 100th birthday in the Homeland Center diner.

“They do a good job of taking care of the people,” Brenda said.

Homeland Hospice staff is “the most special group, the most caring,” Ronald added. “They just love people, and I just love being around them.”

Homeland residents, separate but together, keep their love alive

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On the rainy day when Don and Lorraine Englander first met, he was whistling “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”

Don and Lorraine Englander

That was around 1978, and it has been their song ever since.

Today, the Englanders live in separate Homeland wings but they get together every day to talk, laugh, watch TV, and share meals. And they still share all their favorite love songs with each other and with fellow Homeland residents.

Don is an accomplished, lifelong singer and keyboardist who has performed with combos throughout Central Pennsylvania. On Valentine’s Day, he presented a program at Homeland, performing from a playlist of the Sinatra standards that he and his Homeland neighbors love – “Fly Me to the Moon,” “You Make Me Feel So Young,” “My Funny Valentine.”

While Don performs, Lorraine is at his side. Though his eyesight has deteriorated, he can still play his Yamaha keyboard because he taught Lorraine – who readily admits she “can’t carry a tune in a bucket” – to program the songs.

From Don’s cozy room, Lorraine recalls how she came to Homeland first, from their home on Reeser’s Summit, outside of New Cumberland, where they loved watching storms roll in over the valley. Don followed about a year later to join her.

“I wanted to come here,” he says.

“Because I was here,” Lorraine adds.

The Englanders met on that rainy day when Lorraine was a secretary at a YMCA, and Don dropped by on business. They married in 1979 in a Las Vegas service performed by a minister wearing an enormous beehive hairdo. They raised a blended family of six children and loved traveling together. A map on the wall is pinned with dozens of places they’ve seen in the U.S., Central America, and Europe.

Don is a World War II infantry and Rome Area Command veteran. From a hospital bed in Rome while he recuperated from wounds, he witnessed the last major eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 1944.

“That’s something to see,” he says now.

At Homeland, they attend programs together. Lorraine enjoys “Sports Talk with Herm” twice a month. They also get out to see shows in local theaters, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra concerts at The Forum, baseball games, and tours of Hershey Chocolate World.

“We just enjoy being together,” says Don.

Homeland’s flexibility has helped them stay and dine together despite their residences in separate wings, the Englanders agree. Lorraine is a familiar figure in every corner of Homeland, getting around via a motorized wheelchair with a sign on the back that says, “I traded in this Chevy for a Mercedes-Benz.”

When Lorraine arrived at Homeland, health issues meant that she could barely sit up. She was, she says, “in very bad shape.”

“Now look at me,” she says. “They have been wonderful to me, from the top person to the bottom person. The kitchen, the maintenance, they’re all wonderful. And my aides, they’re great. I love the people. Everyone’s been wonderful.”

Homeland Center’s Kings and Queens of Hearts warm a February day

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In their 67 years of marriage, Flora and Jeff Jespersen have discovered a thing or two about lasting relationships.

Flora and Jeff Jespersen were elected as this year’s Homeland Center King and Queen of Hearts in a tradition dating back several years.

“It takes a little bit of tolerance for each other,” said Jeff Jespersen.

The Jespersens also enjoy the unexpected, and for Valentine’s Day, they got a real surprise – their election as a Homeland King and Queen of Hearts.

In a tradition dating back several years, Homeland residents circulate paper hearts and collect signatures from their neighbors, seeking votes to win the King or Queen of Hearts crowns for their units.

The Jespersens were crowned for the Personal Care Unit. Other winners were King Dale Williams and Queen Laura Buchanon, first-floor skilled nursing; King Michael Fludovich and Queen Wanda Berger, Ellenberger Unit; and King Leslie Kauffman and Queen Polly, second-floor skilled nursing.

Residents enjoy collecting signatures and interacting, said Director of Skilled and Personal Care Activities Ashley Bryan.

“The winners always have a big smile,” she said. “It’s a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, which is all about spreading a little love.”

Though Flora Jespersen looked pretty in her tiara and red cape, she was modest and egalitarian about her elevation to royalty.

“There should be no reason that we’re any more queen than anybody else,” she said.

The coronations capped a Valentine’s Day social, where about 60 Homeland Center residents – many of them dressed in red — ate heart-shaped cookies and drank fruit punch. They also enjoyed classic love songs sung and performed on keyboard by Tom Edmunds, smoothly singing everything from “Unforgettable” to “Try a Little Tenderness.”

Betty Ludwig is a second-generation resident who chose Homeland as the best place for her mother and then came to stay herself because “they were very good to her.” Wearing a pink shirt decorated with a white felt heart provided by Homeland staff, she said she attends any event featuring music. She grew up playing piano and flute, and her mother played the piano at home every night.

“If there’s going to be music, I’m going to be there,” she said. “It’s wonderful. Really enjoyable. Very few people will turn down good music.”

Ludwig was chatting with resident Vivian Black, who stays active by attending social events and helping tend Homeland’s library.

“I come to most of their musical things because I don’t like to be alone, and if you stay in your room, you’re alone,” she said.

Resident Marie Smith relived memories of being a Queen of Hearts two years ago.

“I have my crown, and I have a bracelet they gave me,” she said. “It’s all rhinestones. It looks like diamonds on your arm.”

Julia Douden attended the program and saw her dad, Leslie Kauffman, anointed a King of Hearts.

“I like the good music,” said Kauffman. It made him think of Valentine’s Days from “way past.”

Douden said her dad enjoys Homeland’s programs, and she loves them, too.

“It’s a break in the normal day,” she said. “It’s exciting. I saw a smile.”

Homeland Center’s staff get a well-deserved ‘thank you!’

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While Homeland Center’s role has changed since it was founded almost 150 years ago, one thing has remained the same – the commitment of the staff to those who depend on them for care.

Felicia Foster shows the miniature Steelers helmet signed by Hines Ward she received from Barry S. Ramper II, Homeland Center’s president and CEO.

More than 200 Homeland Center and Homeland Hospice staff gathered this month for the annual recognition celebrating their service and honoring 26 employees who have served five years or more.

“I thank you on behalf of our residents and patients,’’ said Barry S. Ramper II, Homeland’s president and CEO. “At the heart of truly being of service is when one entrusts their life to you. We are the best at that. If there were 30-plus hospice providers or 66 other skilled nursing and personal care providers in this room – and that’s an approximation of our service area – I would say the same thing.’’

Ramper noted Homeland Hospice, which earlier this year started Central Pennsylvania’s only dedicated pediatric hospice program, continues to grow. This year Homeland Hospice received superior quality assurance reports that set it apart from its peers.

During the lunch, in which members of Homeland’s Board of Managers took their place behind the lunch serving line as a special “thank you’’ to staff, Ramper made a special gift – a cherished miniature Steelers football helmet signed by Hines Ward, the MVP of Super Bowl XL. Fifteen-year employee and avid fan Felicia Foster won the special helmet in a drawing amid cheers.

For Homeland, the past year has been one to cheer as well.

In 2015, for the fourth year in a row, a poll of Harrisburg Magazine’s more than 30,000 readers resulted in Homeland Center being selected as the Readers’ Choice for Best Long-Term Care Facility. Homeland is also named as one of the nation’s best nursing homes by U.S. News & World Report and continues to be one of the few facilities in the region to receive Medicare’s top five-star rating.

None of it, Ramper told the assembled staff, would be possible without their hard work and determination.

“Please remember all of what we are and what we do is because of you,’’ said Ramper, who is celebrating his 15th year with Homeland. “Each and every one of you, one-by-one, consistently doing what you do on a day-to-day basis. Thank you for all you do.’’

The following are the employees who were honored for their years of service: 

Five years 

  • Myra Badorf
  • Annetti Garwood
  • Susan Harris
  • Bualle Jackson
  • Carmencita Krone
  • Angel Nieves
  • Jean Shannon
  • Patricia Spears
  • Latoya Venable
  • Carole Wells

10 years 

  • Sharria Floyd
  • Deborah Haas
  • Kathryn Kuchwara
  • Anita Payne
  • Philcetta Yongah

15 years

  • Nicol Brown
  • Felicia Foster
  • Albert Jackson
  • Betty Hungerford
  • Barry S. Ramper II
  • Tara Roland
  • Richard Simpson
  • Yolanda Williams

30 years

  • Ginger Sergott
  • James Webster

35 years

  • Ghidai Woldai