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

Holiday door decorating contest brings winter wonderland indoors

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Mary Peterson and caregiver Chris Fulton check out some door decorations.

2015 Homeland Door Decorating Contest Winners:

  • 115 – Martha Finley & Wanda Kardos
  • 207 – Harold Hixon & Raymond Caldwell
  • E6 – Wanda Berger & Agatha Goodwin
  • 1N2 – Eleanor Allen

Nativity scenes and reindeer. Snowmen and penguins. All brightened the hallways of Homeland Center this Christmas, as residents adorned their doorways for the third annual door decorating contest.

Residents and their families are invited to dress up their doors and decorate together for Christmas, just as they’ve done all their lives. Residents and staff judged the artworks for neatness, detail and creativity. All entries showed off Homeland residents’ talents and their love of family, faith, and the holidays.

Judges included resident Virginia Ashford, who marveled at the variety of ideas employed. Stopping at a door with Christmas themes of Santa, stockings, and toy trains against a red background, she reached out to touch Santa’s beard.

From left, Mary Peterson, Chris Fulton and Ashley Bryan judging decorations.

“I don’t know why, but I like it,” she said. “There’s a lot to look at.”

Ashford figured residents must have gotten their supplies at a party store.

“They must have really gone down there and splurged,” she said.

Resident Mary Peterson, another judge, declared a door neatly adorned with a bow-tied snowman in the falling snow “a knockout.” On a scale of one to five, she said, “I give it a 10.”

“There’s a lot of marvelous art here,” she said.

Chris Fulton, Peterson’s longtime caregiver, loved the inclusion of the residents not only in decorating but in judging.

Jim Phillips takes a closer look at some door decorations.

Even residents who didn’t enter the contest got festive doors, courtesy of staff who draped doors with wrapping paper and wreaths. One resident admitted to getting help from staff – “some young ladies with haloes around their heads” – to complete his entry.

The doors showed a variety of creative techniques. The white fur on a penguin’s hat were made from cotton puffs. Real twigs added dimension to the scene of a snowman in the woods.

Lorraine Englander’s design incorporates construction-paper handprints made by her grandchildren.

Resident Jim Phillips, a retired computer trainer from Hershey Foods, carefully eyed the detail on each entry.

“People work hard,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to make up my mind about any of this.”

Homeland Center Director of Skilled & Personal Care Activities Ashley

Bryan said residents and families use the contest to “spend some quality time together. It’s a tradition they can keep going.”

Resident Lorraine Englander continued an annual tradition of incorporating her design with construction-paper handprints made by her grandchildren, with their names written on each. This year, the handprints were stacked to depict the antlers of a reindeer who had a Rudolph-style flashing red nose. The image was captioned “All Our Little Deers.”

Virginia Ashford, one of the contest judges, takes a close look at decorations.

Englander said she loves her time with the grandkids. “It relieves me from having to do it,” she said with a laugh. “I love to see my family, and I’m grateful they take interest!”

Christmas was always a time for decorating and getting the children involved, Englander said.

“Decorating is a great way to gather everyone and remember what the season is really about,” she said. “It is so commercial today, and it is important that we continue traditions for children and families that bring them closer together.”

With Herm Minkoff, the news is never dull

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Herm Minkoff stands in the Homeland Diner before a group of residents. On the table are news clippings and books.

“Who has been following the stock market?” he asks.

“It’s up,” says one resident. “About 300.”

It’s been a volatile couple of weeks, Minkoff agrees. “The stock market right now is like a roller-coaster.”

“Yeah,” says another resident. “Take a guess!”

This is Homeland’s twice-monthly sports and current events talk, led by Herm Minkoff. The retired furniture dealer volunteers his time to help Homeland residents stay on top of the news of the day. In the process, he has earned the appreciation of Homeland residents and staff for his untiring service.

Minkoff loves the people of Homeland right back. They grieved with him after the death of his wife, and they constantly support his volunteer work. Volunteers are essential to achieving Homeland’s mission of assuring residents safe, active lives. Minkoff embodies the character traits valued in volunteers – his upbeat attitude, his concern for others, his gift for communications, and his genuine compassion for the well-being of others.

“It’s a good thing when you help people out like this,” says Minkoff.

Originally, Minkoff led talks focused on sports legends and today’s sports news, but he added current affairs to appeal to a broader audience.

“There’s so much going on right now,” he says. “Every day, you pick up the paper and there’s something going on. I really enjoy it. I think it keeps me a little sharp.”

Minkoff isn’t afraid to choose topics that elicit strong opinions. On this day, Homeland residents were sharing thoughts and opinions on transgender people (“If they want to make the change, then go completely. Because then they can’t come back.”) and Donald Trump (“The windbag.”) Even when participants disagree, Minkoff makes sure that opinions are acknowledged, and no one interrupts anyone else.

“Sometimes, I’ll walk in and think to myself, ‘What should I talk about today?’” Minkoff says. “The people I get, they love it.”

When they talk about sports, the discussion doesn’t focus simply on scores and what’s happening on the field. For instance, Minkoff reminds them, sports figures of the past were shielded from scrutiny when they misbehaved off the field, but today’s sports stars are chronicled in minute detail – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

During one discussion about husbands whose straying makes the news, Minkoff asked why a humiliated wife would, as the song says, stand by her man.

“The women there had some great answers,” he says. “’A woman can’t help it sometimes. She’s in a bind. Where’s else can she go?’”

Residents show their appreciation by ending the sessions with applause. “They love it,” says Minkoff. “I always start off by telling them that if we get into anything political, I just want them to know that I am not a Democrat, I am not a Republican. I am an Independent. I just call it the way it is.”

Homeland Center residents’ Pearl Harbor memories resonate with college students

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World War II took loved ones. It opened doors to opportunity, service, and sacrifice. It was a time when many Homeland residents matured quickly from children to adults, and it all started with the bombing of the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.

On Dec. 7, 2015, Homeland Center residents gathered in the chapel to share memories of the “date which will live in infamy” with students from Central Penn College. The students then recalled the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., and the two generations bonded over the impact that national crises had on their lives.

“I was the first boy to be drafted from my school, and I finished,” said Homeland resident Don Englander. “I was one of the lucky ones.”

The Central Penn College students belonged to Rotaract, a Rotary Club initiative for 18-to-30-year-olds. The Homeland visit was the first community service project by the new club, sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg North.

About a dozen residents shared their Pearl Harbor memories with seven students. Resident Harry Zimmerman was 13 years old, living in Harrisburg, when he heard newsboys outside, shouting about their extra editions.

“It was a different world back then,” he said. “We didn’t even have electricity.”

Vivian Black’s future husband, stationed at Pearl Harbor’s Hickam Field, first thought the planes droning overhead were “no big deal,” and he went back to sleep.

“Then they woke him up, and he was dressed in a couple of minutes and out on the field with the other soldiers,” Black said.

Arthur Lloyd, already in the service and attending radio school, was taking a break with his buddies, all wearing civilian clothes for a day at the skating rink. When they heard the news, he told his friends to enjoy their civvies, “because we’re going to be in uniform the rest of the war.”

One resident couldn’t finish her story, thinking of the brother she lost in the war. Another remembered her brother-in-law, who survived a naval attack off the coast of South America, only to lose his life on D-Day.

Rotaract Club President Mallar Peters, of Lake George, NY, said the emotional tug of Pearl Harbor resonated with him because 9/11 influenced his decision to enroll in Central Penn College’s homeland security program.

“I thought, ‘What can I do to help?’” he said to approving murmurs from the residents. “I thought that working in national security, helping with terrorist threats, would be a good career choice for me.”

After learning that one resident didn’t hear from loved ones in the service for six weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack, student Ashlyn Bartlebaugh said the World War II generation “had it harder.”

“I can’t even imagine the mental torment they went through, and to be strong enough to share that,” she said. “I’m very appreciative they were willing to share.”

Homeland resident Caroline Cruys reminded the students that Pearl Harbor, just like 9/11, “was a shocking thing to go through.”

“We ask, ‘How could this happen?’” she said. “But it did, and we survived, and we thank God for that.”

Duets by Homeland pastor and his father brighten monthly service

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Luminous, late-morning sunlight streamed across the patterned carpet of the chapel of Homeland Center one recent Wednesday in early autumn — so much so that resident Ray Caldwell, 85, politely asked for the blinds to be drawn.

Rev. Dann Caldwell and his father, Ray, sing together at Homeland Center’s monthly Wednesday morning prayer service.

As he faced 12 of his fellow residents and prepared to sing by the stone altar and marble columns, the golden sunlight was blinding.

It was an apt prelude to the Gospel message expounded upon in a strong, soothing voice by Ray’s son, Rev. Dann Caldwell, chaplain of Homeland Hospice: that the Lord is the light of the world. Then, together, father and son sang “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

The father-son vocal performance is often one of the highlights of the monthly Wednesday morning prayer service.

The duo sang often as part of a musical family, when Pastor Dann led Charlton United Methodist Church in Lower Paxton Township.  Dann’s mom Betty, who still lives in the family home, sings tenor as part of the Sweet Adelines, and both Dann’s brother Rick and son, Peter, sing as well.

Three generations of Caldwells once performed the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” during Fourth of July services at his Lower Paxton church, when Dann’s son Peter, now 15, was only 4.

“That‘s one of my father’s favorite hymns,” said Dann.  “And that’s one of my special memories,” as he recited the famous words—“Mine eyes have seen the glory….”

Both Ray’s brothers were veterans of World War II.

“It’s great to have anyone to sing with, but when it’s with your family member, it’s even more meaningful,’’ said Ray, who has been a Homeland resident since early April.

Throughout the prayer service, the residents listened with heads bowed in prayer, or gazed attentively toward the golden cross in the front, and often called out song requests from the large spiral hymnals they held.

Together the residents, who gathered before the altar in neat rows, sang moving renditions of “Because my Savior Lives,” “Shall We Gather at the River,” “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus,” “In the Garden,” and “Take Time to be Holy,” in between the recitation of prayers and Gospel readings.

“The service lifts my spirits,’’ said Vivian Black, an active volunteer and resident at Homeland.  In the past 10 years, Vivian lost both her daughter and her husband.

“For me, it’s an absolute necessity that I come here,” she said, thinking of her recent losses.  “What do I have? This is my home, the people I love.”

She especially embraces the hymn, “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” because it reassures her that God is watching her, and one day she will be reunited with her husband and daughter.

Faye Dunkle, 91, dressed smartly in a cocoa brown suit, with matching pearl earrings and necklace, said she knows Dann, his wife and son, and his dad and mom from the old church.

“He has such a wonderful singing voice and is such a wonderful man,” said Dunkle, whose sister was also a Homeland resident. “I am so thankful for this chapel.”

Homeland Center Halloween puts magic in the air

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Legend has it that on one night of the year, Homeland Center is haunted by ghosts and goblins. Also, pint-sized firefighters, princesses, Ninjas, and many, many Spidermans.

This is Homeland’s annual Trick or Treat, an evening in late October when residents and staff join to relive Halloween memories, celebrate family, and of course, get candy.

On this night, staff bring their youngsters, dressed in their Halloween finest, to trick or treat in Homeland’s hallways and gathering places. Homeland provides the candy that residents distribute.

Resident Caroline Cruys, doling out generous helpings of lollipops and Reese’s peanut butter cups, called the tradition “one of the treasures of my life.” When Cruys was a child, her mother would paint up the children’s faces and take them trick or treating around their Brooklyn neighborhood. As an adult, she enjoyed handing out candy on Halloween night.

“You do it at home, and to be able to do it here is just wonderful,” she said.

Cruys wore a sweater adorned in pumpkins, ghosts, and scarecrows. On her head, she wore a hat topped with a spider. As 7-year-old Alisha Hidalgo, a witch in purple and black, accepted her candy, she said, “Hi, Miss Cruys. You look very beautiful today.”

Hershey Foods played a big role in the Halloween fun, donating 75 pounds of Twizzlers and Hershey kisses. Many family members made donations as well, making it possible for Homeland to purchase additional candy for the special night.

Resident Betty Wise once sat on her stoop at home and handed out candy. At Homeland, she enjoyed seeing kids in costume, “and we don’t have to do any of the work.”

“The kids are very nice,” she said. “You love giving to kids when they’re nice and say thank you.”

Up the hall came 1-year-old Zion Jones. Toddling around in his police officer costume, he attracted attention everywhere he went. He even got the nod as best costume of the night from Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter, who was there that evening.

Zion’s godmother, certified nurse’s assistant Sam McNeely, introduced Zion to Wise. “It’s my godson, Betty,” she said. Wise marveled at seeing McNeely out of her CNA uniform. “Look at glamourpuss here!” she said.

McNeely said the event “gives the kids a chance to go trick or treating, and not on the street. It’s safe in here.”

It’s a night when residents get to see the children of staff as they grow up from year to year, and staff get to show off the children and grandchildren they’re always talking about.

“I talk to the residents a lot and tell them about the kids,” said Connie Lewis, a Homeland cook there with her granddaughter, great-nieces, and infant great-nephew, dressed as the character Woody from “Toy Story.”

Ten-year-old twins Christopher and Thomas Lovelidge, dressed as Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, had already started consuming Pixie Sticks as their mother, Melody Lovelidge, marveled over their overflowing candy buckets. Lovelidge, the daughter of resident Caroline Cruys, said she appreciated the opportunities the event gave her mother and all Homeland residents.

“It’s so nice to see the residents out mingling,” she said. “It brings them a change of pace. They remember Halloween. The costumes are terrific, and the kids are adorable.”