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Cedar Community: Life the way it should be. The way you want it.

WestBend– Looking for something to do during the long winter months? Visit Cedar Ridge Apartments, 113 Cedar Ridge Drive, West Bend, on Saturday, Jan. 21, from 10 a.m. to 2  p.m. for their annual Chili Social and Used Book Sale. Enjoy a warm, delicious lunch, browse the book sale and take a tour of Cedar Ridge Apartments. A great lunch prepared by Cedar Ridge’s Top of the Ridge Restaurant will be available for only $6.25+tax. You can also purchase quarts of chili to go for only $6.95. This event is free and open to the public. For more information or to schedule a personal visit, call 262.338.2811.

This is a great opportunity to come and see what Cedar Ridge Apartments are all about. Cedar Ridge Apartments are located on a 50-acre campus just south of Highway 33 offScenic DriveinWestBend. With one, two-bedroom and deluxe apartments, Cedar Ridge is home base for active and independent adults age 55 and better. Cedar Ridge offers an onsite restaurant, indoor pool, whirlpool, 3,000 square-foot woodshop, recreation areas, train room, fitness center, nurse’s clinic, massage therapy, beauty shop, market and café.

Cedar Community is a not-for-profit, church-affiliated leader in creating relationships, services and environments to enhance the well-being of seniors and their families. Its facilities are located on five campuses in Washington and Sheboygan counties. Cedar Community is proud to provide a continuum of care including independent and assisted living, skilled nursing care, rehabilitation, hospice, memory loss services, subacute and home care. For more information visit their website at cedarcommunity.org.

WestBend – Join us for Evenings of Poetry on Fridays, Jan. 20 (Carpe Diem – Seize the Day), March 23 (Renewal) and July 27 (Healing) from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Cedar Valley Center and Spa, 5349 County Road D in West Bend. Read aloud or simply take in the beauty of the spoken word. Everyone is welcome to bring several poems to read aloud, either their own or their favorite poets’. Although each evening is themed, poems of all topics are welcome.

Readings will be hosted by fellow poetry lover, Dr. Wendy Weaver. She is a member of the national Conference on Christianity and Literature, Mound Mary College Teaching Excellence Award recipient and chair of the English department atMountMaryCollege.

Refreshments will be available. There is no admission for the evening, but pre-registration is appreciated. For more information or to register for the event, visit cedarvalleycenter.org, call 262.629.9202 or email cvcinfo@cedarcommunity.org. Overnight accommodations and spa services are also available if scheduled in advance, for an additional fee. Call for details.

Cedar Valley, a division of Cedar Community, is nestled in the Kettle Moraine on 100 acres and features 24 overnight guest rooms and conference rooms with spa services, a country-styled dining room and homemade meals. Cedar Valley Center is a great getaway location for personal use, business and religious retreats and family reunions. For more information on Cedar Valley Center and Spa, visit their website at cedarvalleycenter.org.

Technology, politics, medicine, manufacturing, retail, even the natural universe is in a constant state of change. Change leaves no one behind, and that includes . . . Nursing Homes. But what do most people know about nursing homes? Very little unless you live there, work there, or have a family member residing there.

If you haven’t been to visit one lately, you’d be surprised at the changes. Changes are noticeable in design, in dinning, in the quality of health care delivery, and even in daily activities [read: computers more . . . bingo less].

If visiting a nursing home in the near future is unlikely, you may be interested in learning of 6 things about nursing homes that you may have not known!

1) Nationally, the demand for the traditional nursing home is declining in spite of the fact of the dramatic increase of our aging population. What some might consider nursing home alternatives such as Assisted Living and Home Health are showing an increase in demand.

2) Nursing Homes are the nation’s MOST REGULATED ‘industry.’ Federal, State, and local rules, regulations, codes, statutes, and laws, along with regular and intensive state and federal inspections / surveys provides oversight that surpasses the scrutiny of even the nuclear industry!

3) Not-for-Profit nursing homes, when compared to For-Profit nursing homes, consistently rate higher for resident satisfaction, lower staff turn-over, and less regulatory deficiencies.

4) The majority of revenue for our nation’s nursing homes come from Medicaid and Medicare (Federal and State reimbursement subsidies).
Those reimbursement sources do not fund nearly the costs for the nursing homes to provide care to its residents. They are left to find other ways to make up the losses.

5) Many times after someone is discharged from surgery from a hospital (acute care), and especially in the case of older people, rehabilitation therapy is often ordered by the physician. Only nursing homes (SNF – skilled care facilities) are licensed to provide this therapy (subacute) care. The goal is to complete successful physical, and/or occupational, speech therapy and be discharged to go back to one’s private home. In other cases, Home Health Care agencies provide this therapy in the private home as directed by the doctor.

6) Under the new National Health Care Reform legislation, ACO’s (Accountable Care Organizations) are being established to coordinate patient care having acute care, subacute care, long term care, and home health care organizations work together to provide cost effective and comprehensive health care.