Christ's Home

Title: Senior Residents
Time: 12 min 44 sec

Description:

A group of our Senior Residents from the retirement community share about how they learned about Christ's Home and what it is like living in this community.

Transcript:

well good afternoon my name is John Bryant and I have the joy and privilege of serving as the CEO here at Christ's home and I'm joined today by a number of our residents at the retirement community this is Norma and Phyllis and Carol and Joe wolf and we're so very grateful for their time and we're just going to chat for a few moments together about life here at the retirement community and let me begin by asking you all this question how did you learn about Christ's home and specifically our retirement community and we'll start with Norman I was born right in a house down the Newark roads and county line and my mom was married in the church her second marriage was married in the church here and my mother who lived here and the nursing home for about five years so it was very familiar with Christ home then we had a house built in New Britain okay and then we were only there twelve years when my husband passed away and then he knew I was coming here because he came over here with me to look at the place that he liked it and I we pressed our noses up against the glass at that sample over there it wasn't open on the weekend so we were looking in the windows our nose principally on the windows well the more we came up here John darn thinking this will be good so we're now here always for years my mother along God blessing is in heaven I still hear her voice when I shall saying you want to get it and what have we found we we were in our home 48 years loved it loved our neighbors happen a mile from our church we're still in our church 50 years I still see my wonderful neighbors and I have wonderful neighbors up here Norma is two doors away from me it's been incredible and we've never looked back I guess I wasn't ready at the time and we lived in a Poconos and it was a two-hour drive schlepping down to see our children and grants so during the course of the year I had some medical adventures and caracal de Barbara again said I think we could come down and take a look again and sure enough we looked at the facility that we we ended up in and it's I mean it's just what we want a 2-bedroom apartment on the corner and we're extremely happy really it's like we were guided here but one of the things that's common for everyone is that you have to downsize and you have to move and sometimes that's a hurdle for folks it's easier for some than others now I'm going to steal a little bit of Phyllis's thunder but then I'm going to have you ask you all to kind of comment on well if you can think back how you kind of work through that hurdle of making the decision to say I'm going to make the move not many things bring me to tears they they really do but that had me on the birds yeah yeah the bank got our evidently got our house mixed up with another house so we couldn't have settlement as the truck was leaving the neighborhood with everything in it including our clothes and it was like what do we do first thing we did was come up here and say we don't have the check we don't know what's happening and I'll never forget barber saying call Lewis movers and tell them to get up there you're moving in but it was coming up here and being reassured because it is a scary feeling because you don't know until you go to settlement so you were wonderful barber was wonderful I sold my house and them two months I don't know how it was only ten years old and and we had everything was perfect in it it sold fast somebody from Virginia came up the boys came up and she likes my kitchen floor says she bought my house my cold bar they wanted settlement right away I called barb and because I think my cottage wasn't supposed to be done until August this was in April so I called barb and it's barb I sold my house she says that's wonderful she says you have a place to go I said no that's why I'm calling you and I called her and she said we have a cottage the one cottage that next to John walling was being renovated she says come over and look at it and see if you want to go in there so I came up and looked at it and it was gutted so I said it'll do it'll do and they fix it up really really nice and thought I guess it was one of the first ones renovated inus I knew right away that that was what I wanted and had to do a little talking and finally we made a decision I guess it was in November and then joe said but it's ski season what will we do so I talked to Barbara I said can you hold it till March and they held the apartment till March and the 1st of March we were on our way well as I said we lived in a Poconos and just like have something to do I worked at the skier which was good for two reasons I could ski free and I just went in whenever I felt like it and I could bring the grandchildren up and we'd always work something out whether he skied at a low low price but that you know it was our thing we wanted to get through the through the winter and come down and when we talked about selling the house we mentioned it to our children and my son Jeff he said whoa wait a minute well I'll buy what do we do so it worked out great we both made it we made a deal we were both happy with it we didn't have to downsize he stuck with survive stuff stuff but he's happy and house house is still later and I go up occasionally hasn't changed the locks yet so what do you love most about living here Christ I'll return when you love just the other day when it was nasty out there was snowing and everything I said to Carl why this is nice I'm not shoveling anything and we just sit in here relax and fellas are out there shoveling off blowing the snow off and everyone's so nice the neighbors are always so we've we've gotten to know folks from church we go to st. John's and there's quite a few people in here that attend the church we just got to know so many wonderful people oh I love my apartment I love my front door back door it's like living in a little ranch house we can come and go you can be very busy every day or you can stay in your pajamas till noon fine and do whatever you feel like doing and really I mean we moved here from the Poconos but we're very familiar with the area because we both grew up in Olney or Felton built a little section of Omni so and a lot of people that we've met here are from the area than Abington broccoli fox chase so I just felt like it was sort of moving back home and seeing the children and grandchildren as often as we like there's a lot easier than driving two hours and saying can we stay overnight we did lose our son this year all I have to do is walk up to the health center by the way I call this the lodge Edelweiss and I come out feeling better because I've listened to them these wonderful oldsters um I feel 20 years younger when we first moved up here and we looked around I said to John hmm it is for older people I brought the mirror down I said we'd sit right in I have joined on one side I have Franklin the other side who gets my paper every day gets my trash cans every Monday puts them away for me and he does it for all of us all the way down the road that they're out and the back of my house I put I made the patio bigger and put a fence around it and I have the awning and I sit out there and all the warm wet not too cold in the warm weather it's like being on vacation all the time it's just like being on vacation you sit out there with your guests soda or whatever your lunch and the dogs right there you can't get out and it's really nice and question the lake behind me it's just beautiful and in this Greater Philadelphia region there are many many retirement community senior living options that are available to people and we know that and they all do a wonderful job and each of them have kinder uniquenesses we we understand what ours are and then we're very varied and properly proud of those but if you would bump into somebody at the supermarket tomorrow and they said to you and it was obvious they were senior and they said you know I'm looking around but I've been around a whole bunch of different communities why should they come to Christ song what would you say they take good care of you and you'd like to say you have the nursing home here that if you need it it's there and the people in here my daughter Dora North mom was in here Nancy Trumbauer and she she was she did good in here and so it's nice you're very caring very caring place speaking of the garden apartment I love that back door I mean I always raised the Philadelphia you had a back door you had a back door neighbor and I love that you can be you can have anything you want here and it is it overly big it isn't it isn't so big that you won't know of someone and like I say you can be as private as you want or if you're a people person you can really have a good time here here you can walk out your front door and walk the whole community and and see the Suites people in the Suites visit you can visit people in the cottages you talk to people and we have the garden you can go up to the garden people say go and take what you want so you can have the fresh vegetables I mean to me is lucky about my back door but really some places are just so large you get lost but here if something happens I think people would know right away and you'd have someone coming to make sure you're okay there are so many things that are beneficial if you drive through and you're here overwhelmed by the cross the Shepherd's Cross cottages on me don't be scared you could look at the garden apartments that Carol and I enjoy the pool a couple times a week in it I don't know if other places happen I guess they do I think the bottom line is its Christ's home that says it all I had the basement had the first floor in the second floor I was afraid at night I don't know why I was afraid I even had that big dog but I was afraid at night and I wanted the middle house because when people around me and I feel very very safe here well I want to thank each and every one of you very much for taking the time to be with us today and to share your thoughts and to share your stories and I know that it'll be of great encouragement to others and thank you for all that you're doing day in and day out to make this community one that is caring and compassionate because it's the residents to make that happen the most so thank you very much god bless you have a great day