Betty Calvert has lived at Sumner since 2006. Her floor plan is labeled “Corner Brompton” and consists of 1214 sq. ft. Both bedrooms in her apartment are decorated with unique Asian white lacquer furniture purchased in California. And she has a collection of crosses that tell a story.

Living next door are the Hays. Karl and Ellen moved to their apartment – a two bedroom “Turret Bloomsbury” – about a year and a half ago. The minute you walk into the hallway entrance your eyes catch a throw on the couch picturing a family photo and the floor-to-ceiling windows that allow the sun to light the entire great room/kitchen area. A chandelier highlights the corner area and forces guests to focus on the ceiling, where a circular border provides a three-dimensional look.

At the other end of the corridor is Alma Smith, a former Pittsburgher who is one of the original independent living residents. Upon entering her apartment you see the kitchen and the great room with a bedroom to the right and a den area on the left. The floor plan is called a one bedroom deluxe “Chelsie” and covers 910 square feet. You can tell she’s an avid reader, as one entire wall is bookshelves.

Three Villa-dwellers opened their homes for tours as well. George and Bonnie Lyon and John Guinter have been neighbors since August of 2003. Even though their villas are next door to one another, their floors plans vary. George and Bonnie said they believe choosing Sumner to retire has been the best decision they could have made. And John, at 91, said he plans to stay where he is for another decade.

Concordia at Sumner is planning another Open House on Sunday, June 30 which will include a presentation on Health and Wellness. Call Director of Marketing Rowena Wilkins at 330.664.1289 for details or e-mail us here. In the meantime, check out some photos from the event below. Click on the thumbnail to see the full picture. Enjoy, and feel free to comment!

Concordia’s 8th annual Fashion Show was held May 4 at the Butler Country Club. The event featured residents, staff and family as well as business partners as models, 50 gift baskets, 130 mystery bags and a dozen vendors who entertained more than 300 guests.

Reports show more than $22,000 was raised – which is more than ever before! All proceeds went to the Good Samaritan Endowment Fund, Concordia’s charity care fund. Fashions were by Kohl’s and La Perla, a boutique shop in Oakmont.

Special thanks to everyone who supported this event by volunteering, attending, donating or helping spread the word!

Below are some pictures and video from the event for your viewing pleasure. Take a look, leave a comment if you like!

Concordia at the Orchard, celebrating a decade of service to the Butler community this year, is featured in the 2013 Concordia calendar in the month of May.

Meet resident Millie Sutton and Resident Care Coordinator Anna Hildebrand, known around the Orchard as “The May Girls.” Millie lived in an apartment in Butler before she made her home on Concordia Way almost two years ago. She worked at Armco until she married.

“Back then,” she said, “they only let you work three months after you got married and then they laid you off.”

Her husband (who also worked there) and she had four children: two sons – one is superintendent of a school district in Iowa and the other is an architect in Pittsburgh; and two daughters – a nurse for Highmark and another who is retired in Missouri. She has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. This former golfer said she likes everything at the Orchard, especially the people, and is very happy.

Anna Hildebrand has been part of the Concordia family for nearly two decades. Beginning her career as a certified nurse aide in Markus Hall (part of the Oertel Care Center, which is now the headquarters for Concordia Visiting Nurses) was a natural course of action, since both her grandmother and cousin were nurses. She took a leave to attend Lenape School of Practical Nursing and returned in 1996.

Anna has been married for 22 years and has two children. Helping others, touching lives – she continues her family’s tradition and it suits her perfectly. “My personal goal is to put 110 percent into caring for my residents at the Orchard,” she said. Anna loves to hunt and fish and spends a week each year with her family at Deep Creek.

A participating provider in Concordia Lutheran Ministries’ CARF-CCAC accredited Aging Services Network, Concordia at the Orchard is a personal care facility located on 40 acres in northern Butler County across from the Clearview Mall.

For more information on this beautiful Butler personal care facility, call 724.285.4490 or e-mail us here.

While we’re not sure who to credit for that quote, it does make you stop and think about the important work that volunteers do on a daily basis around the world. According to www.handsonnetwork.org, the largest network of local volunteer centers around the world, last year approximately 2.6 million volunteers contributed $579 million worth of service – and that’s just volunteers in their network!

At Concordia, our volunteers may not actually number in the millions, but the hundreds we do have seem to do the work of a million people, and we couldn’t be more grateful for each and every one of them.

Last week, which was officially National Volunteer Week nationwide, Concordia at Cabot held its annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at the Haven 1 dining room. Around 160 volunteers who help around the campus, with Concordia Visiting Nurses and with Good Samaritan Hospice were thanked by President and CEO Keith Frndak and then served a delicious lunch by the Concordia staff members they selflessly assist every day.

Below are some photos from the event for you to take a look at and comment on if you like. And if you keep scrolling past the pictures, you’ll see some of the volunteer duties that are needed on a regular basis throughout Concordia Lutheran Ministries. If you or someone you know has a heart for volunteering, consider contacting one of our facilities to give a few hours of time. The great thing about volunteering is that it usually benefits the helper just as much as those who are helped – just in different ways. 

(Click each thumbnail photo to see the entire picture)

Concordia is always looking for interested community members to help in a number of areas. Our volunteers perform important and rewarding work, and can choose the duties, location and schedule most fitting to them. No prior experience is needed, just an open heart and the desire to change a life.

Volunteers contribute in many ways, including:

• Music or dance talents
• Helping with parties/special events/outings
• Visiting patients/residents and wheelchair walks
• Quilting and sewing various items
• Pet Therapy visits
• Recycling cans and newspaper
• Office help
• Delivering mail/papers
• Light yardwork
• Assisting with chapel services
• And much more!

Those interested in volunteering should call one of the locations listed below and ask for volunteer opportunities. For more information on Concordia Lutheran Ministries, visit our website or e-mail us here.

Concordia at Cabot
134 Marwood Road
Cabot, PA 16023
Phone: (724) 352-1571

Concordia at Ridgewood Place
1460 Renton Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15239
Phone: (412) 798-1855

Concordia at the Orchard
104 Concordia Way
Butler, PA 16001
Phone: (724) 285-4490

Concordia at Rebecca Residence
3746 Cedar Ridge Road
Allison Park, PA 15101
Phone: (724) 444-0600

Good Samaritan Hospice
3500 Brooktree Road, Ste. 320
Wexford, PA 15090
Phone: (724) 933-8888

Concordia of the South Hills
1300 Bower Hill Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Phone: (412) 278-1300

Concordia of Cranberry
10 Adams Ridge Boulevard
Mars, PA 16046
Phone: (724) 779-4300

Concordia of Fox Chapel
931 Route 910
Cheswick, PA 15024
Phone: (412) 767-5808

Concordia of Franklin Park
1600 Georgetowne Drive
Sewickley, PA  15143
Phone: (724) 935-1075

Concordia of Wexford
125 Brown Road
Wexford, PA  15090
Phone: (724) 935-1266

Concordia at Sumner
970 Sumner Parkway
Copley, OH 44321
Phone: (330) 664-1000

Pastor Hartman and Ruth Frohn

April’s stars have probably known each other longer than any of those featured. Director of Chaplaincy Services Rev. Jack Hartman met Haven independent living resident Ruth Frohn in 2003 when her husband John needed skilled nursing care.

“When John was in Lund, Pastor Hartman ministered to him, to us, every day,” she said. “He would ask John about his new toys (he had a collection of walking, talking stuffed animals – which are now on display in Ruth’s apartment), or take him for ice cream at the snack shop.”

According to her, Rev. Hartman provided great comfort and spiritual guidance during the family’s time of mourning when John passed away.

The Frohns had moved from their condo in Murrysville when John’s health began to fail. The couple was among the first to make their home in the then brand new Haven III building. The Kansas native has lived from coast to coast and is a mother, grandmother and great grandma.

Pastor Hartman was called to Concordia 16 years ago. He has been a pastor since 1976, having graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis. His wife Michelle worked for Concordia Visiting Nurses and Good Samaritan Hospice, where she served as Clinical Director. They have three sons and two granddaughters.

He is full of Navy stories, as he spent most of his vocation in the military. When he is not preaching, you can be sure to find him at a baseball game, especially if the Pirates are playing. Regarding the Pirates, he says, “They are like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree; they need a lot of love!”

For more information on Concordia’s retirement communities, personal care facilities or skilled nursing/rehab services, visit our website, call us at 724.352.1571 or e-mail us here.

Rev. Roger Nuerge

Today’s post is from Concordia Chaplain Rev. Roger Nuerge and is part seven of the “Call to Care” series. Concordia’s Chaplaincy Department actively contributes to our residents’ well being.

In Chapter 4 of his book Don’t Sing Songs To A Heavy Heart, Dr. Kenneth Haughk says it is important to know who you bring to the relationship when caring for a suffering person.  He says you bring Jesus and yourself.  Jesus incarnates himself in you.  When you bring your self you bring your feelings, wounds and presence, which gain power when Jesus is in you.  In a previous blog we looked at Incarnating the Compassion of Christ; You and Your Feelings; and Feelings: An asset or a Liability?  Other insights follow.

Caregiving Fears

• People fear saying the wrong thing and making matters worse.
• People fear getting too close so that they hurt too.
• People fear coming face-to- face with their own mortality.

Actually, it’s all right to feel anxious and be afraid.  In fact, you can use your anxieties and fears to help you.  They can help you know you need help.  They help you to know you need God, so the first thing to do is pray.  The second thing to do is to admit that you don’t have any answers to help, so just listen.  Listen to the person you are caring for, and while you listen, ask God to use you despite your fears, concerns and anxieties.  He will.

The Wounded Caregiver
Who is the wounded caregiver?  It’s you.  In his book The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen says that the wounded caregiver is one who embraces his own brokenness as he relates to one who is suffering.  In this book, Nouwen says the caring relationship is one where:

• A person puts his own faith and doubt, his own hope and despair, his own light and darkness at the disposal of others to help them through the confusion of life.
• Compassion is the core element of care giving.  Compassion knows that both the craving for love and the cruelty of the world are rooted in our own impulses.  For the compassionate person nothing human is alien: no joy, no sorrow, and no way of living or dying.
• While compassion can bring you to the depths of loneliness, fear, doubt and pain so that you can care for another person in their suffering, it can also be a trap so that you end up focusing on your own pain so much that you end up caring more for yourself than caring for the other.

The Power Of Presence
This brings us back to Jesus, which is where we started.  When caring for a suffering person, it’s not the words you say that will be remembered or feels helpful.  It’s your presence.  Your presence alone communicates love, compassion and acceptance.  The human presence of caring and relating is incarnation, because Jesus is still there in you reaching out.  Nouwen says that if there is a posture that disturbs a suffering person, it is aloofness.

Your presence communicates more than words.  Your presence brings not only the gift of yourself into the relationship but also, in and through you, the gift of God.

……..

For more information on the spiritual care services offered at Concordia, visit us on the Web, e-mail here or call 724.352.1571.

Harriet and Beth at Concordia of the South Hills

Harriet Jedeikin, a Concordia of the South Hills independent living resident for the last seven years didn’t include posing as January’s calendar girl on her bucket list. Actually, a ride in a hot air balloon is more like it.

Still she does admit that she never imagined this kind of notoriety when she completed her rehab.  Coming to Pittsburgh from Massachusetts, she and her husband chose our Mt. Lebanon location because it was the most welcoming … and near the home of their two youngest grandchildren.

Now she has a great granddaughter as well in addition to 11 grandchildren.  She has also just become president of the Resident Council.

Her speech therapist, Beth McSwaney is the Director of Rehabilitation at CSH, having worked at Concordia for five of her seven career years.  She and her family just welcomed a new baby boy, Cody, joining brothers Collin and Camryn.

A graduate of Clarion University, she has specialized in swallowing disorders (dysphagia) working with seniors.  She takes therapy seriously as she calls her love of malls retail therapy.

For more information about the retirement living, skilled nursing, rehabilitation and personal care services at Concordia of the South Hills, visit our website, call 412.278.1300 or e-mail us here. If you would like a copy of the calendar, call 724.352.1571, ext. 8266.

Pastor Rist leading the 2012 GSH Memorial Service at St. Luke in Cabot.

The first service will be held at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Cabot on Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. The second service will be at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Freedom on Sunday, April 14 at 3 p.m. Concordia Chaplain Rev. Paul Rist will conduct the liturgy.

The memorial services are open to all who are dealing with grief, even if they did not have a loved one in GSH care. A reception will follow both memorial tributes.

The services will be a time to pray and give thanks – to celebrate the lives of those no longer with us, look to God and within, and begin the healing process. It will also be a time to understand that the journey through grief is different for every person.

Additionally, in an effort to continually support individuals dealing with the loss of a loved one, GSH is continuing its Christ-centered support group series, Grief Share.

The sessions start April 11 and take place every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Haven II second floor classroom on the Concordia at Cabot campus (entrance 5, 148 Marwood Rd.). The meetings, which are approximately 90 minutes long, are free and open to anyone dealing with grief. Here is a list of the topics that will be covered:

April 11 – Living With Grief

April 18 – The Journey of Grief

April 25 – The Effects of Grief

May 2 – When Your Spouse Dies

May 9 – Stuck in Grief

May 16 – Lessons of Grief, Part 1

May 23 – Lessons of Grief, Part 2

May 30 – The Tasks of Grieving

To register or receive more information, call Bereavement Coordinator Rev. Paul Rist at 1.800.720.2557. For more information on GSH, visit our website or e-mail us here.

Jesus was very aware of the purpose of His incarnation. In fact, he was quite clear, at least to his disciples, about the days and tasks ahead of him. The Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record Jesus foretelling His death three different times. Here are the accounts from Mark:

 Jesus had just healed and blind man and Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ.

Mark 8:31-33

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³ But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Then Jesus takes three disciples, including Peter, to the Mount of Transfiguration.

Jesus had just healed a boy with an unclean spirit.

Mark 9:31-32

³¹ For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” ³² But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

The disciples then proceed to argue over which of them is the greatest.

 Mark 10:32b-34

Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”

Shortly thereafter, James and John come to Jesus and ask to sit at His right and at His left when He comes into His Kingdom.

It sure doesn’t seem like the disciples understood, does it? Jesus tells them about how he came to be the Suffering Servant. Yet, the disciples still expect earthly glory and even argue over who will have the most of it! Are we really any different?

Whether or not his disciples understood and believed Christ’s words about his death and resurrection beforehand, did not change the events. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

We cannot believe something into existence. We cannot make something happen just by wanting it or declaring it to be so. Thank the Lord He does not rely upon us to accomplish that which He promises!

Christ has died.

Even the world agrees to that.

Christ has risen.

Scripture tells us and there are many eyewitness accounts of our resurrected Lord.

Christ will come again.

How do we know this? Because God said so.

 God keeps all His promises.

“So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.”

Hebrews 6:17b-20a

 Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

The time has come. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

For the last 40 days, Christians around the world have been observing Lent. Some have been engaging in traditional spiritual disciplines in order to focus on Christ’s suffering and the hope it brings to us.

As I contemplated what angle to take today, for Good Friday, I was so…um…um…distracted. It seems like so many years at this time something huge comes us to distract us. This year is no exception. Whether it is a national drama, a worldwide concern, or a personal tragedy, we are so easily distracted. Like the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane with Christ, we cannot watch and pray for even a single hour. The devil knows he cannot take us away from Christ, but he loves to distract us, even with good things to take our eyes off of our Savior. For then, that devil can tempt us into despair.

Instead of giving you some of my own thoughts to add to the swirl of stuff inside your mind, I encourage you to
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” Psalm 37:7

Just stop.

Look at the cross.

Be still.

See your sin.

See the sacrifice.

See your Savior.

See your struggles,

But see them in light of the promise of eternal life

Won for YOU

Here at the cross.

        Jesus, I Will Ponder Now

1      Jesus, I will ponder now
On Your holy passion;
With Your Spirit me endow
For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith
May the image cherish
Of Your suff’ring, pain, and death
That I may not perish.

2     Make me see Your great distress,
Anguish, and affliction,
Bonds and stripes and wretchedness
And Your crucifixion;
Make me see how scourge and rod,
Spear and nails did wound You,
How for them You died, O God,
Who with thorns had crowned You.

3       Yet, O Lord, not thus alone
Make me see Your passion,
But its cause to me make known
And its termination.
Ah! I also and my sin
Wrought Your deep affliction;
This indeed the cause has been
Of Your crucifixion.

4       Grant that I Your passion view
With repentant grieving.
Let me not bring shame to You
By unholy living.
How could I refuse to shun
Ev’ry sinful pleasure
Since for me God’s only Son
Suffered without measure?

 5    If my sins give me alarm
And my conscience grieve me,
Let Your cross my fear disarm;
Peace of conscience give me.
Help me see forgiveness won
By Your holy passion.
If for me He slays His Son,
God must have compassion!

6       Graciously my faith renew;
Help me bear my crosses,
Learning humbleness from You,
Peace mid pain and losses.
May I give You love for love!
Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heav’n above
Sing Your praise forever.