Residents of the Marjorie P. Lee retirement community in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood were overjoyed recently when the Archea dining room and Adams Café reopened for breakfast, lunch and dinner during weekends. Also, the campus is continuing to increase activities that couldn’t be offered during the COVID-19 worldwide epidemic.
The two dining areas had reopened months earlier for weekday meals.
With the pandemic subsiding, the numbers of residents participating in exercise offerings, summer visits to local parks, and other activities also has been climbing.
1,213 Days. But who was counting?
Carol Tilford sent residents a memo on June 27, announcing the lovely dining areas would reopen on weekends, beginning on July 8. That has allowed residents to eat and socialize once again, rather than eating meals delivered to their rooms.
The dining room also now can accommodate up to 10 guests for lunch and dinner, with residents able to sign up their guests on a first-come basis.
The same day Tilford sent her memo, three members of the Marjorie P. Lee Resident Council responded with an email expressing thanks for that news.
“On July 8th it will have been 1,213 days since (Episcopal Retirement Services President and CEO) Laura Lamb first met with MPLee residents to announce the arrival of the pandemic and the changes which would follow,” Kate Powers, Fran Turner and David Lowry wrote to Tilford and other administrators of the community.
“To say we are excited about its reopening is an understatement!” they added.
“We will never be able to repay our staff and servers for the uncountable acts of patience, kindness, good humor, hard work, and dedication performed for us during this time,” Powers, Turner and Lowry wrote, expressing “our deepest appreciation and most sincere thanks.”
More smiles over tasty meals
It’s a pleasure to see residents’ happiness as they dine, Tilford said.
The meals are a nice time for them to socialize with friends, and with new people they meet in the café and dining room, she said.
“Everybody’s happy about it,” Turner said. “It’s wonderful to be able to eat with other people, and with different people if you want to every night, or the same people, if that’s what you want.”
Marjorie P. Lee’s dining-service team members also are pleased about the change, “because they got tired of delivering those boxes” to residents’ apartments, Tilford said with a chuckle.
Marjorie P. Lee, a premier retirement community, is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC), meaning residents move into independent-living apartments, but can transition to assisted living, Memory Care or skilled nursing situations if the need arises.
More activities have launched
Debbie MacLean, Director of Life Enrichment for the campus, has been adding more activities to meet the desires of people who recently have moved in.
“We’ve got a lot of new residents, which I’m pretty excited about,” she said. “I’ve been getting to know all of their wants, needs, desires, as far as what they want to go see. I’m trying to tweak what we’re offering to meet the current consumers.”
Now that we’re in summertime, her favorite season, she’s been taking residents to local parks for picnics.
“I always fill a bus,” she said. “We usually have about 23 people when we go out.”
Growing numbers of entertaining speakers have been visiting, as emergence from the pandemic continues. Recently, Cincinnati Reds play-by-play announcer Marty Brennaman visited.
“We’re looking forward to some new programs, getting some entertainment back in, that hadn’t been able to come in during the pandemic,” MacLean said.
“Debbie is doing a wonderful job, giving us activities inside, and trips outside,” Turner said.
The activities are growing back to pre-pandemic levels.
“We can get together, so we can play games, we can have people come and lecture, we can listen to concerts,” Turner added. “All the things we were able to do before, Debbie is giving us the same opportunities.”
Earlier this year, Marjorie P. Lee partnered with the Cincinnati Ballet, which has been providing popular movement-exercise classes to a wide variety of music, from classics and standards to disco and beyond. Use of the aqua aerobics classes also has been growing, with use by new residents and returns by longtime ones.
To schedule a tour of Marjorie P. Lee, contact Jennifer Schlotbom at 513-533-5000 or jschlotbom@erslife.org.
