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Bryan Reynolds [00:00:04] Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Episode 7 of the Linkage podcast by Episcopal Retirement Services. This is for the week of June 1st. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Bryan Reynolds, vice president of marketing for Episcopal Retirement Services, and I'm here with Kristin Davenport, director of communications for ERS and our executive producer. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:00:26] How are you, Kristen? 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:00:28] I am well, Bryan. Thanks for asking. How are you? 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:00:31] I'm doing great. Doing great. Thanks so much for asking. Just as a reminder, the Linkage podcast is dedicated to educating our audience about issues regarding aging, informing people about the mission of ERS and how that comes to life and our everyday interactions with our residents, clients, families and staff. So, Kristin, can you tell us a little bit about what's coming on today's episode? 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:00:54] Absolutely, Bryan. I'd love to tell you about our guest today. First up, we'll have a conversation with Betty Mitchell. Betty is a resident of St. Paul Village, and she just had her 100th birthday. She's going to tell us about her Crochet for a Cause project. Then we'll do a weekly check in with our president and CEO Laura Lamb. And we'll finish up our episode today with a conversation with Nancy Schpatz from Deupree House. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:01:24] Well, I'm looking forward to hearing those. You know, it certainly has been a turbulent week in our country. And Laura and I had a very good discussion about the events of this week and really how it relates to our organization and how we view inclusion and diversity is such an important part. So I'll be looking forward to sharing that. So with that, let's get started with our first interview. You want to introduce that? 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:01:52] Absolutely, Bryan. I'd like to introduce our listeners to Miss Betty Mitchell. Betty is a resident of St. Paul Village. She grew up in Alabama and moved to Cincinnati in the '40s, and she's been a longtime resident of St. Paul Village. Betty has been very active there as long as she's lived there. She just turned 100 recently. We had a parade for her. It was a wonderful day. And Betty tells us all about the Crochet for a Cause project. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:02:29] Good morning, Miss Betty. I just wanted to talk with you today a little bit about your project, Crochet for a Cause. I would love to hear about how you started crocheting. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:02:46] I remember at church they had a class teaching the younger people. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:02:53] Yes. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:02:55] Something. And I don't know who helped me, but that's why I got started. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:02:59] That's where you got started. Well, that's a wonderful thing. I'm glad you learned that because you have helped so many people over the years with your beautiful crocheting, your creations. Tell me a little bit and our listeners a little bit about what type of things do you crochet? 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:03:15] Oh, I make them. Everything has to be mostly flat. I do make the little hats for babies and children. I don't go any further out than that. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:03:29] Yeah. I've seen the hats and the beautiful prayer shawls that you've made and it's just wonderful what you do. And you've gotten some of your neighbors there at St. Paul Village involved, is that right? 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:03:41] Oh, we had a class.One time we had a real nice, with quite a few people. It sort of broke down in the middle. We did have at one time. We did a real good class. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:03:55] That's really wonderful. I know that this is something you've been dedicated to for many years, and I know you've probably by now crocheted hundreds upon hundreds of of items. I know Chris Lemon is in charge of making sure those get into the hands of people who need them. Do you know. Do you know some of the places that she sent them to? I know she's told me hospice and I think maybe some of the hospitals as well. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:04:21] Yes. And the school. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:04:23] The school. That's right. So you are neighbors there with the John Parker school. And I know this. Those children come over.Tell us about that project that you do for the children of John Parker Elementary. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:04:36] When we started, we made a few hats. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:04:39] Mm hmm. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:04:40] Then it grew a little bit.

 

Kristin Davenport [00:04:44] Yeah, Chris told me she thinks this year you'll be able to knit enough hats for all the children that visit you as sort of a Christmas gift. Is that right? Is that what you plan to make them? 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:04:55] I just make them and then give them to her and she takes them to whever she wants to take them to.

 

Kristin Davenport [00:04:58] She takes them. OK, yes. She told me the John Parker Elementary School children will there will be enough hats to give them out this year as Christmas gifts. I think that's wonderful. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:05:10] Oh, yes. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:05:11] Could you tell me a little bit about what it means to you to make those crocheted items for other people. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:05:19] The fact that I know I'm doing something to help someone in need. Because a lot of times children, and not always little children, may not have what they need in a bad situation like bad weather. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:05:33] Right. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:05:34] They may not have enough to keep them warm. So just to get something extra sometime is a help, I think. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:05:43] Oh, you are so right. I know in your one hundred years of living that you've acquired quite a bit of wisdom. Is there is there anything you want to tell the folks listening to us to keep their spirits up during this time? What do you do to keep your spirits up? I guess crocheting is one of the things that you do. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:06:02] Oh, yes. Well, I've done many, many, many things in my lifetime, dear. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:07] Yes, I'm sure you have. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:06:16] I cooked and I sewed. I did dish making. I did restaurant work. So I came a long ways. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:22] Yes, you have. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:06:24] I worked in a restaurant for someone. And then at one time we had our own restaurant. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:30] Oh, wow. That's wonderful. So were you born and raised in in Cincinnati area? 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:06:36] No, no. I was born in Alabama,. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:38] You were? OK. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:40] And how long have you lived in Cincinnati? 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:06:43] Since 48. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:45] Since 48. For a good, long time then. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:06:48] Well, we're so thankful that you were decided to spend your retirement at St. Paul Village. I know the staff there and the other residents have appreciated what you've brought to the community there. I know everybody was excited to celebrate your 100th birthday with a big parade a few weeks back. And I know that lifted everybody's spirits. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:07:08] Well, it was wonderful. And I do appreciate it. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:07:12] Well, good. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:07:15] Yeah. You look like you were having a really good, good day that day for sure. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:07:20] Yes. Yes. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:07:22] Well, Ms. Betty, thank you for all you do there at St. Paul Village and with your Crochet for a Cause. Project. And thank you today for talking with us about it. OK.

 

Kristin Davenport [00:07:33] Well, thanks, you have a blessed day today. 

 

Betty Mitchell [00:07:36] All right. Bye bye. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:07:45] Kristin, that was such a great interview with Betty, I so enjoyed hearing from her and learning about her 100th birthday, and she's been such a stalwart of that Crochet for a Cause program at St. Paul Village. I know one of our staff members has memories of their son receiving one of those hats at the hospital. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:08:07] Yes, Bryan. Betty Mitchell is an inspiration to all of us. I know she's inspired her neighbors to give back to others. And that's a good lesson for all of us. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:08:19] Well, great. Well, you want to introduce the next segment?

 

Kristin Davenport [00:08:22] Bryan. I am looking forward to hearing this interview with Laura Lamb our president and CEO. Laura is a leader that I look up to personally, and I know all of our staff values her leadership. And especially this week, we've looked to her to help us stay on chorusing and get through what are some some tough times right now. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:08:46] Well, we're back this week with president and CEO Laura Lamb. How are you, Laura? 

 

Laura Lamb [00:08:52] Hi, Bryan. Doing OK. How about you? 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:08:54] All right. Doing OK here as well. Good. The feedback on our weekly segment with you. And certainly it's been a busy week at ERS. It's nice to nice to catch up with you again. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:09:06] Yes. Looking forward to it. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:09:08] I know you recently took a trip up to Shawnee Village to visit with the staff and residents up there. And can you tell us a little bit about that visit? 

 

Laura Lamb [00:09:20] Sure. Well, the circumstances weren't good that prompted the visit. Maybe we can talk about that in a bit. But, yeah, I was at Shawnee Place with Kathy Ison-Lind, and had a chance to to share a meal with the staff that work at Shawnee Place. Kind of just they needed they needed some care and some love on. And we wanted to be able to provide that. And I just really enjoyed it because it's it's always so good to hear what's going on in our communities firsthand. And they were sharing with us lovely stories about how they're serving their residents. I'd love to share with you a couple of examples, if you don't mind. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:10:06] Absolutely. I'd love to hear them, that's always fun. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:10:09] One of the things the Affordable Living Communities are trying to do is to have a doorway lunch. Imagine we have residents that we've encouraged at our Affordable Living to not go out. We've provided meals to their door through some of our donated partners, whether that be LaRosas or Le Soup or others. Taste of Belgium, just to name a few. But the staff want to do more. So they threw their own creativity and ability to secure donations have kind of set a goal to have one meal a week provided by the staff and served to the residents. And because we're really not encouraging group meals at this point, for obvious Covid-19 reasons, the staff at Shawnee Place literally packaged these meals and take them door-to-door to 80 residents every Wednesday. Yeah, isn't that cool? 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:11:17] That is so cool.

 

Laura Lamb [00:11:19] And it's they've literally they prepare the entire meal. Most ninety nine percent of everything they're preparing is donated. And you know, this week I think it was goulash, last week was burgers and hot dogs because of the holiday. And the creativity was just amazing. And it was so neat to to hear them talk about how they secure supplies and how they were being really frugal and just making something out of what other people might think is nothing. But it's a meal for our residents and it's a chance for those three women that work at Shawnee Place to lay eyes on each and every one of our elders each week, and make sure that everyone is OK and safe. And if they need anything, they they know that the team there is just a phone call away. So it was just energizing, it really was. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:12:22] Well, that's that's so special. I know the those that that team up there really goes out of their way to look after our residents and, as well as our our our entire Affordable Living staff, finds such great serving others and taking care of our elders. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:12:41] I came home and told everybody at the house that we were having leftovers in honor of Shawnee place. We're gonna make up something, out of nothing here. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:12:51] That sounds good. Along with that line, I know you went up to Shawnee because there was some damage to our building up there. But, you know, this week has certainly been a heavy week on a lot of people's hearts. And I know you've communicated with the staff, and I think it made me very proud to know that we have an organization that really has values that respect diversity and inclusion. And I know it's been weighing on your heart. But what what are the things that I think maybe give you solace in ERS an organization and how we how we respond to these these challenges that we're seeing right now in life? 

 

Laura Lamb [00:13:38] Well, you said it just the way I shared in the email that I sent out is that, you know, literally I feel like my heart is breaking for our country, for our families, for our residents and our staff. It's just literally heartbreaking what's going on. And, you know, in these times, I, I do what a lot of people do. I turn to my faith and my faith tells me that we in times of trouble, we really look at our values and, you know, what motivates us to be who we are. And, you know, I am incredibly proud of the organization. And I feel so fortunate to work for an organization that has values that drive our work. And, you know, I feel like we start with a celebration of that. We believe that all individuals have infinite worth. Yes, they deserve respect and they need to be treated equally. And then you really turn towards our value of inclusion. And inclusion is the absence of hatred and division and in racist, right, views. So, you know, so, I have to start with our empirical being and then and drill down and and then I think it's so like ERS, you know. We are A Yes, Dnd culture. We're a can culture, not can't. So I think then you you have to as individuals and collectively as an organization, say, you know, what can we do? Because I feel like and I have felt this personally. You feel helpless, dontcha? 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:15:21] You do. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:15:21] You feel like the world you know, the world I know. And the people that I in my family or in my social group or my friend group or my my my staff, my residents are hurting. And I know they look to all leaders. Me being just one of them for guidance and direction. So I felt like it was really important for ERS to say, me personally, to say, let's focus on what we can do. You know, we can learn. We can have a conversation. We can learn about the realities of implicit bias. We can reinforce everything that we've done over the years to make sure that we are inclusive and diverse workforce that represents the communities that we we serve. We can strive to provide the health care that some of that racial disparity sometimes I'll limit access to. I mean, that's really one of the things that Affordable Living has done so well, is make sure that socioeconomic, or any type of disparities, in society don't negatively impact our residents when it comes to health care. So we can uphold that. We can participate in peaceful demonstration and protests. We can, you know, seek to understand instead of being heard as people. You know, I I don't pretend to have a perspective that somebody else does, but my job is to understand their perspective and understand what their experiences have taught them and why maybe they feel the way they do. That may or may be different than how I feel about a situation. Right. And, you know, ultimately, you know, I want everyone to know that the end of the day, I want everyone to go home to their families. So we have to be smart and safe and understand that these are dark times. They're difficult at times, but together with love, we can we'll get through this together. And I'm committed to making sure that I'm doing my part and my world to eradicate racism and make sure that this is a culture of anti-racism. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:18:03] Well, and to give you credit, I think there's so many examples of you working towards eliminating the isms in our world, whether it be ageism or a bias towards those with Alzheimer's or dementia. I think this organization is a very, very diverse and well rounded based on race, religion, background, sexual orientation. So it's so important to listen and to embrace that diversity that you've so well defined and embraced. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:18:41] I appreciate that, Bryan. It's a it's a work in progress, isn't it? It is. There's always more that we can do. So I appreciate that compliment. And we'll continue to carry on all of us. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:18:55] Well, yeah, it's certainly been a heavy topic, maybe a little lighter of a topic. This week, I know you sent out an announcement to residents that, you know, we will start opening up and doing more life enrichment and wellness activities. And I know you had an opportunity to sit down with our life enrichment teams to be creative this week. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:19:23] Yeah, that was fun. That was a highlight of the week so far. For sure. You know, I think about our staff. Every one of our staff, no matter where they work on our 30 campuses and three states, every job has changed with Covid. And I think if you wanted to rate how much certain jobs have changed, I would say life enrichment has really changed. I mean, we took you know, you can no longer congregate to. That's like a tenet of life enrichment. Right? Right. Gathering and hospitality and enjoying a meal together. Enjoying an event together. Yeah. So we decided as an organization that, you know, we're better together. Here we go again. We're better together. So instead of having life enrichment at Deupree, have to think about their life enrichment calendar different than Affordable Living or ECH or Marjorie Lee. Why not just get them all in the same Zoom room and do some sharing and some brainstorming and and figure out, you know, how we can build on one another's ideas. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:20:33] So, you know, maybe there's an idea that we have that starts at ECH and, you know, on the surface, it's like, well, that would never work at Marjorie Lee. Well, again, the Yes, And culture that we have is, what's that nugget? What's that idea? What's the inspiration? And how can we take that and make it work for the audience or the resident group that you serve? And I I was so proud of the team. They they did a great job sharing and brainstorming and building on one another's ideas. And, you know, they were all committed, particularly the Cincinnati campuses, that now that there's some new guidance that we're working under, those folks have to go back and redo her activity calendar year, how that we're able to make more small group things happen. So still social distancing, still wearing masks, still observing every one of the guidelines that the governor's given us, but kind of seeing what we can do within our walls to make sure that residents have meaningful and purposeful and engaging opportunities. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:21:40] Well, that's wonderful. And obviously, that's what makes living in our in my opinion, living in our community so, so special and valuable is that engagement and that enrichment that the staff offered to our residents and oftentimes we receive back from our residents in the programing. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:22:00] Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, it was a lot of fun, was a lot of fun. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:22:05] Great. Well, thank you so much for joining me again, Laura, this week. I hope you have a great rest of your week and we'll look forward to getting back together next week. 

 

Laura Lamb [00:22:17] Great. Bryan. Looking forward to it as well. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:22:19] Alright, thanks so much.

 

Kristin Davenport [00:22:26] Bryan, thank you for that interview with Laura. There is a lot there for listeners this week. I really enjoyed hearing about the innovation that the life enrichment directors are taking on, keeping our residents engaged despite, you know, some of the restrictions that we have in place right now. But that's not slowing anybody down. We're offering a lot of activities and ways for residents to stay engaged. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:22:52] Yeah, that, again, just makes me so proud. All of our conversation there, how our values of inclusion, as we discussed the racial tensions this week and being innovative in a time where we really have to think outside of the box to serve our residents. So I'm, you know, so proud of this organization and to work with Laura and our whole team across ERS. It was very special. So with that said, our next interview is with a resident from Deupree House. Her name is Nancy Spots. Nancy is very interesting. She's actually worked for the IRS organization and at Deupree House in the life enrichment before she just recently became a resident this past fall at Deupree House. So we're gonna hear from her. She's got a really interesting take on life, and I really enjoyed her conversation. So let's hear our interview with Nancy now. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:23:57] Resident Nancy Schpatz, Nancy, is when I moved in to Deupree House about seven, eight months ago in October of 2019, and we're so glad to have her, actually. The interesting thing about Nancy is she worked in our life enrichment group at Deupree House many years ago. And so she has a really good understanding of the community and the ERS organization over the years. Welcome, Nancy. We're glad to have you. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:24:25] Thank you very much. Good to be here. It feels like I'm being back home again, so to speak. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:24:32] It's been about 10, 11 weeks now since Covid 19 has taken a hold on our unities in our society. And I think that one of the first questions I've just been asking people are, how are you doing? How are you holding up during this time? 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:24:48] Bryan, I think I'm holding up well and I say that probably for several reasons. First of all, I was an only child born to elderly parents, and I'm accustomed to being alone. I didn't have any siblings. And so as a consequence, you kind of make your own entertainment or you do things that are entertaining to you, or maybe your parents have told you they want you to learn tennis or something like that. Then you go out and practice those things. So for one thing, I've lived alone a lot. Also, I'm a very, very accustomed to change. I've been happily married twice. Both gentlemen passed away, but we moved a great deal because their jobs. One was a sociologist. One was an engineer. But their jobs require that we move even overseas. I lived overseas and over Germany for a while. But I have moved and I don't last now. I have more with 24 times. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:25:53] Wow? 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:25:55] My move to Deupree House was my 24th move. By that I mean the truck comes up to your front door, puts all your possessions in it and drives away. So that is something that I'm accustomed to. And it was it was exciting because we didn't have children. So as a result, I could see new cities, new states, new areas of the world. So net positive. And then also, I am a positive person ever since I left home at age 23. I kind of concentrated on the fact. It's important to be happy. You know, we're only on this Earth about one hundred years. And by golly, that's not very long. Right. And I just made up my mind when I left home. I wanted to make those hundred years as positive as I could. Then, of course, we have problems from time to time. But that doesn't mean you can't focus, right, that I couldn't focus on being happy and being positive. So those things, I think, have helped me a lot. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:26:57] Yeah, I think that's a great outlook in life and how to be positive in life. That's something my father certainly taught me a lot about. So I guess I find that very interesting. So what kind of things have you done to stay active and engaged while social distancing during this period needs? I know you like your walks, right? 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:27:20] Yeah. I like to walk. Hippocrates, the founder of medicine used to say walking is man's greatest medicine. My father told me that; my father was a doctor. And so walking is something I do. I do. Not everyone can do it. But bottom line is, I do exercise and I have a calendar actually that I keep just for my exercising because I get on the floor and exercise every morning in my apartment for a half hour and then I try to walk three miles every day. I don't always get the three miles and sometimes it's only two, but I mark it down and I make myself do it. Otherwise, if I didn't make my calendar, I might skip it. I don't want to do that. So I think it's important. Also, I stay busy because I'm the trustee of a trust fund that I have to manage. And also, I have business things that I have to do. And so I have those businesses affairs that have to go, all right. And then I read. I teach courses at the university and there are two books that I really, really use as textbooks. One is written by a man by the name of Colin Powell. You probably recognize that. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:28:35] Absolutely. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:28:36] Almost. Almost run for president. And some of his positive things he says in this little book called It Worked for Me is is just wonderful. He he was, of course, a general. He says very often people will ask him, when did he graduate from West Point, for example? And he'll say, I didn't graduate from West Point. I went to actually a Morris High School in Harlem. Well, you you didn't graduate from West Point, and you all of these wonderful things? He said No, that's right. But he, too, is very positive in his attitude. So I've been reading that book. And then there's another book. Scott Hamilton was a skater, as you know. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:29:24] Yeah, sure.

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:29:25] Scott Hamilton's book, The Great Eight is so, so, so positive, and so I keep rereading those. I enjoy them, you know. They're helpful and it reminds me to be positive. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:29:40] Yeah. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:29:40] And also then finally, I have a keyboard sitting out there in that garage. It's a replica of a 1956 T Bird. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:29:48] Oh. wow. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:29:48] It was, it's not a not a real one. It's only a replica. And so I have to take care of that T Bird. I love that, T Bird. I love cars. So that makes me happy. And I can drive it around the property here, not go outside, but drive the property to keep the battery up. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:30:08] Yeah. Yep. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:30:09] So that's what I've been doing. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:30:11] Well, very good. Well that's, that's very interesting. And I think just a good transition. You're talking about positivity in the books that you read and teaching at the university. So are you drawing on from these past situations or maybe crisises, you know, whether it's personal in your personal life or maybe a national crisis that you've you've lived through, that helps you through a challenge? 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:30:41] I think this pandemic situation is the only crisis I've ever been in. I feel very fortunate that I've had a very relatively happy life. I mean, my father was a doctor, and when I was a little girl, even at the age of five or six or seven or 10, he would take me to the hospital if anything had an emergency. He was an anesthesiologist and he'd take me into surgery and they wrapped me up in sterile gowns and I could watch the surgery. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:31:10] Oh, my God. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:31:10] There was a bucket underneath the surgical table back in those days because when they used sponges to sop up the blood of had patient, they would throw those sponges in the bucket because they had to count them, make sure they got all out of the patient. I thought they were trying their insides in the bucket. I think it's terribly entertaining. And so I just loved it. Going to the hospital was wonderful. But I also learned, with my father, that people get sick and people die. And so I think as a result of that and his very gentle way of explaining this to me was very helpful to me because I again, I've only got 100 years to live at the maximum. I'm getting close to the end. But anyway, I only have that period of time. And in the time that she should be very positive, I don't know whether I should tell you or not, but when my father was, when I was little, he'd take me to the circus and he'd always buy me a lizard. And we'd take the lizard home because I wasn't allowed to have pets in this big hotel I lived in. But I could have lizards and the lizard I could it would last for a couple of days. And instead of flushing the lizard down the toilet, my father would get an empty cigar box and he would put a little bit of cotton in it and lay the lizard in the middle of that. And we'd go out in the backyard of the hotel, some not pretty area. He'd dig a hole and bury that lizard. I think that was my father's way of teaching me about the fact that people do die. The things do die. Yeah. And this is a very educational thing that he didn't phrase it in that way. It was just something he did for me. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:32:57] Right. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:32:57] And I appreciate that. As I've grown older. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:33:00] Yeah. Well, that's that's. That is a good lesson.  

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:33:06] Yes, for a child, small child. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:33:08] Our kids, you know, I've had hamsters and every few years they pass away and we try and honor it as a life. Absolutely. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:33:20] Yeah. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:33:21] Well, I guess my last question, Nancy, you know, after all this is over, hopefully at some point soon with the virus. What do you look forward to most? You know, in returning to a more normal life. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:33:35] The first thing that I'm going to do is get my haircut. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:33:39] Yeah. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:33:40] Is that all right? 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:33:40] That's all right. I get it. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:33:44] That's the first thing. And and really, it'll depend on what the season is. But if it's wintertime, I think I have enough clothes. Right. It's still summer time. I might like to go out and do some shopping and get get that done. And then finally, I want to finish decorating this apartment because I've gotten interrupted plans. You know, when when you move 24 times, you've become an interior design person. Well you think you are. You're not really. So I want to do some of that. So I even have the kitchen. Our new painter, Christopher, was this morning he's going to help me get some colors, maybe. But in any event, I'd like to make it a little more homey than it presently is. Because, again, I haven't been able to have men come in or women come in to do any decorating because of the virus. So but now that those three those three things, I think care of. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:34:38] Live's been certainly on pause here for a little while. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:34:42] Yes, it has right. But that's all right. And, you know, I think it's important for us to recognize that that there are laws in the state of Ohio. There are laws that say some of these lock-up situations are imperative. There are certain. This organization is a communual organization. And it has standards which are legal standards that have to be enforced. So it's it's we're being protected by these legal guidelines. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:35:14] Right. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:35:15] They're designed to safeguard our health and our welfare and our lives. And it's very important to recognize that the administration is doing their best to protect us. And so far, we've been fortunate that we haven't had any problems. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:35:29] Yeah. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:35:29] Thanks to our leaders. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:35:31] That's great. Well, Nancy, thank you so much for joining us on our podcast. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:35:36] My pleasure. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:35:37] And we will hope to catch up at some point soon. 

 

Nancy Schpatz [00:35:41] OK, fine. Thanks once again. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:35:43] Talk to you soon. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:35:51] Bryan hearing from Nancy today was great. It was wonderful to listen to her thoughts on how change and adapting to change has shaped her life and her positive outlook. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:36:04] She's got such a fresh outlook on life and so positive. And I actually had spoken with her probably a half an hour before the interview and just really enjoyed our conversation. So nice to connect with her. Well, that's it for today's show. Thank you so much for joining us for this latest episode of Linkage podcast by Episcopal Retirement Services. For more information about us, you can visit our Web site at Episcopal Retirement dot com. We have lots of great content, including our Linkage online blog, resources to learn more about aging and the services that we offer and much, much more. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter linked in and YouTube to see what's going on within ERS and our communities. If you have any questions or have any feedback, please email us at info at ERSLife dot org. That's ERSLife dot org. We love hearing from our listeners. The Linkage podcast is produced by Kristin Davenport and myself Bryan Reynolds. Feoshia Davis is our associate producer and our technical director is Michelle Hoehn. I'd like to thank our guests today, including Betty Mitchell and Nancy Schpatz. And of course, a special thank you to president and CEO Laura Lamb for always being available to provide some updates. On behalf of myself Bryan Reynolds and Kristin Davenport, thank you so much for joining us. We look forward to you joining our podcasts next week. 

 

Bryan Reynolds [00:37:29] Thanks so much, Kristin. See you soon. 

 

Kristin Davenport [00:37:32] Yes, Bryan. See you soon. Take care.