By Margaret Wachholz. Inner peace is hard work. Struggling with our emotions, reflecting, and not looking for immediate answers amid life’s carnage can feel toilsome. Some of us want to skip over the hard parts of life when we hit relational road blocks and traffic jams. We thirst but don’t really want to drink the […]
Promising Practices for Meeting the Mental Health Needs of our Elders
by Leah Kaplan, LICSW, Associated Clinic of Psychology In 1980, Associated Clinic of Psychology (ACP) pioneered the practice of seeing patients in geriatric care environments to provide the right treatment at the right place and the right time, recognizing that these are unique patients and environments that require unique care. By going to patients in […]
Loneliness & Wisdom
By Margaret Wachholz. Mid-life: why do we call mid 50’s mid-life as it assumes we’ll live to +110? And, furthermore, if we could live to be 300, would we come any closer to a selfless nature? But as life expectancy stretches forward and perhaps the human condition remains the same; by mid-life, we have enough […]
Learn How to be Ageless from 2 Gingers founder Kieran Folliard
By Margaret Wachholz A few years back, the owners of The Irish Gazette hosted Kieran Folliard, originally from the west of Ireland, at the Yacht & Pool Club. He is an accomplished gentleman. 2 GINGERS® Irish Whiskey was created by Kieran who was inspired by his red-headed or “ginger” mother, Mary. Kieran also has owned […]
Telling the Stories of our Lives
by Carol Dexter, integrative health volunteer My name is Carol. I have been volunteering at Woodbury Senior Living (WSL) twice a week for about nine months. This is my story: I never lived with elders and never experienced their lives as an adult except when they were hospitalized with an acute illness, injury, or were experiencing […]
Love and Meaning
by Margaret Wachholz There are untapped sources of meaning all around us – right here, right now. Seekers of meaning like Viktor Frankl, Aristotle, George Eliot & more educate us on the power of Love & Meaning. In some cases their hope was stolen: they were punished for doing what was right and were cast […]
Beauty in Imperfection: Elders Impart Wisdom to High Schoolers
by Margaret Wachholz A trip to Kilkenny Castle as a student living in Ireland informed me that tapestry weavers will always leave subtle mistakes in their work as a reminder that only God is perfection. A trip to our campus was made by Woodbury High Social Studies teacher Mr. Geoff Stevens and his sociology students […]
My life is completely changed – Aynalem Bedaso’s story
Feeling right at home Three years ago, Aynalem Bedaso left Dubai to join her family in Minnesota. Born in a small city in northeast Ethiopia, Aynalem (pronounced Eye-NAHL-um) grew up attending school and working odd jobs, but career opportunities were limited. When she was in her late twenties, she moved to Dubai, where she supported […]
My Volunteer Story
by Carol Dexter, RN, BSN, MPH, integrative health volunteer at Woodbury Senior Living Creative in My Work Hi, I am Carol and I have lived a very eventful life up until the time I decided to retire. I grew up in a moderate sized town with four other siblings and lots of cousins and friends. […]
Enriching lives through music therapy
By Erin Heidemann, MT-BC Angela Johnson, MT-BC and I are full time music therapists on the memory care unit at Woodbury Health Care Center. Angela and I have worked together on the memory care unit for four years. Together, we have developed a Music Therapy program of activities that enriches the lives of all residents. […]
