It seems that kindness and music can help at times of unimaginable tradgedy. Two people shared their kindness with Heritage recently, prompting me to find quotes on benefits of music and kindness which may be helpful at this time.

First, a brief thank you for acts of kindness from world renowned musician Hanneke Cassel, who donated her time in a fundraiser to allow us to afford a new piano for our residents. Second, a thank you to Rick McKenna, our neighbor for helping us find the piano that we’ll enjoy for years.

Finally, below are quotes on benefits of kindness and music from a variety of noted and successful personlities:

“Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.”  - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need prosperity of kindness and decency”. – Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg
“Kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” – Dr. Albert Schweitzer
” Music can change the world because it can change people.”
~ Bono, U2~
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” ~ Plato ~
“Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions.
People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we are, the form of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves: We are the same.” ~ John Denver ~

“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from,
everyone loves music.” ~ Billy Joel ~

Heritage Senior Living helped sponsor another senior luncheon in MetroWest on Thursday April 14th. This event took place with members of the Sherborn Council on Aging.

The members of the Sherborn Council on Aging were some of the most lively and friendly people of any group we’ve met. We sponsored entertainment by Tony Funches who has been the lead singer with The Platters! Here are some pictures of the dancing and singing enjoyed by all.

Tony Funches, Lead Singer of The Platters

Tony Charms the Sherborn Audience

Sherborn Seniors Know How To Have Fun!

Today was Opening Day for the Red Sox and Heritage at Framingham came out full force to support the Sox. We had the Big Screen pulled down in the Peloquin Room and had the Red Sox versus the Yankees in high definition to watch. We had four different subs from D’Angelos with pasta salad and chips. Cookies for dessert! We had our biggest turnout to date with 34 residents and many staff members as well. We allowed our four Yankee fans to attend too! This year the Sox have a new player named Jackie Bradley and Heritage has a new resident named Jackie Bradley. This is a good sign. I promised to do a cartwheel if the Sox scored first. I held to that promise even though I do not think I have done a cartwheel since I was 13 years old! We had a great time and brought good luck to the Red Sox. We will continue with the Baseball Lunch Bunch once a month throughout the baseball season!

Residents of Heritage Senior Living enjoy a multitude of cultural and social activities

An article from the BBC News Health Section, on March 25th, 2013 says that social isolation is associated with a higher rate of death. This suggests that the opposite is true if socialization is provided. There is no more social place than Heritage at Framingham -between a bounty of activities and the small, homey feel of our community. So, therefore,  this article is worth a quick read.

Social isolation ‘increases death risk in older people’. Social isolation is associated with a higher risk of death in older people regardless of whether they consider themselves lonely, research suggests.

A study of 6,500 UK men and women aged over 52 found that being isolated from family and friends was linked with a 26% higher death risk over seven years.

Whether or not participants felt lonely did not alter the impact of social isolation on health. “Age UK” says cuts to services for older people are compounding the problem.

Executive Chef, Rick Robidoux serves up Bok Choy salad with choices of steak, shrimp, chicken and pineapple.

 Framingham Town Manager Robert Halpin, along with hundreds of attendees enjoyed food served by Heritage Senior Living, a part of Mary Ann Morse Healthcare Corp.

Heritage was one of the few non-restaurants participating in all three years of the Taste of MetroWest.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are several to show the lively crowd and the delicious food!

Link to Article in the Framingham Patch

Attendees enjoying Bok Choy salad with multiple toppings. Rick Robidoux our Exectutive Chef is serving and Lynne Canavan is welcoming a visitor.

Town Manager, Robert Halpin is served by Executive Chef at Heritage’s food station.

 Excutive Director, Ellen Adams welcomes attendees.

Heritage at Framingham has had a fantastic, ongoing painting program for all of our residents — including those who are independent, those needing assistance and those in our memory program. All the residents need to do is show up and participate. We provide all of the materials and the instructor.

Our instructor is Tracey Wessinger who owns and teaches at the Gallery In The Pines. Pictures to be posted include some recent ones from the class. Several of our residents possess an unusual amount of talent. Pictures continue below. Chet

Betty Brennan proudly displays the painting she created in the art class at Heritage.

Rose proudly holds her painting as one of our artists in residence!

Ellen Adams, our Executive Director at Heritage at Framingham, true to form, came up with another way to show her unique leadership style. She kicked off the first in a series of suppers that she is cooking for small groups of residents. On January 31st it was my pleasure to help serve along side of Ellen, a delicious pasta dinner for 10 of our residents. Ellen may be blogging about the next supper in the near future.

Dinner is Served at Heritage- by Chef Ellen Adams

Ellen Adams and Chet Olson pose with the residents

  On Friday February 8th the first snowflakes arrived in the storm that would end in 30 INCHES OF SNOW! A dedicated crew stayed on through the night and the next day, to shovel, serve food and entertain.

Snow removal efforts took place as late as 1am Saturday morning. By 6am, our crew continued snow removal and others served breakfast at 7am, featuring hot, pancakes off the grill! Snow removal continued from 6am to 6pm as we dug out cars and cleared the spaces left behind. Pictures of the blizzard follow below.

MANY THANKS TO OUR DEDICATED STAFF WHO STAYED OVERNIGHT OR WHO CAME IN EARLY SATURDAY TO KEEP HERITAGE GOING WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT! 

All the best. Chet

Kenny & Brian clean our walking paths

Chet and Frankie digging out another car.

Hon keeping the residents well fed.

Waitstaff  kept the food flowing! And all the while it was snowing!

 And just think- before the snow started on Friday, there was bare grass where the snow drifted in – probably four feet deep in this picture above!

Welcome to our new blog at Heritage Senior Living for my first blog entry! In a recent study by the Karolinsa Institue in Stockholm Sweden, people over age 75 can increase their longevity by 5.4 years and those over 85 can add 4 years to their lifespan! This information comes from an article on September 2, 2012 by Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today [Read More About Activities and Longevity]

At Heritage, we give residents a wide variety of activities to improve longevity and wellbeing. These range from a trip to Foxwoods to an onsite Bingo. Or a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts to an onsite painting class.

We have a wide selection of exercises that change from day to day: Zumba, Chair Aerobics, Chair Yoga and our newest program called Conductorcise. There are walking groups, indoor and outdoor gardening, trips to the Garden in the Woods and local arboretums.

And, of course we do things just for fun from movie trips to plays at the school next door and reading programs there too. [ Click here to see a video of one our most fun exercise groups-- Conductorcise®].

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