UPCOMING EVENTS January 4th Monthly Birthday Party 50 Sheffield Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207 A note from the Administrator January 2017 January 6 th Epiphany Dias de los Reyes January 16 th Martin Luther King January 25 th Cooking Club Chicken Noodle Soup I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Year s celebrations! As we welcome in the New Year, we renew our sense of hope and anticipation. At Bushwick Center, our skillful choir brought about that sense of renewal. Peggy Miller had her own vision of renewal. In early 2016, Peggy verbalized interest in assembling a resident choir and after much hard work, dedication, teamwork, and practice, her dream quickly transformed into reality. Along with several other residents and volunteers, our choir imbued our entire Bushwick Center family with tremendous joy and spirit through their breathtaking performance. February 1 st Monthly Birthday Party February 2 nd Groundhog Day February 14 th Valentine s Day February 20 th President s Day February 22 nd Cooking Club Beef Patties Peggy s inspiriation is our inspiration. As we usher in the New Year, I challenge everyone to create, identify, and grasp onto something inspirational. Our devoted choir has infused our entire facility with positivity and elevated our spirits. Richard Leider, one of America s executive-life coaches, famously said the purpose of life is to live life with a purpose. Each of us have a purpose regardless of our limitations. Each of us must recognize our individual, and collective, purposes and together we will continue to enrich each other s lives here at Bushwick Center. May this upcoming year bring happiness, health and prosperity to our residents, our staff, and our extended Bushwick Center family! Moshe Blackstein
2 January 2017 BLACK HISTORY MONTH For to be free is not merely to cast off one s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up. Rosa Parks We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. Maya Angelou It s not easy to be independent when you ve got money. But to be independent when you haven t got a thing that s the Lord s test. Mahalia Jackson Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. Cicely Tyson We are makers of history. We are made by history. Martin Luther King Jr. I consider myself a crayon I might not be your favorite color, but one day you re going to need me to complete your picture. Lauryn Hill
January 2017 3 I HAVE A DREAM Speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King at the March on Washington I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slave and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream.. I have a dream that one day Alabama, with its vicious racists, with the governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day tight the in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God s children will be able to sing with new meaning. My country, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died. Land of the pilgrim s pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring. And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freed ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountain side. Let freedom ring.. When we allow freedom to ring when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last, Free at Last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last.
4 January 2017 COLOR ME! COLOR ME!
January 2017 5 Looking back at 2016 at Bushwick Center Looking back at the events at Bushwick Center like the Art club, Halloween Party, Choir Concert, First Responders lunch delivery, Cinco de Mayo, Veterans Day, Family Fun Day and Ice cream for NYPD.
6 January 2017 A note from Kenny Happy New Year! I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season. This season we hosted wonderful parties at all of our facilities, special gatherings made even more memorable by the attendance of so many friends and families. And our staff appreciation parties which began in December are continuing well into February and March. Looking back on the year just ended, I m so proud of the men and women who make this company the wonderful organization it is a comfortable home to thousands of people, a reliable rehabilitation partner to thousands more, a trusted partner in healthcare to medical practices and hospitals across the northeast, and an integral part of the fabric of the communities we serve. But the start of the year is really a time for looking forward, and our future together is brighter than ever. We continue to grow by adding facilities and services to our family and to bring our special brand of care and five-star compassion to more and more people every year. We expect that you ll be reading about even more new facilities in these pages as the year advances. And we continue to innovate in a never-ending quest to bring our residents the very latest in care procedures. We are expanding our training and in-service program, teaching our nursing staff the very latest in procedures and protocols. Our goal is ensure that every care giver at Centers Health Care has the training they need to provide for the unique medical needs of each and every resident. And we continue to improve our facilities inside and out with continual renovation and upgrades. So as we greet the New Year with renewed sense of hope and enthusiasm, let me offer all of you our very best wishes for a joyous and healthy 2017. Kenny Rozenberg, CEO We have the nicest residents anywhere! And they proved it once again this past holiday season. Residents at every single facility in the Centers Health Care family made Christmas and Chanukah holiday greeting cards for our men and women serving overseas in America s armed forces. More than 10,000 hand-made cards filled with gratitude, love and good wishes were forwarded to our Buffalo Center. From there, representatives from the National Guard and Veterans of Foreign Wars were on hand to gather up the cards and arrange for them to be shipped overseas and eventually make their way to various military installations, forward operating bases and ships. We all owe all service men and women a deep debt of gratitude, and our residents are doing their part. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.
January 2017 7 Everyone s following Centers! Are you following all the happenings at Centers of Facebook? If not, get started! In the last three months, more than 450,000 people were touched by our Facebook presence. Some of them liked an event at one of our facilities maybe yours. Others heard about a community event we were sponsoring or went to one of our pages to sign up or to look at all the photos of our activities (and see if their photo made the news!). Hundreds of thousands of people can t be wrong. You can follow one facility, or all of them, and if you want just a taste of what s happening, follow us at www.facebook.com/centershealthcare. It s the one place you need to go to find about contests, activities and all the exciting news. Do we have a winner? No, we have TWO! This year, two Centers residents were recognized for a very special achievement. Their art work was chosen to be included in the 12 th Annual Art From The Heart calendar. The Art From The heart Program is sponsored by the Foundation for Quality Care and the New York State Health Facilities Association. Talented artists from skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities from every corner of the state compete for this honor but only 13 pieces can be chosen for reproduction in the state s calendar. We re so proud of all our artists, and want to offer special congratulations to Roger Baker and Gladys Maloney for having their works selected for publication in 2017. Winter Sky by Roger Baker Essex Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare Appearing on the calendar in January 2017 Wash Day by Gladys Maloney Fulton Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare Appearing on the calendar in July 2017
8 January 2017 Employee of the Month for January 2017 Happy Birthday! January Birthdays Irene Kolanek 1.1 Nelson Concepcion 1.1 Robert Gripper 1.2 Daisy Muniz 1.6 Yvette Parker 1.10 Mary Jansen 1.12 James Brown Jr. 1.12 Fletcher Goldstein 1.15 Edward Towe 1.17 Katherine Jervis 1.18 Juana Rosado 1.22 Velvette Holmes 1.25 Brinell East, Dietary Aide Brinell East Dietary Aide has been in this facility for over 20 years. She is married with 3 children. Whenever you see Brinell she always has a smile on her face or is singing which she loves to do. She is one person that is always feeling happy no matter what. She makes you feel good inside. She is great with the residents and they love her. It is really good to have someone with a positive attitude around and that person is Brinell our Employee of the Month of January 2017. February Birthdays Elizer Vega 2.1 Lois Buckley 2.2 Freddie Correa 2.2 Alverna Williams 2.5 Pamela Decoteau 2.5 Ernest Diglio 2.10 Allen Parker 2.11 Cecil Rollocks 2.12 Robert Ferlito 2.13 Chiu Shek 2.17 Timothy Washington 2.18 Ramona Martinez 2.19 Charliemae Crawford 2.20 Umadah Lilman 2.23 Margaret Smith 2.25 Constance Adams 2.26 David Camacho 2.26 Lovee Fluker 2.27 Patricia King 2.27 50 Sheffield Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207 https://www.facebook.com/bushwickcenter www.bushwickcenter.net