Administrator in the Bronx, and then Administrator in Ithaca. Now it is

my privilege and my duty to serve you, the residents at Essex Center.

I have met some of you already, and I plan to introduce myself at

Resident Council (probably before this article goes to print). My role is

to help you and your families and the staff, to advocate for you, and to

ensure that everything runs smoothly to the extent possible during your

stay at our facility. As you get to know me better, you will find that I care

very deeply for our residents. I want our team to provide you with the

best quality of care (clinical services) and the best quality of life (just

enjoying your experience at Essex Center) available.

The buck stops here, as the old colloquialism goes. You may come visit

me in my office with any questions, comments, or concerns. If you are

looking for my office, it is located between the lobby and Unit 1.

Alternatively, you can ask any staff member to get a hold of me and

make an appointment.

Dear residents, it is my pleasure to introduce myself as

the new Administrator at Essex Center, effective August

2017. Previously, I have been an Assistant

September 2017 81 Park Street, Elizabethtown, NY 12932

A note from the Administrator UPCOMING EVENTS

September:

September 4

Labor Day

September 11

Patriot Day

September 22

Fall Begins

October :

October 1

International Coffee Day

October 6

World Smile Day

October 9

Columbus Day

October 31

Halloween

Like us on Facebook

Joseph Kandelman

2 September 2017

Viewing the Solar Eclipse

Everyone in America heard the buzz of the solar eclipse of 2017

that spread across the United States. That news didn’t miss the

residents of Essex Center. To prepare for the Eclipse we made box

projectors, and decorated them with suns and stars, so we could

safely view the eclipse. Staff and residents took turns sharing the 5

boxes we made so everyone could get a glimpse of this spectacular

sight. Although we weren’t in the line of totality up here in the

Adirondacks, we still got a pretty good show. The weather was

perfect, a bright and sunny day, and the show was as spectacular

as we expected.

September 2017 3

Construction Overview

As you are aware, there is construction going on in and around our facility since July 2017. The end result

will be we will have a larger, more modern, more beautiful building. In this article, I will describe the construction

plans the way that they were explained to me. Obviously, they are subject to change.

The nature of construction is that it can be unpredictable. The timeline of when things are completed can

be affected by the weather, and by discovering unforeseen complications along the way. For example, if certain

pipes are in poor condition, those pipes may need to be repaired or replaced before continuing with the scheduled

construction. In turn, that pushes off the schedule. That said, if all conditions are optimal and there are no

unforeseen setbacks, a timeline was laid out for the construction project.

There are two projects happening simultaneously. One project is we are building an addition on the

building. The addition will include a new resident dining room/ multipurpose area, kitchenette, TV area, nurse

manager’s office and bathroom. This addition is being built in and around the breezeway, which is the area of the

building currently sectioned off between Unit 2 and Unit 3.

The second project is making Unit 2 a fully locked unit, along with a modernization and face lift of that unit

and other parts of the building. The purpose for having a locked unit is for resident safety. If residents are

confused or have poor safety awareness, we must ensure that we keep them safe at all times. A fully locked unit

will allow us to do that even better than we are doing now. This project will occur in multiple phases. For the

purpose of this article, I will describe it in 3 phases.

Phase 1 is the reconfiguration of Unit 2, and it should last through the end of the fall season. It includes

installing a new spa (tub and shower rooms and bathroom), new nursing station, and a new medication room.

Phase 2 is the upgrade of the hallway that spans across Unit 2, and the hallway that spans from Unit 2 to

the Administrator’s office. This phase is mostly a face-lift, as opposed to Phase 1 knocking down and rebuilding.

This includes new ceilings, new flooring, and a re-painting of the walls. That phase should take approximately 2

months.

Phase 3 is the upgrade of resident rooms in Unit 2. The resident rooms will receive new wardrobe

closets, sinks, mirrors, ceiling tiles for the rooms, bathroom floor tiles, curtains and tracks, artwork, smoke

detectors, and a new call bell system. This phase may take up to 6 months to complete.

I wish to take this opportunity to publically thank Centers Healthcare for approving these projects. To the

residents, families, and staff, we appreciate your patience and understanding as we undergo this process. We

apologize for any inconveniences. We look forward to seeing the building improvements over the coming

months.

Essex Center Residents Attend the Essex County Fair

The local Essex County Fair has been running for its 169th year.

Essex County area residents come to enjoy the food, rides,

specialty shows, and agricultural exhibits. Every year Essex

Center residents get to partake in the fun. This year they got to

see acrobatic shows, camels, animal barns, horse shows, and of

course eat some delicious fair style food, they especially enjoyed

the fried dough!

4 September 2017

Quality Time in the Beautiful ADK

September 2017 5

6 September 2017

I recently heard this story and it’s one I think is worth sharing. Some of you may have

seen the story of Robert Murphy, an NCAA college runner, in your local news. What first

got my attention is that he was in the news, but not for winning the race. What made

Murphy’s story so noteworthy is that he was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum

at age 3. As a child, his parents worried that he wouldn’t graduate high school but not only did he graduate,

he went on to college and became an NCAA Division I student-athlete at Indiana University-Purdue

University Indianapolis (IUPUI) where he maintains a 3.7 GPA with a major in media studies and science.

This story is fantastic; an underdog, considered limited by the outside world due to his disorder. Everyone

assumed there was no hope of a fulfilling future. But Robert wasn’t dissuaded. He wanted to run, so he ran.

He wanted to learn, so he went to college. He’s a totally self-sufficient, intelligent young man, who also

happens to be one of the top college runners in the country.

I love this story because I see so many similarities in our facilities, and we have the same mind-set here.

Advancing age bring lots of challenges, but those challenges don’t diminish our residents’ spirit, or their

determination to lives their lives to the fullest. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias can wreak havoc on

the mind, but inside is the same vibrant, curious, intelligent person who wants to do the same – live their life.

And in our homes throughout NY, NJ and RI, they do. Our world class teams of therapists, care givers,

recreation specialists and more, work with people who many have written off, physically, mentally or

emotionally; sometimes for nothing more than the fact that they have grown old. We have the privilege of

helping these folks to achieve their potential. We provide them with so much more than the basic necessities

to survive; we provide them with the services they need to thrive. And we share in their successes. We are

indeed fortunate to work in an industry where we can all go home at night knowing that we have done

something special, something memorable, something important – something that made the world a better

place, one person at a time.

I salute Robert Murphy for his courage and commitment.

I salute all the people who encouraged him to get where he is

and I hope that he will inspire others to strive for more than the

limits placed on them by some people around them. And I

would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to salute every

single member of the Centers Health Care team, in every

facility, in whatever role they fill, for helping us to find the

“Robert Murphy” in our residents and for helping them reach

their goals.

Kenny Rozenberg, CEO

A note from Kenny

September 2017 7

Welcome to the family!

We’ve covered stories of Centers’ growth on these pages in the past, but none have been quite this big.

Our family is once again expanding, though exploding may be more accurate. This summer, we welcomed

ten new facilities to our family.

Oak Hill Center in Pawtucket, RI joined us along with Focus Utica and Focus Otsego and on September 1st

we welcomed seven former Capital Living facilities, greatly expanding our presence in the Adirondack

region. On July 30, more than 2,000 Centers employees and their families joined us at an Adirondack

welcome party. Along with the five outstanding facilities that previously made up our Adirondack Region,

we now offer fourteen locations from Ulster County north to Essex County, and from the Vermont border to

Onondaga County in the west. In addition to expanding our long term care locations and our short term

rehabilitation, we now offer assisted living as well as adult day health care in two locations, at our

Washington Center campus and at Focus Utica. We’re looking forward to bringing you lots of success

stories from these new facilities in the future.

Employee Recognition Resident Spotlight:

Susan Childs

81 Park Street, Elizabethtown, NY 12932

www.essexrehab.net

8 September 2017

June Employee of the Month:

Karen Hathaway

https://www.facebook.com/EssexCenter

was 20 years old when she went on a blind date and

met a man she would eventually marry and start her

family with. Susan Married Ben Paschal at age 21. After

she married they had their first child, a daughter named

Janet. Her husband was in the military and Susan was

able to travel internationally to places like Germany,

Vietnam, and Okinawa. Susan returned home to have

her second child, Mark. They lived in various place in

the US until she eventually returned to her hometown to

raise her children. Susan remembers being somewhat

of a difficult child. She recalls a story when she was 5.

She decided to go to visit her neighbor in the middle of

the night and walked across the street all by herself. Her

neighbor let her in and she remained there the rest of

the night. In the morning her mother was worried so she

called around to all of the neighbors and finally found

her daughter. Needless to say, Susan said she was in a

little trouble. Susan said she is most proud of her

children, who have accomplished so much. Her

daughter, Janet, put herself through college and

graduated with high honors and her son enlisted in the

military. She has three grandchildren. She says all of

her good memories are those with her children.

July Employee of the Month:

Erik Pratts

August Employee of the Month:

Kayla Merraro

Susan spent most of her life

in the Port henry area. She

When