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Flory took off with the speed of light!
Residents took a trip with several of the North Florida Directors to spend a day with other homes and stakeholders. Residents entered into several Olympic events. Residents had lunch and got to listen to the local middle school band, as well as, a little bit of blues.
The Signature elders and staff from Signature HealthCARE’s North Florida homes (Chautauqua Rehab & Nursing, SHC of North Florida, Washington Rehab & Nursing Center, The Bridge at Bay St. Joe, SHC at The Courtyard and Surrey Place Care Center) traveled to Hammock Bay, in Freeport, Florida, for the second annual Intergenerational Olympics, where they met up with Freeport Middle School teachers, volunteers and special needs children for a day of Olympic competition and fun.
The Eglin Air Force Base color guard, Freeport Mayor Russ Barley, Freeport Middle School Principal Charlie Morse, along with cheerleaders and band members, arrived to share in the fun!
With the chance of rain diminishing over the days prior to the event – going from 60% to 20% chance of rain – our hopes for a dry day soon became a day of lots of clouds and rain. But spontaneity took over and though the planned events were cancelled, there were still lots of smiles and laughter among the staff, elders and children.
The Freeport Band of Four stood in the rain and entertained with a “last man standing in the rain” exercise, which was fun to watch. The Blues Man entertained and it wasn’t long before children, staff and elders were dancing to the oldies!
The lunch was wonderful thanks to our Dietary Team from Chautuaqua, and a special thanks to both Jasons and their plant ops team for grilling up the tasty hamburgers and hotdogs from the grill.
– Ellie Curry, ADC, AP-BC, CDP, Regional Quality of Life Director
Master, Potter, we know You make known the riches of Your glory on the vessels of mercy we recognize this evening, those which You have prepared for glory. We come to Your workshop and place Phyllis Bullock, Glynn Dasher, and Buddy and Kathy Pennington, these honorable vessels, with Your blessing, on the table in the banquet room of the Signature HealthCARE Hall of Fame.
Father, we know You do not cast them in the Potter’s field, but You break, mold, and use them because You have prepared a supper this evening through the hands of those who have set up, cooked, and made this event possible. These and all individuals who serve You and their neighbors are vessels of honor. We are thankful that on the Potter’s wheel these individuals we recognize this even did not become hardened, but were pliable in Your hands as You fashioned them after Your likeness full of love and service.
Thank you, Master, for touching these vessels so they are honorable in their service. They are as a cup that flows over and as a platter that bears much fruit. We praise them for being vessels of example, simply pouring out their lives and displaying the fruit they contain. Although these vessels become aged through this journey of life and are used daily, each one is preserved with beauty and grace at the hands of You Lord, the Potter. As a candle is lit in the center of a banquet table, Jesus, the Potter, is the Center of our Joy. He is the Light that drives out darkness, and by His Word His blessings are pronounced. The Light shines radiantly to reflect the creative designs of silver and gold on each earthen vessel. How beautiful are the earthen vessels that we honor this evening!
The owner of this world’s museum, Satan, passes by daily inquiring to purchase one of these vessels, but You, oh God, inform him that these are priceless vessels of Yours and belong to Your household. These vessels we honor tonight, which serve and love others, are not vessels who have sat in a museum idle, but they are on display as a symbol of historical reference.
Father, these individuals are of use even now. You, the king, have each one of these vessels and each one of us. These Hall of Fame vessels never collect dust. God’s fine china are Your everyday vessels! These vessels we honor are always on the table ready to serve and be used, because all souls who enter the doorway are important to You. Through the power of the Spirit, the miracle is in these vessels!
For Paul said, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Cor. 4:7).”
Father, we just lift up these individuals and their families this evening to say thank You for allowing them to be Vessels of Honor.
Bless the food we are about to partake, may it nourish our bodies and may our lives be a vessel of love and service which displays us as a family who are individually characterized as “Vessels of Honor to God!”
It’s in Your most precious and honorable name we pray, amen.
Residents from Signature HealthCARE of North Florida, in Graceville, and the Labrador puppies that are part of Auburn University’s Canine Detection Research Institute are both gaining from the visits the dogs make to the nursing home a few times each month.
To find out more about the partnership, watch the story from WJHG News Channel 7.
Today is the observance of Labor Day is the United States, a federal holiday that occurs on the first Monday in September and which celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.
The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York. It was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.
Our chaplain utilizes his laptop to encourage and motivate residents. This gives them value, self-worth, and hope.
Isaiah 1:18
“I just told you about Sodom and Gomorrah, learn from them, because you are compared to them as I speak to you. Listen, you leaders of Israel, men of Sodom and Gomorrah, as that is who you are acting like and I am calling you as one of them. Listen to the Lord. Hear what He is telling you! He is saying, “I am sick of your sacrifices. Don’t bring Me any more of them, I don’t want your fat rams; I don’t want to see the blood from your offerings. Who wants your sacrifices when you have no sorrow for your sins? The incense you bring Me is a stench in my nostrils. Your holy celebrations of the new moon and sabbath, and your special days for fasting—even your most pious meetings—all are frauds! I want nothing more to do with them. I hate them all; I can’t stand the sight of them. From now on, when you pray with your hands stretched out to heaven, I won’t look or listen. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear, for your hands are those of murderers; they are covered with the blood of your innocent victims. O, wash yourselves! Be clean! Let Me no longer see you doing all these wicked things; quit your evil ways. Learn to do good, to be fair and to help the poor, the fatherless and widows. Come! Think about this matter, says the Lord; no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool! If you will only be willing to let Me help you, if you will only obey, then I will make you rich. But if you keep on turning your backs and refusing to listen to Me, you will be killed by your enemies; I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Malachi 3:3: ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God…
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
In an effort to be an integral part of our democratic process and heighten grassroots advocacy, Signature HealthCARE is conducting facility legislative visits and recently, Florida Senate President, Don Gaetz, and his son Representative Matt Gaetz paid a visit to Signature HealthCARE of North Florida visiting with elders, stakeholders, family members.
Chaplain Brad Tate led the group in an opening prayer, followed by questions about Medicaid, Medicare and other long term care concerns. It was an outstanding opportunity to share our mission and vision of changing the landscape of long term care with our legislators. As a certified Eden Alternative facility, a concept moving swiftly across the country, Senator Gaetz showed great interest in this particular aspect of long term care which he shared he had not heard of prior to this visit.
Senator Gaetz also paid tribute to one of Signature’s outstanding staff member who had recently rescued a lost child in the community with Senator Gaetz extending his heartfelt congratulations for this truly heroic deed!
Mrs. Francis Johnson had a wonderful surprise when some of our staff traveled to Andalusia, Alabama and picked up her husband for his birthday to celebrate with her here at the facility. Mr Frank Johnson said that this was the best birthday he has ever had.