Our journey towards the Sam L. Cohen Households is moving along. The foundation is in place along with the elevator supports and steel frame. PM Construction has been pleased with the warm winter weather and are on schedule for a completion at the end of 2020. The SLC Households will offer a new level of care for The Cedars, Memory Care Assisted Living with two additional skilled nursing care households. Each household will accommodate 20 residents in a home environment, with spacious common areas in the center including an open kitchen – open 24 hours per day – dining area, living room, den, and a private dining room. The residents will be the center of the home, making choices for how they live their lives. For more information on the Households, please call Katharine O’Neill at 207-221-7100, email , or visit Sam L. Cohen Households at The Cedars.
Making the Best of Social Distancing at The Cedars
In these days of social distancing and ‘stay safe at home’ orders, it’s critical to keep our residents connected to their loved ones and community, for happiness and overall well being. As we have adapted and navigated our current situation under COVID-19, we want to take a moment to share some of the platforms, personal connections and virtual technology in place, as well as our approach to offering special events and activities. The satisfaction, fulfillment, health, and safety of our community members is our main objective and we look forward to a continued offering of enriching and enhancing programs and experiences.
Our traditional in-house activity programs have been transformed to virtual visits and programs on each neighborhood, in a more intimate setting and definitely at a distance. The residents are enjoying balloon tosses, current events, word games, room deliver treats, Ask Google! and Money-Monday-Bingo, just as they always have – just in smaller groups. Many of our residents have been enjoying video chats with the neighborhood iPads with their loved ones, as well as ‘window visits’ where they spend safe, face-to-face time with their family members while maintaining the social distance that is so important.
If you would like to schedule a ‘visit’ with your loved one – please call 221-7000 between 8:30AM and 3:30PM, Monday through Friday.
At The Cedars, we’re making the best of this ‘new normal’. Many thanks to our amazing staff and the wonderful family members who have supported our community – we are stronger together.
Opening Minds Through Art
Closer to Home: Construction Update
Our construction Team, PM Construction, continues to make steady progress on The Sam L. Cohen Households.The second elevator shaft is being completed and they have started the installation of the under slab utilities and perimeter drainage as well. We marvel in each piece of the project, as it takes us closer to home for our residents. And we look forward to offering the new level of care, Memory Care Assisted Living in addition to Skilled Nursing Care in our three Households, with only 20 residents each in a private, home environment. For more information, call 221-7100 today.
Intergenerational Connections: Creative Storytelling at The Cedars
On December 7, 2020, Falmouth High School (FHS) students, residents of The Cedars, and local artists gathered for An Intergenerational Celebration of Puppetry, Storytelling, and Music—the culmination of a four-month long project in collaboration between FHS, The Cedars, and Figures of Speech Theatre.
Ian Bannon, Director of Education at Figures of Speech Theatre, designed and directed the project and performance around a series of creative storytelling sessions with residents living with dementia at The Cedars. Using TimeSlips, a collaborative ritual storytelling format designed for adults with cognitive challenges, residents draw on subconscious or implicit memories to tell stories. When it becomes challenging to recollect, residents are encouraged to move seamlessly from their memory to their imagination.
FHS students in teacher, Dede Waite’s, theater classes traveled to The Cedars to guide this storytelling and rehearsal process—and to get to know these warm, wonderful, creative older adults.
Bannon and Devon Kelley-Yurdin, a visual artist and community organizer, helped students and residents as they transformed their TimeSlips stories into shadow puppet plays. FHS students in music teacher Jake Sturtevant’s composition class created original scores for each performance. In hands-on shadow puppetry workshops, students and residents worked side-by-side to polish each short vignette and prepare for the student performances of the finished pieces.
The authentic personal connections and new skills formed over the previous four months were evident during the vibrant student performances, applauded by an engaged, appreciative audience of residents, their families, and members of the community.
This program was funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Construction Update December 2019
The Sam L. Cohen Households construction is forging through as the crew finishes the installation of the exterior draining and utilities equipment. In addition, they are prepping the foundation base in anticipation of the materials-testing, at which point the foundation will be poured. The footings are in place, and we expect the foundation to be completed by early February.
Additional parking spaces have been created across from The Atrium main entrance. Please take care with any ice build-up, as the temperatures decline and the snow falls. Our construction team is addressing the issue and our maintenance continues to prioritize keeping the area cleared.
Construction Update October 2019
As we prepare for the building of the Sam L. Cohen Households, our construction crew is finishing up the drilling and blasting for ledge removal at the end this week. We expect the job site trailer to be on site Thursday. Starting the first week of November, we can expect our construction crew to start working on retaining walls, utility and further site work. And then, starting the third week of November, we’ll begin to see the foundation area being prepared. For more information on the Sam L. Cohen Households, offering two levels of care: skilled nursing care and the new, memory care assisted living, call us at 221-7000, ext. #1426.
Construction Update Early October 2019
Construction on the Sam L. Cohen Households continues this week with drilling and blasting to clear and level the land for the new building and parking areas. On October 7, the City of Portland has clear procedures that require that the excavators take an incremental approach to the blasting process which results in diminished impact on the surrounding residences over a greater period of time. The blasting hours will be restricted to Monday through Friday, 9:00AM to 4:00PM and PDK, Inc. estimates that the total blasting time will be complete in three weeks’ time. If anyone has concerns about the blasting, please contact PDK, Inc. at 207-415-5467.
Construction Update: September 2019
Construction on the Sam L. Cohen Households began the week of September 16 with the installation of fencing around the site, and the delivery of equipment. The next five to six weeks will bring site preparation to clear the land and level the ground for building. Then, we can expect to see the foundation work begin for the Households. The transition to the Household Model of senior living at The Cedars has been under way for the past two years, as we have been working with Action Pact to embrace the philosophy of the household for our entire staff and through innovative, person-centered programs and care. The new building will offer two, skilled nursing care households and a new, memory care assisted living household. Once the Sam L. Cohen Households are complete, we will start renovations on our current neighborhoods to transform them to the household model.
The Cedars Brings Household Model to Maine
How do you celebrate 90 years of quality care, innovative programs, and dedicated leadership? By breaking new ground.
Since opening as the Jewish Home for Aged in 1929, The Cedars has set the standard for non-profit, senior care. Today, we offer independent living, assisted living, rehabilitation, skilled care and community-based programs. We mark this milestone by constructing a true home for Maine’s older adults – The Sam L. Cohen Households. This new model of care will feature age-friendly design, with a warm, person-centered experience: two households of skilled nursing care, and one household offering a new level of care, Memory Care Assisted Living. Residents of the Sam L. Cohen Households will experience a living environment that offers a quality of life previously unimaginable outside of their own homes.
The Person-Directed Life
Your loved one chooses the rhythm of their individual life, the rituals and pleasures that are part of it. They get up as they wish, eat when and what they want, bathe how they prefer, participate in activities as they choose, host family, friends and neighbors, and go outside as the spaces are designed with safety in mind. Residents partner with their physician and care staff to actively engage and participate in decisions regarding their care.
Community to Support Quality Care
The Households are centered around you and your loved one. We are deeply committed to high involvement from you, your loved one and the care staff. Each Household shapes itself and responds to the needs and direction of the residents who live there and is led by a team that balances quality of care with quality of life.
Vibrant Living
The Household Model encourages residents to continue defining who they are through meaningful and purposeful engagement. The six dimensions of wellness are supported – including spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, vocational and emotional – as well as each resident’s energies, appetites, beliefs and attitudes. Through group and individual activities and specialized programs, residents continue living vibrant lives.
The Heart of the Home
At its core is a home environment that begins with a front door with a doorbell and features private bedrooms and bathrooms, a full kitchen that is open 24 hours a day, a living room, dining room, den, sunroom and other community spaces filled with natural light.
For more information, contact us today at 207-221-7162.