Front Row L-R: Lisa Davanzo, Deborah Tedford, Mary E. Keating, Stacey Finch, Jolanta M.Vitale, Rosmarie Kuhn, Katherine Nadeau
Back Row L-R: Susan A. Moore, Maria Fabrizi, Linda Hill, Lorraine Roy-Galat

Wallingford, CT, May 14, 2013……..At special awards dinners held in May at four locations throughout Connecticut, Nightingale Awards for Excellence in Nursing were presented to 11 nurses nominated by Masonicare.  The Nightingale Awards program recognizes hundreds of nurses throughout Connecticut for their dedication, commitment and generous contributions to the field of nursing. The program is open and inclusive of all healthcare settings — hospitals, home health care, health centers, schools, health departments, long-term care, nursing schools, agencies and medical practices.

The following nurses were recognized for their outstanding service to Masonicare:

Masonicare Health Center: Stacey Finch, LPN;Rosmarie Kuhn, CNA, LPN; Jolanta M. Vitale, RN

Masonicare at Newtown: Maria Fabrizzi, RN

Masonicare Home Health & Hospice : Lisa Davanzo, RN (Norwalk); Linda Hill, LPN (Wallingford); Susan Moore, RN, BSN, MS (Brookfield at Newtown); Katherine Nadeau, RN (Wallingford); Deborah Tedford, RN, AD (Danielson)

Masonicare Partners Home Health & Hospice: Mary E. Keating, RN, BSN; Lorraine Roy-Galat, LPN

This year, at the thirteenth annual Nightingale Awards presentations, these special nurses were honored at award dinners held in May in Groton, Hartford, Stamford and New Haven.  

            Stephen B. McPherson, President and CEO of Masonicare, said, “As a continuum, Masonicare embraces a wide range of nursing practice — including long-term care, home health, hospice and acute care as well as management, quality oversight and education. These 11 individuals join more than 180 previously honored Masonicare nurses who have been role models for others in our organization and have helped us nurture and develop the nurses of tomorrow.”

Wallingford-based Masonicare is Connecticut’s leading not-for-profit provider of healthcare and retirement living for seniors.

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This year Masonicare was pleased to have 11 nurses from throughout our continuum receive this prestigious award. Congratulations to Lisa Davanzo, Maria Fabrizi, Stacey Finch, Linda Hill, Mary E. Keating, Rosmarie Kuhn, Susan A. Moore, Katherine Nadeau,  Lorraine Roy-Galat, Deborah Tedford, and Jolanta M.Vitale.

Click here to visit our Here for Me site to learn more!

Masonicare’s Grand Masters Day, held every June on the Masonicare campus in Wallingford, is an annual tradition for the community that features an array of wholesome activities – with food and fun for the entire family. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, June 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the grounds of Masonicare Health Center, 22 Masonic Avenue in Wallingford.  With so many exciting features and activities, the festival will be a great time for all!

Enjoy the parade, swing band, great food, crafts, raffles, FREE children’s rides and activities, and much more! The day will include a comprehensive Health Fair and screenings for adults as well as the CTChild ID Program (CTCHIP) and a Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543) to schedule your appointment.

Parking and continuous free shuttle bus service will be available from the Oakdale Theatre (sign says “Toyota Presents Oakdale”) on South Turnpike Road.  For additional information, please call the Masonicare HelpLine at 888-679-9997.

Wallingford, CT, May 8, 2013….. Sabrina Loeb of Mystic has been named Community Liaison for the East Lyme office of Masonicare Home Health & Hospice. In this role, Ms. Loeb will promote Masonicare’s wide range of home health and hospice programs and services to physicians and skilled nursing facilities in the area as well as to the Southeastern Connecticut community at large. 

Ms. Loeb attended schools in Georgia and has several years of experience in the healthcare marketing field.  Prior to joining Masonicare, she served as community liaison for Interim Healthcare.   Ms. Loeb is a Corporator of Connecticut Community Care, Inc., and a member of Senior Resources Development Committee and SECT Women’s Network.  She and her husband, Tom, are residents of Mystic.

Masonicare Home Health & Hospice, with an office in East Lyme and several locations throughout Connecticut, is an affiliate of Wallingford-based Masonicare, Connecticut’s leading not-for-profit provider of senior healthcare and retirement living.                               #                                  #                                  #

Newtown, CT, April 24, 2013……. Masonicare is pleased to announce that Dr. Joel Brook, a Board-certified dermatologist, has joined the medical team at Masonicare at Newtown.  Dr. Brookspecializes in general medical dermatology for adults, treating a variety of skin disorders and performing biopsies and the excision/destruction of lesions. He

Dr. Brook received a BS degree from the College of William and Mary and his MD degree from New York University.  He completed his dermatology residency training in Buffalo, NY, at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Meyer Memorial Hospital, and Buffalo General Hospital.  Dr. Brook is a member of the American Board of Dermatology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology.  He is also a member of the Fairfield County Medical Association and the Connecticut State Medical Society.  He and his wife are Danbury residents.

Masonicare at Newtown, located at 139 Toddy Hill Road, is convenient to Routes 25, 34 and I-84 in Newtown.  For office hours and additional information, or to make an appointment, please call 203-364-3258.

Last month I attended the annual Leadership Summit sponsored by LeadingAge in Washington.  The keynote address was given by Peter Sheahan, an internationally recognized consultant to companies such as Google and Apple and author of the bestseller, FLIP. Sheahan’s primary message was this:  Change is constant and therefore we need to continually challenge our assumptions and plan for an unknown future.

Some interesting examples he cited were:

- In 1901 London commissioned a study of the city’s future needs. It predicted that a million more horses would be needed to meet transportation demands, and ignored  the fact that 78,000 automobiles existed.  Just five years later, London would build the world’s first parking garage — for cars, not horses.

- In 1990, AT&T commissioned a study on the future of cell phones.  Their study concluded that worldwide demand would be capped at 900,000 — clearly missing the boat.

- More recently, a study was commissioned by U.S. intelligence agencies to determine the value of social media.  Just nine months later, after the study discounted its value, social media fueled the “Arab Spring.”  Today, we dedicate more people to making sense out of social media interactions than we have spies on the streets.

- Apple boldly cut its IT support group from 2000 to 6.  It didn’t fire 1994 people, but reassigned them to projects.  One of the projects that two IT people worked on was iPod product distribution, in which they partnered with SAP and created the phenomenally successful iTunes.

- In 2004, McDonald’s international division was losing significant market share to Subway.  They introduced salads in Australia and saw 350,000 new customers almost immediately.  The surprise was the new customers were not eating salads, but that offering salads made it more socially acceptable to patronize McDonald’s.

- The top two professions who purchase Harley Davidsons are doctors and lawyers.  Harley concluded they are not in the motorcycle business, but in the image business.

As we at Masonicare plan for an unknown future, we do know that healthcare reform will change our landscape, but I believe it will improve the value of our services.  So, as we work with our Board of Trustees on strategic planning, we will keep our mission in mind: to improve the lives of those we serve.   In spite of the changes and chaos that surround us, this noble cause will keep us on track.

Photo:  With shovels in hand, Melinda Schoen, Vice President of Administration for Masonicare Health Center, and Donald Roe of the Wallingford Economic Development Commission, plant a rose bush in celebration of Earth Day 2013.

Wallingford, CT, April 23, 2013  ………….Monday, April 22, was Earth Day 2013.  The first Earth Day was celebrated in the U.S. in 1970, but this year, more than a billion people in close to 200 countries throughout the world participated by recognizing in their own communities the importance of maintaining a healthy environment for all.

Mr. Donald Roe, State and Federal Program Administrator for the Wallingford Economic Development Commission, visited Masonicare Health Center in Wallingford and spoke about Earth Day to residents and students from the on-campus Masonic Child Development Center.   Recreational Therapists Betty Naylor and Noreen Schmidt explained how Masonicare residents and youngsters can do their part in helping to save the earth and outlined some of the steps the administration has put into place to help as well.

To the delight of residents and staff alike, the enthusiastic youngsters performed on the auditorium stage, singing several popular songs about nature and our environment.   A rose bush was planted in the Health  Center’s courtyard to commemorate and serve as a reminder of the importance of Earth Day.

At the April 10 Prayer Shawl Ceremony held at Wesley Heights in Shelton, the volunteers, who are all residents of Wesley Village, gathered with staff for the blessing of the prayer shawls, which was given by Reverend Jim Stinson.  During the past year, these generous volunteers spent a total of 4,404 hours knitting beautiful, one-of-a-kind shawls and lap robes for hospice patients.  The volunteers attach the following message to each shawl:  “This prayer shawl was made for you with love.  It is offered, with prayers, for your comfort and peace.  May it warm you, even as we continue to hold you in prayer.  May it warm you, even as the love of God warms you.”

Social workers and nurses with Masonicare Home Health & Hospice take great care in choosing the perfect shawl for each one of their patients.  Holly Beck, Volunteer Coordinator, said, “Our patients and families are so touched by the time and energy volunteers spend knitting these shawls.  And with all white sheets and linens, a shawl often provides the only burst of color in a patient’s room.  We sincerely thank these volunteers and appreciate their generosity and caring.”      

L to R – Prayer shawl knitters Anita Davidson and Marie Pfannkuch display Anita’s newest shawl. Wesley Village volunteers knit over 350 hours every month and donate their work to the hospice patients of Masonicare Home Health & Hospice.

Ms. Papa has several years of nursing management experience in the healthcare education field.  Prior to joining Masonicare, she was Director of Education and Consulting with the Alzheimer’s ResourceCenter in Southington.  Her experiences in the field of aging services include serving as a director of nursing and a clinical educator.  Ms. Papa has also held adjunct or courtesy faculty positions at the University of Saint Joseph (gerontology), Yale School of Nursing, and the University of Hartford (nursing.)  Ms. Papa has presented at numerous state and national conferences for healthcare professionals on a variety of topics, including building learning organizations, creativity in staff development, person-centered care, the dementia care specialist, and leadership development.  She has written multiple books and articles focused on dementia care and creative staff development.

Ms. Papa earned her BSN from Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire and her MSN from the University of Saint Joseph.  She is a fellow of the LeadingAge Leadership Academy and was a recipient of the Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing in 2011.  Ms. Papa and her family reside in Simsbury.
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