Insights

This Veterans Day, UMRC & Porter Hills salutes its many veterans, including 100-year-old Ann Cameron who served as an Army nurse during WWII.Ann Paglia was born in 1920, the 4th of six children of Sicilian immigrants who had moved to the Boston area in the early 1900s. According to Ann’s oldest daughter, Joan Skolimowski,

Lori and Traci Potter began their careers as nurses. Experiences during their teenage years helped cement their passion of caring for older adults. While still in junior high, Traci helped care for an elderly neighbor when her family needed to be away, even learning to give her insulin.  For Lori, losing her grandfather when

On Sunday, November 1, the Spiritual Life team at UMRC’s Chelsea Retirement Community (CRC) campus will host its annual All Saints Memorial service at 3:00pm EST. This service has become a faithful tradition of comfort and celebration in remembrance of those CRC residents who have passed away. This year’s virtual service will be livestreamed

At UMRC & Porter Hills, we value each of our team members for the important and inspiring difference they make each day in the life of an older adult.  It’s why the UMRC Foundation created a competitive Staff Scholarship program in 2014, now part of the Employee Support Services Fund – to elevate and

Chelsea Retirement Community (CRC) resident Alberta Sabin is celebrating her 93rd birthday by helping those living with dementia. On October 11, 2020, Alberta will participate as part of the UMRC-CRC team in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Washtenaw County. This is her 5th time to walk in this event.Dementia is personal

Max and Sue Supica recently celebrated 50 years of membership at West Side United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor and, with it, a 50-year relationship with United Methodist Retirement Communities (UMRC).The Supicas moved to Ann Arbor 52 years ago.  Sue, a native of Anderson, Indiana and Max from Kansas City, Kansas met while working

Caring for others is always essential, but never more so than during a crisis like COVID-19. While our Healthcare Heroes are at the frontlines, providing outstanding personal care and services to our residents and PACE participants, the UMRC Foundation, Porter Hills Foundation, Human Resources, and other teams are behind the scenes offering “Hero Support.”     UMRC &

My husband’s favorite word is HOPE. Tom skillfully interjects this short, four-letter word into our many conversations when we gather as a family. He shares that HOPE is a gift; when it arrives, despair departs. HOPE pierces the darkness. Within Holy Scripture no word is more beautifully descriptive of the Gospel of Jesus Christ than

With COVID-19 closing schools and keeping visitors away from skilled nursing centers like UMRC’s Kresge Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, Leslie Middle School student, Lexi Parkinson, decided to do something special. “Lexi really takes to art and being creative,” says her mom, Laura. “We got some small canvases and craft paint and she did the

UMRC Dietary Aide, Autumn Ambs has worked in Dining Services at Chelsea Retirement Community since she was a high school student. Seventeen years later, she has built some wonderful relationships with the independent living residents at Dancey House. Her name badge is covered in POM (Promoting Our Mission) awards, a testament to the love

When nurse practitioner Perry Babcock, FNP walks into the LifeCircles PACE Day Center in Holland, “the participants light up,” says day center supervisor Betsy Schutzenhofer. “They enjoy talking to him and not just about medical issues. He has a caring heart and people sense that.”   As a primary care provider at LifeCircles PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly), Perry sees participants for scheduled preventive health screenings and

When the call went out to recruit other team members to assist as caregivers at UMRC’s Kresge Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center (Kresge Center), the answer came easily for its Life Enrichment coordinator, Josie Pezzullo.“Since I know the residents so well, I felt I was a good candidate for it and that it might be