Residents make calendar to celebrate staying active in life stories

An annual calendar featuring residents is a popular way to involve community members in a year-long reminder of their vibrancy, social connectedness and resilience. One provider community created a Hollywood-themed event to showcase the launch of its 2017 calendar, including a “making of” film featuring the models and their life stories as the “stars” of the show.

Gurwin Jewish– Fay J. Lindner Residences, a 201-unit assisted living community in Commack, New York, released its 5^th annual resident calendar, aptly named “L’dor v’dor,” or “From Generation to Generation.” The gala event took place at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, New York, where residents, families and friends gathered to see the calendar for the first time—and got to see themselves in a video documenting the entire project on the big screen.

Each resident model took part in a photo shoot, complete with hair and makeup. Each resident’s photo is coupled with personal advice for living life well.  “Appreciate nature,” suggests Mr. January (Gerald Burberry), who is an avid photographer. “Keep Learning,” advises resident Sandra Peltz, Ms. September.

The cover girl? That would be Lorraine Parver, but not without her husband of 68 years, Les, also a resident at Gurwin (above).

“The calendar is really such a wonderful project,” said Staci Rosenberg-Simons, Director of Marketing for the assisted living community and the emcee for the evening. “Seeing their faces light up when they see their calendar pages for the first time is just priceless, but more than the photos, it is the advice they impart as a by-product of their life experiences that makes the calendar a treasure.”

“I was never a calendar girl before,” said resident Ruth deBeer, whose family fled from Germany to Palestine in 1933 just before Kristallnacht. She is one of three Holocaust survivors taking part in the calendar. On her calendar page, March, her advice is: “Never forget.”

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.