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After months of discussions with residents and staff, there are exciting updates to the dining programs at The Community at Rockhill and Lutheran Community at Telford. Beginning March 1, both communities transitioned their dining efforts to a fully in-house team from our out-sourced vendor. In addition to several people already well-known in the communities, they added several new staff.

The biggest transition was hiring Andrew Loeffler as the new Director of Culinary Services. Andrew will oversee all dining operations for Grace Inspired. He most recently served as Director of Culinary and Nutritional Services at Acts Retirement Communities. Andrew has over 20 years experience in the food service industry. In addition to his administrative experience, he served as an executive chef in both senior living and public restaurants.

Additionally, Christopher Goggins was named Corporate Chef from Executive Chef and Natalie Snyder was named Corporate Dietitian. They will serve both the Lutheran Community at Telford and The Community at Rockhill.

Grace Inspired Community, The Community at Rockhill welcomes Ted Leister as its new Executive Director following the retirement of Carol DeLancey. Already a familiar face with the Grace Inspired family, Ted recently served as Director of Facilities Development for Grace. He has been with Grace and Lutheran Community at Telford for 25 years.

“I’m looking forward to coming back to daily operations,” Ted said. “As Director of Facilities Development, my job focused on what the future will look like. It will be good to focus on what is happening day to day for immediate impact.

“I already have a lot of interaction with Independent Living residents but I’m really looking forward to getting to know all the Health Care and Personal Care residents as well.”

Carol is retiring after seven years with the community. She came to Rockhill with over 20 years’ experience in senior living as well as a lot of connections to the community through family, friends and church connections.

“It’s been a great experience,” Carol said. “I’ll miss the people here. I’ve always looked forward to interacting with staff and residents. It’s a really good team here.”

We’re excited to welcome Ted to this new role and wish Carol the best of luck in her retirement!

The Community at Rockhill, a Grace Inspired community, is excited to again be included in the US News & World Report’s Best Nursing Homes list. The news organization published its 2020-21 list on Tuesday, November 3. The Community at Rockhill was one of only 40 Pennsylvania facility ranked as “high performing” in both long-term and short-term care.

Congratulations to all our employees on achieving this distinction and providing outstanding care to our residents in its Health Care unit!

To compile its Best Nursing Homes rankings, US News analyzed data available through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Researchers look at statistics on care, health inspections and staffing amid COVID-19 outbreaks, flu and pneumonia vaccination rates, infection control violations and more.

[Read the US News & World  Report article]

October is National Book Month – another fantastic opportunity to celebrate reading and all its benefits, especially for older adults. While escaping into a good story is benefit enough, current research has found several positive physical and cognitive effects. Check out these five positive benefits:

Improved brain functions

One of the most discussed positives of reading is its ability to improve your cognitive skills. Research published in “Neurology” in 2013 suggests reading books – along with writing and engaging in other brain-stimulating activities – slows down cognitive decline in old age. While it focused on life-long reading, results also found that any reading was better than none and that remaining a bookworm in old age reduced rate of memory decline by 32 percent.

Another study found older adults active in brain-related hobbies such as reading were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. “The brain is an organ, just like every other organ in the body. It ages in regard to how it is used,” lead author Dr. Robert Friedland told USA Today. “Just as physical activity strengthens the heart muscle and bones, intellectual activity strengthens the brain against disease.”

Reduced Stress

It’s easy to lose yourself in a book and lose track of time. That concentration also helps lower your stress levels! In fact, a 2009 study at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom found reading for just six minutes a day could reduce stress levels by up to 68 percent. Another study found 30 minutes of reading lowered blood pressure, heart rate and distress as effectively as yoga.

Good Night Sleep

There are plenty of medicines to help you sleep at night, but one of the easiest assists is to pick up your favorite book and read just before bedtime. While sleep specialists suggest you read in a room other than your bedroom, the Mayo Clinic suggests reading as part of a regular sleep routine. As noted earlier, reading is calming and can signal the body it is time to relax.

Creates Happiness

A good book allows you to escape into another world, following other lives and adventures. This also lets you leave your own worries behind. As you encounter other lives through literature, you also experience empathy for other places, thoughts and beliefs. All these can improve how you view your own life.

“Research has shown that people who read for pleasure regularly report fewer feelings of stress and depression than non-readers,” According to Sue Wilkinson, the former CEO of  The Reading Agency, a charity that develops and delivers programs to encourage people to read more.

Live Longer

But maybe our favorite benefit of reading is its ability to help you live longer. 2017 research from “Innovation in Aging” found that people who read more than 3 ½ hours per week were 23 percent more likely to live longer than those who didn’t read at all.

So take some time this month to pick out a new book – or pick up a treasured favorite – find a comfortable chair and read to your health’s content.

Looking for a good book? Check out these this list of books for all ages