MorningStar Foundation Helps Communities

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

My wife and I just came from the hospital. I’m so exhausted. Last night my mom fell and broke her hip and they say she’s going to need something called a Rehab Center, and then we have to figure out if she can return home or not. What if she has to move? She’s on a fixed income. How do we afford it? I really don’t know what steps to take, where to turn or what to do next. I’m just so overwhelmed with everything that’s happening. Welcome to the answers for elders radio show. meet the trusted experts who will give you straight answers and will health guide you on the path of later life care. Now here’s your host, founder, caregiver and CEO, Susan Newman, and welcome everyone to the answers for elders radio network. And we are so excited today because we have a very special guest. And you know, as we work with organizations that are really we pay attention to what they do and how they work, and I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to be involved with an organization that’s really inspired me and I watch how they inspire other people and they do so through purpose, through involvement and enrichment and outreach and into their communities and certainly, you know, we’ve talked a little bit about it on our on our podcast before, and so the thing that’s really exciting for me to have now the operation specialists of Morning Star senior living, Mr John Yeager. John, welcome to the program. Awesome. Thank you, NAM really really looking forward to being with you. I’m really excited you’re here and the reason why I am is because I think one of the things that’s really impressed me about morning star is the involvement that I see in the residents in your communities. You know, I talked about you know, when we walk into a community, it’s like I remember one day I was there and there’s a couple of ladies selling candy and they do that every like Thursday in your Silver Lake, Washington community and they raised them enough money over the course of a year that they raised over seven thousand dollars and they gifted that as a scholarship to one of their dining room servers that they that did such a good job for them so that he has college funds. There is another scenario where I was at your community just a couple of weeks ago and here’s some residents out in your courtyard of Silver Lake and they’re out there, they’ve got a greenhouse, they’re putting together all the plantings and the gardening. And then this one resident, this gentleman, came up to me and he says, I run the gardens here, and I just went you know, this is amazing because we oftentimes see seniors when we think, Oh, our parents are okay, but what they really do is just sit around and watch TV all day. That’s not necessarily a quality of life. And what I see in your communities is this greater purpose, this greater quality of life and certainly an opportunity to really be involved in more, you know, feeling of a sense of belonging and purpose, and I know that that has to John Come from a single point of Focus, and that is your organization. And when you go on to morning, Morning Star senior Livingcom you see what you guys are all about, which is so much more than just senior living. And I I am so excited to talk to you about this topic today. And you know, how do you start, or what you know what brought you to this point? Yeah, absolutely, that’s so good and that’s our heart. Our heart is to just pour into to love, to serve our residence, our seniors at all. Starts with that. That’s the reason we exist. It’s our it’s our core, it’s our foundation, it’s our heart is to absolutely do everything that we can to enrich their lives, to create an environment that they are able to truly live life to the full. We are trying to pour into them physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, anything we can do to just, you know, make sure these are the best years of their lives that we’re going to do whatever is in our power to make that a reality. And at the exact same time, it’s true with our teams as well. You know that that Scholarship Fund. How beautiful is that? That are that are as very well cornt our team members like that, and that’s that twice the story. What a blessing, you know, for our team members to have the opportunity to serve, you know, the hands that made America someone most incredible individuals, the stories, the lives that have been lived. It’s just so incredible to see our teams and our residents and their relationships they’re able to build and both of them being able to live life to the full. Yeah, and you know what I think about you know, in our eging years we may have mobility issues, Maye we may have, you know, memory issues, we may have, you know, different types of challenges as we grow older. But I think one of the things that is involved, you know, with us is, I really truly believe I don’t care if you’re sitting there in Stage three dementia, you know, you have an opportunity to contribute in some way and we find out what that is. Maybe if you’re in a memory care it’s too fold close and you take, you know, pride in doing that because you accomplish something in a day. Or maybe it’s to pick a bouquet of flowers every day, or it’s to go in maybe it’s just to help share a recipe or tell a story or anything like that. The point of the matter being is involvement and it’s a sense of belonging and inclusion and I think a lot of times, especially in communities today that are marginalized, they don’t feel that sense of connection. And so, you know, to have a corporate culture like you guys have, it’s amazing and it’s obviously something where I can say wow. You know, this is an organization that cares more about than a bed and a BEDPAN. You know, it’s it’s more about the quality of life and and certainly when we look at you know, I know families out there. One of my biggest concerns about my mom going to see your living way back when, in two thousand and six, when I I was in those shoes, I remember done this feeling of I don’t know if mom would be happy here. I don’t know what would happen. I there was a concern. But here’s what determined me selecting the community that I did, and that was because I looked around me and the resonance with the most smiles on their faces. We’re the ones that made the impact to me. And you know what, that’s what happens at Morning Star and that’s what I see with your resonance. I mean they’re very involved. A man, that’s a beautiful testimony right air and Uh Huh, that kind of environment that we’re doing our very best to try and create one point in time. All four of my grandparents have have lived in a morning star community, and so I’ve seen it first here from yes, the team member side of things, but also the grandson side of things. Yes, there’s nothing more beautiful than when I do see our teams enriching the lives of my grandparents and, as you were mentioning, finding those unique things, finding those interests, those passions, those desires. You know what gives my grandpa purpose and when my you know, when our team members find that and are able to bring that to him, it’s just the most beautiful thing. So hopefully doing that very, very well across all of our communities. But that’s our heart and that’s our that’s well and your heart extends to, like we said, more than just senior living and you have what’s called the Morning Star Foundation. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, absolutely, Are our vision at Morning Star. Yes, first and foremost our seniors. We’re trying to absolutely do everything we can to love our residence, but it’s more than that. It’s the other side of the coin, is our local community and throughout the world. Our Vision at Morning Star, our dream is in pursuit of excellence. Morning Star resolves to be a company of servant, minded, purpose driven leaders in our senior communities and throughout the world, and I think that is something that absolutely differentiates us that something that’s very unique to morning start is that last sentence. Specifically throughout the world, it’s starts with our seniors, but at the exact same time we have such a heart, we have such a mission to serve and to care and to love for those. Yes, in our local communities, but in East Africa, in Central America, on the for the orphan there. They go hand in hand. Yeah, yeah, and you know that’s the thing when we talk about marginalized communities. You know right now there’s, I’ve been learning some just overwhelming, it’s Lee Sad, statistics about just what the pandemic has done and why it’s been worse in certain pockets of the world because they don’t have the access to services, they don’t have the access to, you know, the quality of life that we may have in other areas. And so one of the things I think of foundation like yours. I know that you guys have really stepped up to do more in that area and and I want to spend a little time on each one of those. You know, the main outreaches, but you also serve locally, do not? You do things like the Alzheimer’s Association, you know, local nonprofits. I know you have supported my twelve days of goodness program here and Seattle with the Seahawks, so you know you do a lot for the community. Yeah, we have a huge desire to engage our team and, first and foremost serving our local communities. We would love nothing more than if our team members could hop on a plane with us and go to East Africa, and maybe one day that will be a reality, but until then the easiest way to kind of experience and walk the walk of Love and action and service, truly becoming you. That’s our heart, is for that to come outside of our senior communities. Yeah, into the world, into the local communities, but that’s to engage our teams serving alongside a local nonprofit and the testimonies in the stories that have come out from team members who have been able to experience that. We we don’t have time to, you know, talk about all of them, but that’s where the transformational impact happens in our team members is when they’re able to walk that walk in our local communities, serving at a local food kitchen, serving at a children’s home, going and, yes, participating with all simmers association, but finding needs in the community and then matching up the time and the talent and the treasure of our teams is an incredible thing. Yes, it certainly is. In and to look at you know how you can you know how you work with different types of concepts and how you rally people together through different things that you do. I am really excited this hour to just talk a little bit about you out couple of your outreach programs that you do quite diligently. And certainly in the meantime, John, how do we reach you? Yeah, absolutely well, again, Morning Star senior Livingcom that’s a great point to dive in and just learn about who we are. We’re a senior living company based out of Denver, Colorado. We have communities in ten states, yes, in the northwest and Washington, and an organ I just love it up there. So everyone, we’re very excited to have John here with us for this hour and we will be right back right after this. We at answers for elders. Thank you for listening. Did you know that you can discover hundreds of podcasts in our library on senior care? So visit our website and discover our decision guides. That will help you also navigate decision making. Find us at answers for elders, docom