PALA Board President Christine Horn represented senior living at the meeting. Chris focused on the infrastructure needs of Personal Care and Assisted Living communities that play a crucial role in caring for the aging population of Pennsylvania. The need for additional funding to sustain PCH/ALR are of importance since the federal funding has not been targeted for senior living providers. Thank you, Chris, for being the voice of PCH/ALR with Senator Casey.
Tammy Sutch has been a part of the Columbia Cottage team for just over a year. She has wonderful spirit and truly enjoys caring for others. Tammy enjoys spending time with her son and her three dogs. Her favorite hobby is making crafts. We are especially grateful for her talents which include a special touch with persons living with dementia. Tammy is compassionate and caring, engaging with residents in whatever task she is at hand.
Hello, my name is Kevin Snyder. I had the privilege of being selected as the 2019 Homemaker of the Year by residents and their families. I have been a Homemaker here at Columbia Cottage since 2018. I graduated from Muhlenburg High School in 2004 and decided to continue my education at Reading Area Community College persuing my Certified Nursing Assistant Certificate. I graduated in 2011, with my CNA. I started working at the Cottage in 2018, where I quickly realized my love of working in health care and with our residents. I honestly love coming to work every day, and I love that I have the chance to talk to and serve our residents. One of the best things about assisting our residents is that when I do things with and for them I know that I am doing my job right and that I am making someone’s day brighter. There is definitely an extra perk to working at the Cottage, as I have the opportunity to work with my mom Donna Snyder. When I am not at the Cottage, I enjoy spending my down time going to the beach, fishing, and spending time doing other outdoor activities.
The Homemaker of the Year is an individual that shows commitment to providing exemplary service to Columbia Cottage residents. This years’ Homemaker of the Year is Phyllis Miller. Phyllis started at Columbia Cottage in November 2010. She worked for many years as a Homemaker and conducted craft time with the residents. Just recently she took the Medication Technician exam and was promoted to pass medications. Phyllis has always shown great compassion, patience, and love to the Cottage residents. As a staff member she is dedicated, reliable, and is a great example of what a homemaker/medication technician should be. Phyllis and her husband live here in Hanover and have two boys and she is grandmother to two girls and boy. In her spare time, she loves to garden, craft, and above all spend time with her family. The staff and residents of Columbia Cottage feel very lucky to have Phyllis as a part of the Cottage family.
The Holidays generally are a time of year of celebration and joy, as well as one of reflection as we ponder our resolutions for the New Year. Columbia Cottage has had a great year and many reasons to celebrate! The thing that most of us are thankful for is the privilege that each resident and family provides us in caring for our residents. The residents and families bring us great joy and we appreciate your trust in us and thank you for the continued opportunity to care for our residents. Additionally, we would like to thank all our staff for their dedication and hard work. We sincerely appreciate the love and care you provide to our residents and understand what a great job each of you do to make Columbia Cottage a home and not just “another facility”. The Greatest Gift that we have been given is time! Take the time to share with our residents and families during this Holiday Season and let them know how much you care. Families and Residents take the time to share kind words with our staff and let them know how much you appreciate their hard work. We have been given a wonderful gift TIME, sometimes we forget just how precious it is, so consider your time a gift this Holiday Season and share it! To all of our Residents, Families, and Staff: May the Magic of the Holiday Season stay with you throughout the New Year. We wish you the gifts of the Season, Peace, Joy, and Hope! Happy Holidays, Deena and Erin
Joan was born January 22, 1943, to Madge and Edward Workley, in Baltimore, MD. She has two siblings, one brother and one sister. Joan graduated from Dundalk High School in 1961. February 27,1965, she married Raymond Beard and had four children. John, Diane, Jeff and Jason as well as seven grandchildren and one great grandson. Joan stayed at home to raise her four children and when they were grown, she worked at preschool for many years. She loved to do aerobics, play board games, dance, garden and cook. She absolutely loves animals, especially dogs. Joan’s home was always decorated nicely especially at the holidays.
We would like to announce that after 11 years of employment at Columbia Cottage, Anne Shelleman has decided to retire. Anne has been a great asset to Columbia Cottage, she was a wealth of knowledge, great sense of humor, is a dedicated employee, and a wonderful friend.Things will not be the same around here without her. All the staff here would like to wish Anne the very best and Happy retirement.
A special thank you to family, friends, residents and staff for coming out to celebrate our Christmas Parties. It was great to see all the families spending time together. We had a delicious buffet served by Sharon, Steph and Brenda. Sandra and Les were making festive Poinsettia drinks and Erich Chawalla and Chip entertained us with their music, sing along and his wonderful Saxophone playing. The doors in the hallways reflected the holiday spirit. The door decorating contest winners were announced at the Christmas party. Thank you to all that participated. Our winners of the first Christmas Party, Apartments 1-27 are as follows: 1st place: Harry Lauzon 2nd place: Aurora Cicconi 3rd place: Grace Minnex Winners from the second Christmas Party, Apartments 28-53 are as follows: 1st place: Mildred Fair 2nd place: Audrey Brady 3rd place: Anna Lehman
Eva was born in 1927 in a small village called Liebling in Romania. Although being born in Romania, her family were Danube-Schwab, which are German descendants that migrated down the Danube River looking for farmlands to settle. Her father was a carpenter and they had a small farm. As a young child Eva and her sister worked on the farm growing vegetables and tending to the animals. Then the World War II broke out and Romania was taken over by Germany. In 1943 Russia started to push back against the German Army and started to conquer Romania. As the Russians came into her village, Eva witnessed some terrible atrocities as a teen girl. Her family decided to flee the Russians’, so they packed up their belongings and loaded them onto a horse pulled wagon and left. Their journey took them by foot from Romania to Austria. In Austria, Eva worked as a cook for a well to do Austrian family. While in Austria, she met Hans Lang who had recently from duty in the German Army and was searching for his family who also had fled Romania. They fell in love and dated for a few years. Then Eva’s family decided to move to America because their father had a sister in Harrisburg, PA. Eva’s family came to the USA in 1951. Unfortunately, Hans could not get a visa because of his duty in the German Army. But, Hans and Eva had a plan. Thus, their only child, Hans Jr., was born in late 1951 and because of that Hans Sr. could come to the USA. In 1952 Hans Sr. came over and Eva and Hans were married a month later. During the day Eva worked as a seamstress and in the evening, they cleaned an office building until midnight. Eventually they saved enough money to buy a house. They became naturalized citizens in 1959 and were so very proud. In 1972 her husband started an automotive repair garage and Eva quit her job to run and manage the office. They also owned a few apartment buildings, so when the garage closed for the day there was always more work to do somewhere. Eva worked hard her whole life but found one pleasure she enjoyed. Going to the casinos. She also loved to bake and cook. And no one could make a better strudel than Eva!
Hello Everyone! My name is Maria Smith. I’ve been working at Columbia Cottage for about 2 ½ years and what a journey it has been! During my free time I like to visit with my friends and family. I also like to take time and enjoy the simple things, like relaxing with a good movie. Through my work at the Cottage, I have met so many wonderful and inspiring people. We have an awesome team of staff members and our residents are the heart of the community. I am grateful to be a part of it all.
Don Jones is the 86-year-old gentleman, physicist, commodities trading expert, writer, father of four, and partner to Betty living in Suite 19 at Columbia Cottage in Collegeville, PA. Don was born outside of Cameron, Missouri in 1932. As a child, Don moved around quite a bit with his Dad, Clifton Jones, before settling back in with his Mom, Veda Jones, and his younger sister, Jody, in Denver, Colorado. It was in Denver that Don went to high school, became a member of the high school wrestling team, and the ski team. He also discovered his love of automobiles and motorcycles. He attended University of Colorado, located in Boulder, Colorado, and graduated with a B.S. and a Masters in Physics. He spent several years in the U.S. Navy before returning to Boulder to complete his PhD in Physics from the same university. Don then started working for The National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado as a physicist and a researcher. While these writings did not make the NY Times Best Seller List, he completed 3 important pieces of research for the Bureau – “Strong Blast Waves in Spherical, Cylindrical, and Plane Shocks,” “Microwave Doppler Measurements of the Ionization Front in Cylindrical Shock Waves from Exploding Wires,” and “The Energy Parameter B for Strong Blast Waves.” In the late 1960’s Don left Colorado to accept a position with General Electric’s space exploration program in the labs located in King of Prussia, PA. He moved his family of 4 kids, 2 horses, and a dog to Limerick, PA. It wasn’t long before his entrepreneurial spirit got the best of him and he started dabbling in commodities research. In the late 1970’s he started Commodity Information Services. He moved to Chicago, IL to be close to the Chicago Board of Trade and his money management/commodities trading business took off. During that time of his life, Don wrote two books: Hedging Foreign Exchange – Converting Risk to Profit, and Value Based Trading: Using Overlay Demand Curve to Pinpoint Trends and Predict Market Turns. Don later took his business back to his roots in Denver, Colorado. He spent the last 25 years in Denver running his business, skiing and playing racquetball before fully retiring in 2015. Don has four kids that are very active in his life. Stephanie, Eric, Kit and Ashley. He has eleven grandchildren and one great, grandson. When asked what he likes most about living in Columbia Cottage, his reply was simple… “I enjoy my time every day with Betty and the exceptional care we both receive. The staff makes living here very enjoyable. We not only receive great professional care, Betty and I know that the staff truly cares about us, personally.”
Hello! I am Maggie Herrity the office administrative assistant of Columbia Cottage. I attended Drexel University where I received my Bachelor’s in Business Administration with concentrations in Marketing and Entrepreneurship as well as my Master’s in International Business. I have worn several hats throughout my professional career and enjoy that I utilize those skills through the various “projects” assigned to me. I love to travel, cook, bake, read, make crafts, and play with my two-year-old son. My husband also knows me as the one who likes to overwatch movies like “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Elf.” I am grateful to the residents, staff, and families at Columbia Cottage for making me feel so welcomed and appreciated. Spending time with our residents is a such a joy and I feel privileged that one of my projects is to create their monthly calendar, hopefully creating joyful moments for them as well.
