By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

Senior living, go ahead, pause for a second and picture that right now? What did you see? Old folks wrapped in afghans, sitting around a tiny TV in their wheelchairs, waiting out their final days?

If that is what you imagined, this story is about to surprise you. Senior living centers have come a long way from the days of old. Senior living in 2021 means independent living with assistance right down the hall. Locations like the Cassia senior apartment building at 16th Street West and Pine Street are built with the resident’s best interest in mind. Not just from a physical health side, but also the mental health and spiritual health aspects.

There are a variety of amenities in the building, ones you may typically find in an apartment building, plus the added security and peace of mind for residents that may need the assistance. Staffed with event coordinators, short and long-term care experts, chaplains, dieticians, nurses, therapists, a dining room providing three meals a day, a beauty salon and barber, housekeepers and so much more. It’s a combination of a more traditional structured assisted living center with an all-inclusive resort. If you want to cook for yourself, you have the freedom to do that, if you don’t, you go to the cafeteria. It really is a great mix of independent living while having the experts available when you need them.

Residents still enjoy putting together puzzles, bingo, or gathering in a community room to watch TV, but now, they may enjoy doing so with a glass of wine or a light beer if they choose. There are even groups that gather for an early evening night cap. The event planner helps put together fun trips around the metro as well as the standard store runs.

But, what happens when those events stop happening because of a global pandemic? What happens when residents need to stay in the building for a year because they risk bringing COVID back to their friends?

The mental and physical toll COVID has taken on the seniors in area senior living facilities is clear talking with them. Thankfully, they have recently been able to have visitors again and they could not be happier. They missed their friends and family from outside of the complex. They missed running around town, shopping, eating out, They have missed living in the world. Now that the majority of the residents are vaccinated, they are welcoming people in to see just what they have been up to the last year.

Roy Swanson sent me an invite to share with you some of the thing’s residents have been doing to pass the time, keep their mind active, and maintain their sanity. This was all preapproved and done in a covid friendly manner, plus all but a very small number of the residents are fully vaccinated.

Visiting is simple, when you arrive, you fill out a simple questionnaire, get your temperature checked, sanitize your hands and then you can proceed to your destination. I was greeted by resident Pam Jorgensen. She gave me a little lay of the land as she brought me to Swanson’s apartment.

“If you don’t enjoy living here, that is your own fault,” explained Jorgensen.

When we entered the apartment, Swanson introduced me to the two remaining residents Eunice Schiller and Donna Mosher then proceeded to bring me to the reason we were meeting. Hobbies! Swanson has assembled a variety of all wood models that he has ordered from a company in the Ukraine. The models are made from a thin birch plywood, with each piece laser cut. The detail of the models is stunning and then he shows off the fact that not only do they look incredible, but they each have functioning features. Car doors that open, windows that roll down, steering wheels that work, wiper blades that move, and some drive after being wound up. Not one sliver of metal is used in the models, these are all wood with a rubber band used as the wind-up power. Swanson explained that he spends about an hour a day working on the models because some parts are so small that his hands cannot handle much longer than that.

During the time Swanson is showing his work, the ladies are joined by Millie Ruhr. Yes readers, the same Millie that helped name Brian Schommer’s “Outdoor Adventures” column in this great publication. The camaraderie among the ladies shows how well the people in the building get along, even after being shut in with them for a year with minimal outside influence.

The next crafter is Eunice Schiller, Schiller is holding a baby blanket that she recently crocheted. It is the only thing she has to show off currently.

“I give them away,” Schiller laughs, “That’s why I don’t have nothing left!”

She crochets blankets of all sizes and then gives them to her friends and family and to other residents so they can give them to their friends and family.

Donna Mosher and Pam Jorgensen both do diamond art. Diamond art is similar to paint by numbers, but instead of using paint, you use colored crystals. Much of the art created with this method is quite beautiful. The diamond like crystals are placed on a sticky surface using a special applicator. Mosher is quite proud of her most recent creation, an awesome looking hummingbird. Jorgensen shows of a neat candy cane picture. Like Swanson’s wood models, the diamond art takes time. Smaller pieces can be done a few weeks, others can take months.

The final hobbyist is Millie Ruhr. Ruhr is close to celebrating her 100th birthday and you would never be able to tell. Her craft is making her own greeting cards. She takes flowers and leaves and presses them to make unique greeting cards.

“I finally figured out a way that I can make one and have it duplicated,” Ruhr proudly explained. “There is one secret you have to know or you can’t do it.”

Ruhr never did tell us what that secret is, just that she perfected it over the last 20 years, and she has shared it with her niece and great niece. She did say that she made a more masculine card to give to me for coming in to visit and it’s a wonderful piece. That comment got a laugh out of the others in the room.

The art that these crafters have created is just a sample of what residents are doing in the building and it was such a wonderful thing to see. What was event better to see was a group of residents laughing, enjoying life and each-others company. They really enjoyed showing off their work and talking about all sorts of things.

Thank you for the invite Mr. Swanson, I really enjoyed visiting with all of you and seeing all your crafting talents.

These residents show off their craft. Left to right, Eunice Schiller crochets blankets, Donna Mosher makes diamond art, Millie Ruhr (seated) makes her own greeting cards, and Pam Jorgensen also does diamond art. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Roy Swanson shows off his collection of 3D wood models. The models come from the Ukraine and all of them have moving, functional parts. Photo by Bruce Karnick