Resident News

Residents, friends, partners and employees of Passavant Retirement Community joined in prayer on May 8 at a consecration service to bless the site of the future Community Center.

Laura Roy, executive director at Passavant, thanked attendees for their continued support and patience throughout the construction process.

The Fitness and Wellness Center at Passavant Retirement Community has instituted a new, in-home program called Healthy Connections that will help residents learn to live more abundantly by enriching their lives through wellness services.

Some of the available services include personal training and exercise, stress relief, health and wellness education and consultations, memory-enhancing games, leisure activities and music therapy.

“We started the program to address the needs of those residents who don’t, or are unable to, engage in these types of activities on their own.

Friends, residents, business partners and employees of Lutheran SeniorLife joined in fellowship and celebration of our older adults on April 27 at the ninth annual Excellence is Ageless Gala at Heinz Field.

  BeHome Partners^TM, the home care agency of Lutheran SeniorLife, has adapted to meet the changing needs of seniors by creating a new program, “In Home Memory Support,” to help them live a rich, Abundant Life^SMwhile remaining in their own home.

Caregivers are carefully selected for their capacity for empathy and compassion.

For the past four years or more, the Caring Clowns of Passavant Retirement Community have given the gift of joy, love and laughter to residents in nursing, and to people at special events at St. John Specialty Care Center and in the community.

Now their mission, and Passavant’s, are known around the world because of an article published in the November, 2011 issue of Clowning Around magazine.

By: Gary Rotenstein

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 28, 2011

When 91-year-old Marie Holtzapfel arrived at RoseCrest Assisted Living Residence in July from another long-term care facility, she could hardly have been aware she was part of some rare vanguard in Pennsylvania.

For one thing, like all 15 initial residents in the homelike setting in Mars, Mrs. Holtzapfel has had dementia for years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia among older adults. It involves the part of the brain that controls thought, memory and language, thus seriously affecting a person’s ability to perform activities of daily living.

To date, there is no cure.

In honor of National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in November, staff, residents and friends of St.

Residents at Passavant Retirement Community have a new place to play.

Thanks to the dedication and fund-raising efforts of the Abundant Life^SMCommittee and the generosity of an anonymous donor, a new playground has been built outside the Olde Main building.

“It’s like we were given a gift from God!” said Laura Roy, executive director of Passavant Retirement Community at the dedication ceremony last month.

Passavant Retirement Community, which has been serving older adults for more than 100 years, has begun a multi-faceted construction project to replace 148,000-square feet of outdated buildings including Olde Main and 38 cottages.