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Happy Birthday Medford Leas

This is Part Two

Part 1   In the Beginning     Over the Years     Quaker Values     The Arboretum 
Part 2  Health and Fitness    Buildings and Changes     Traditions     Governance
Part 3  Mental Stimuli     Innovations        Then and Now


Anniversary Design

HEALTH AND FITNESS

In 1971 all Medford Leas contracts guaranteed residents full life care from the time they arrived. As soon as Court 1 was completed, a room there became a Health Center. In July 1972, when the Central Building was opened, health care moved to an area on the ground floor, where it remained for six months. The John Estaugh Building opened in January, 1973, with 21 semi-private rooms, one isolation room, and one private room on the main floor. The lower floor had rooms for offices and clinics. Four doctors had regularly scheduled hours. Today, Estaugh is a skilled nursing section for long-term resident care.

By 1973, it had become obvious that different levels of care were needed to meet the needs of the growing population. The Elizabeth Haddon Pavilion opened on September 1, 1975, with ground floor offices and three floors of 24 rooms each. The three upper floors of Haddon are now Assisted Living sections. The ground floor has Assisted Living apartments, guest rooms, the Haddon Greenhouse, a Dark Room, the Thrift Shop, and the Employee Lounge.


Haddon Pavilion, July 1975

 


Construction of John Woolman Building

In May 1976, the John Woolman building was opened, with three floors of 12 rooms each.

Today, one small room on the ground floor has been designated the Quiet Space, and other ground floor rooms have been combined to create Assisted Living apartments . The first floor is a skilled nursing area for short-term care, and the second floor is Assisted Living.

Staffing and equipping the three new facilities led to higher costs. After the federal government approved HMOs, in 1976 Medford Leas became the first enrollee of HCP, Health Care Plan of New Jersey. The company set up its offices and clinics and paid rent for space. HCP accepted patients from the outside as well as residents of Medford Leas, and the size of its operation led to impersonal service and a lack of continuity in procedures. So the Estaugh did not renew the affiliation with HCP when the 5-year contract expired.

The first physician hired after HCP stayed only six months. He was succeeded by Benjamin Paradee, MD, on January 2, 1981. Dr. and Mrs. Paradee are now residents on the Lumberton campus of Medford Leas.

In 1988, Keith Quinton, MD, succeeded Paradee; Quinton retired during 2006, and returned in 2009 on a reduced schedule. Dr. Scott Kapulskey served briefly, and was followed by Jennifer Khelil, DO.


Paradee Welcoming Tea - 1981

In 1972, residents formed a Health Committee, which continues to this day. Since the beginning, the committee has included residents who had been physicians, nurses, and volunteers in hospital work. After the first year, the work was divided in two: the Health Services and the Medical Volunteers.

The duties of the volunteers include mail delivery, care of plants and flowers, reading aloud, and numerous other acts of kindness to residents in the nursing units. The Health Committee also reviews procedures that are used in the Health Center and remains constantly aware of changes in practice, while continuing to stress quality patient care and patient comfort.
In 2001, a new position of Administrator of Health Services was created to coordinate the Health Center, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing, Therapy, Pharmacy, and Fitness & Aquatics and to deal with matters of state and federal compliance. Those functions were reorganized in 2011.

The first Occupational Therapy services at Medford Leas were set up in space between the Estaugh and Haddon buildings. In 1999, Medford Leas contracted with Genesis to provide Physical and Occupational Therapy services to residents in expanded facilities on the ground floor of the Estaugh building.

Recreational Therapy continued to be provided by Medford Leas staff in the Activities Room and on trips.


2011 Wheelchair Square Dancing in the Activities Room

In 1995, a Fitness & Aquatics program was started with a single staff member. By 2010, five employees guided residents’ exercise programs on the two campuses. On the Medford campus, the large Fitness Center is well equipped; it is adjacent to the indoor swimming pool, where aquatic exercises and water walking are supervised by Fitness staff. Land exercises are held on a regular schedule throughout the week in the Fitness Studio, adjacent to the Fitness Center. 


Strength Class in Haddon

Residents in Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing Units are provided with  appropriate exercise programs in the Fitness Center, the Indoor Pool, the Activities Room, and a common room in Haddon Pavilion.

Similar schedules are in place on the Lumberton campus, which has an outdoor pool and a fitness center.


Lumberton Campus Fitness Center

On the Medford campus the Fitness and Recreation Committee encourages and oversees enjoyable self-regulating recreational activities such as indoor and outdoor shuffleboard, water volleyball, and Wii games. The committee sponsors the community’s New Year’s Eve Party and co-sponsors an annual Fitness Day with the Fitness and Aquatics Department .

Slideshow of the 2009 New Year's Eve Party
Slideshow of Fitness Activities on the Medford Campus

On the Lumberton campus the Pool and Fitness Center Committee, in consultation with the Fitness Staff, sets the rules and regulations for the fitness center and swimming pool and the scheduling of organized activities in these areas such as the annual Polar Bear Dip and competitions with staff and with Kendal Crosslands, a Quaker CCRC in Pennsylvania.

Slideshow of the 2007 Polar Bear Dip
Slideshow of Lumberton Campus Fitness Activities

BUILDINGS AND CHANGES

With the 1984 construction of 28 ranch-style units in Rushmore, Medford Leas introduced what is known as Partial Service. Residents were entitled to the same health care and maintenance as those in Full Service, but they were responsible for their own cooking, cleaning, and laundry.
Rushmore 1985

Woolman Commons, also Partial Service, soon followed. The September, 1984 issue of Medford Leas Life reported on the razing of an 1893 school building on Brainerd Street in Mt. Holly which was to be replaced by Medford Leas’ new facility, Woolman Commons. The Commons’ Community Room would be located on the ground floor. The two upper floors would each have four one-bedroom units. Across Brainerd Street, there would be 13 two-bedroom units.

Those who lived at Woolman Commons became a close-knit group. They enjoyed doing things together, and they reported monthly in Medford Leas Life on their activities. In 2005, Medford Leas sold the Mount Holly property and the residents still living there moved to the Medford campus, but they remained a close-knit group, continuing to share a special relationship.

Woolman Commons, Mount Holly

Two additional Partial Service developments have been built, Bridlington in 1988, with 36 one- and two-bedroom townhouses, and Lumberton Leas in 1999 with 110 residential units.


Bridlington 1988


Lumberton Campus Home

A new Auditorium was built in 1986; the Library in 1987; a Nature Center in 1988; a Coffee Shop and a Low Vision Center in 1994, and a new Fitness Center in 2003. The Low Vision Center and the Coffee Shop were built with funds bequeathed by a resident, Ruth Bump. The Arts and Social Wing of the Community Center was completed in 2007, providing meeting and party rooms, a game room, and an enlarged art studio.


Library 1987


Nature Center 1988

 


Coffee Shop 1994


Groundbreaking of the Arts and Social Wing 2006

TRADITIONS

Helen Biddle Porter had been a successful Moorestown businesswoman and member of the Estaugh Board when she moved to Medford Leas in 1971. In September of that year, she called the residents together and began their regular Monday evening meetings for discussion of mutual problems. In November of that year, the group elected officers. They called themselves the Residents Council, a name changed to Medford Leas Residents Association when they adopted their first constitution. To this day, MLRA meets on Monday evening, but only once a month.

Helen Biddle Porter also originated the Sewing and Knitting Group, which met every Monday morning, but now meets on Wednesdays. For single people, she planned the Buddy System, which became the Friendly Visitors.

And she started the Gift Shop, which was first set up in a laundry room in Court 1. Until 1981, the shop was run by two or three residents who did all the buying, pricing, and selling, creating a financial surplus each year.  At different times, profits have been given to the Activities Fund, the Employee Appreciation Fund, and the Reserve Fund, a fund that helps residents who need assistance to meet expenses.

 

 


Gift Shop 1980  - Reagan, Carter, and Anderson
The Thrift Shop was opened in 1976, initially to allow staff to buy items that residents no longer needed or wanted. Since residents were not permitted to give gifts to employees, the Thrift Shop became a way to make their possessions available. Initially, an MLRA Board member was in charge and staff of Environmental Services used handtrucks to move heavy objects to or from apartments. The Director of Environmental Services also served as the cashier until 1979. Today, one resident is in charge, another is treasurer, and dozens sort, display, and sell the mountains of donations that are received every week. Maintenance staff moves heavy items to and from apartments.

Over the years, residents working in the Thrift Shop have become expert in finding outlets for items that are unsold at Medford Leas. Valuable jewelry and antiques are sold to dealers. Unsold clothing and furniture might go to Goodwill Industries or the Extended Hand in Mount Holly. Books sometimes go to the Burlington County Library or to a book dealer.

Funds raised through Thrift Shop sales support the Nurses Scholarship Fund. Like the Gift Shop’s profits, at one time they went to the Reserve Fund and the Employee Appreciation Fund.

In December 1971, the residents held a Christmas Appreciation Party for staff and residents. Each staff member received a gift of money and a fruit cake. Thus began the Medford Leas tradition of financial gifts to staff. The entertainment evolved to what is by now the highlight of every year, the Employee Holiday Show.

2010 Holiday Show - with links to other shows

1988 Holiday ?Show

Traditions

 

Beginning in Augus, 1971, a one-bedroom apartment was made available for over-night guests, a tradition that grew into the current arrangements for guests in several guest rooms and a guest cottage.

Activities slideshow

During its 40 years, Medford Leas has acquired many other traditions: the Display Case, which now exhibits a scrimshaw collection; bridge on Wednesdays and Fridays; tennis; Sports Day on Memorial Day, the Fouth of July, and Labor Day; art shows put on by the Studio artists; the Art Gallery; an annual flower show; a Passover Seder; the scarecrow walk; gingerbread houses; holiday decorations that now include Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa.

Lumberton Craft Show slideshow

Lumberton Craft Show video 1
Lumberton Craft Show video 2

 
GOVERNANCE

Medford Leas is operated by the Estaugh. The original bylaws of the corporation specified that all members of its Board be Quakers. In 2004, the bylaws were revised to state that a majority of the members of the 15-member Board be Quakers and that at least one member be a resident of Medford Leas.

It has already been noted that the Medford Leas Residents Association began when the first dozen residents met on Monday evenings to talk about common problems and plans. In the spring of 1972, the first president of MLRA appointed a committee to draw up a constitution. The constitution adopted in 1972 was concise. Among other things, it provided for a Board of nine members. In subsequent years, two of the nine were to be chosen to serve as “carry over members” to serve a second year in order to assure continuity. The Board met every week and members of management met with them to discuss problems and suggest solutions. Today, there are eleven members, with either five or six being replaced in alternate years. The Board is now called a Council, and its members elect the MLRA President annually. The Council meets twice a month and the CEO attends each meeting. The CEO also holds a monthly community conversation to which all residents are invited.

Past MLRA Presidents

In the early years, some residents felt that their comments were not receiving adequate attention, so it was agreed that suggestions and comments should be put in writing. The result was the P.I.W. (Put-It-In-Writing). PIW forms are available at the Front Desk, and each time the MLRA Council meets, the accumulated PIWs are read aloud while the CEO is present. They are then distributed to the persons who are to respond to each of them. In time, there were enough PIWs about food that a separate Food PIW system evolved. Those PIWs are reviewed by the Director of Food Service and the MLRA Food Committee.

A special feature of the MLRA Council is the sponsorship of some 90 committees that conduct all of the activities in which residents engage. Each Council member serves as liaison between the Council and several committees. As sponsor, the Council member takes problems and requests from the committees to the Council and, in turn, informs the committees of Council actions that affect them. In this way, each committee has a direct line to the Council so that its appeals are assured of a hearing. It is worth noting that some “committees” consist of a single member, while others have over 100. Many never have “committee meetings” but simply work out how things will be done and then do them.

Descriptions of all MLRA Committees

Two MLRA committees warrant special attention under the heading of “Governance”: the Financial Review Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee. Very early in the existence of Medford Leas, the Estaugh Board encouraged residents to have what was then called a "Committee on Estaugh Finances." The committee included the MLRA President and Treasurer and other residents with particular knowledge and experience in areas of finance. In time, its name was changed to Financial Review Committee. Its purpose is to know and understand the finances and financial and operating decisions of the Estaugh Board which affect residents, and to respond from the perspective of the residents of Medford Leas.

The CFO also holds a quarterly meeting with residents to provide updates on the budget and factors that affect it.

The MLRA Budget and Finance Committee handles money allocated to support resident activities. Based on committees’ budget requests, the Finance Committee prepares the Association’s budget for the Activities Fund and determines the amount to be suggested for each resident to contribute in order to meet that budget.

The MLRA Budget and Finance Committee also determines the amount to be suggested for residents’ gifts to the Employee Appreciation Fund at Christmas time. Medford Leas’ Chief Financial Officer informs the Committee of the number of employees at each salary level. The Committee then determines the total amount needed to provide individual gifts equivalent to one week’s pay for each employee, plus the taxes that would be incurred, all paid by MLRA.

The third fund managed by the MLRA Budget and Finance Committee is the Community Services Fund. This fund makes donations from residents to several local service agencies, such as the Burlington County Library, the Fire Company, etc. As with the other two funds, the Budget and Finance Committee prepares a budget and determines the amount needed from residents on the Medford campus to meet that budget.

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