Freeholders Sweeney & Chila Thank Vets for Their Service

Shady Lane Times

Jacobus ‘Jack’ Accardi, a Veteran of the United States Army, during World War II, with the rank of Sergeant. Battles & Campaigns – The Rhineland; Medals & Cita-tions – The European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Medal and the most noble of all medals, the Pur-ple Heart, for wounds re-ceived on November 24, 1944, in the European Theater of Operations.

Ralph Payne, a Veteran of the United States Army dur-ing World War II with the rank of Staff Sergeant. Battles & Campaigns – Nor-mandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, Central Europe and the Ardennes. Medals & Citations – The Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Medal & the most noble of all medals, the Pur-ple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, which denotes be-ing wounded twice, on July 25, 1944 and October 18, 1944. (cont on Page 4)

Gloucester County Freeholders Hold Ceremony to Honor Shady Lane Veterans

College scholarships are available to union mem-bers again in 2008 through CWA's Joe Beirne Foundation, as well as through Local 1085. Local 1085 offers $1,000 college

scholarships to members of the Local or their fami-lies. Recipients of Local 1085 are selected by a random drawing every June. Any member of Local 1085 or any spouse or dependent of a member may apply if planning to attend an accredited college or university on a full-time basis during the 2008-2009 school year. Application forms are available at: http://www.cwa1085.org/pdf/ScholarshipForm2008.pdf

CWA Scholarship Information

Gloucester County Improvement Authority Winter 2007-2008

Volume 2, Issue 3

Infection Control

2

Back Care 2

Freeholder Director’s Message

2

Recreation 3

Food Service

3

Employee Profile 3

GCIA Projects 4

Administrator’s Message 4

Inside this issue:

March 7, 1963:

Board approved the pur-chase of an adding ma-chine for $200.

January 22, 1965:

Board approved lending our adding machine to the County Board of Taxation for a period of several weeks.

First time the Board dis-cussed obtaining some sort of Occupational Therapy for the residents who are ca-pable for doing handiwork.

Ralph Payne Receives His Medal

The Freeholder Board has commissioned medals to honor all Gloucester County Veterans who served our country and were honorably discharged from military service. Our Liai-son, Freeholder Director Steve Sweeney specifically wanted to make sure that we reached out to our residents’ families to encompass all those who were eligible could be included in this program.

Three residents of Gloucester County’s Shady Lane Nursing Home were honored on New Year’s Eve with the Glouces-ter County Military Service Medal in a special ceremony. Freeholder Director Sweeney and Freeholder Chila attended the ceremony where Former United States Army First Lieu-tenant, Herbert F. Johnson of Pitman, presented the Medals to:

that are better, faster and cheaper. This was the case when the Freehold-ers started to look at Emergency Management Services (EMS). In many towns, response times for emer-gency calls could have been up to 9 minutes. This was unacceptable from a life and death standpoint when in an emergency every second counts. The Freeholders knew that this needed to be addressed and the county set out to regionalize Emergency Medical Services. Our goal for success was based on the “Gold Standard” recom-mended by the Commission on Ac-

The most basic function of gov-ernment is and always has been to protect the lives of its citizens. Often this role becomes more expensive and less efficient than it has to be. In the state of New Jersey this happens many times based on the fact that we have 566 different municipalities. Subse-quently, towns have to provide duplicate services to what the next town over is also providing. My Freeholder colleagues and I be-lieve that the county can be a tool for helping with providing services

creditation of Ambulance Service which sets the bar for an average target response time at 8 minutes and 59 seconds, 90 % of the time. Since last fall we have been able to have half of the county’s towns sign up to join a regionalized system. We are pleased that the response times are averaging 6 minutes or under. We will con-tinue to monitor the program. More importantly though, we are more confident that when some-one calls 911, help will be there faster than before.

A Message From Freeholder Director Steve Sweeney

Freeholder Director Stephen M. Sweeney

risk are those with open wounds, invasive devices, or a weakened immune system. Staff need to follow proper sani-tary procedures so as not to transfer bacteria from resident to resident. Please talk to your supervisor if there are any ques-tions with our policies or proce-dures. Beyond hand washing,

alcohol is proven to be an effective surface sanitizer against MRSA. This is one of the reasons why there

are sanitizer dispensers through-out our facility for your conven-ience. It is especially important

Infection Control Methicillin-resistant Staphylo-coccus aureus (MRSA) is a bac-terium that causes infections that are tough to treat. Al-though today it is found world-wide, MRSA was originally dis-covered in Britain in 1961. It has evolved an ability to survive treatment with antibiotics, which is why it’s often called the “superbug”. MRSA is especially difficult in hospital associated (nosocomial) infections. Infec-tions are often localized to skin and soft tissue and usually can be treated effectively. However different strains can display en-hanced virulence, spreading more rapidly and causing illness, which can affect vital organs and lead to widespread infec-tion. People with the greatest

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing, it's when you've had

everything to do and you've done it!"

--Margaret Thatcher

Page 2 Shady Lane T imes Volume 2, Issue 3

Shady Lane Blood Drive a Success as they were counting on the Red Cross for donations that day. De-spite the fact that it was the day of

the Presidential pri-mary, 30 units of blood were donated that day. We intend on holding more blood drives in the

not too distant future. Please help by giving the gift of life! Thanks to all those that participated.

Not Taken the Fall! Shady Lane had 7 resident falls in the month of Janu-ary and 6 for December. This is per approximately 1000 patient days per month. There has been a decline in the past couple of months, even though our rate was extraordinarily low to begin with. While the bed alarms may be annoying, this shows that they are working. This is also a tribute to the teamwork of our facility and the cooperative effort of folks in the Nursing Department and the Falls Committee. Thanks for eve-ryone’s help in keeping our residents safe.

Shady Lane held a blood drive in conjunction with the Ameri-can Red Cross on Feb. 5th. Due to a can-cellation by another site unconnected with the county scheduled for this day, the Freeholder Board was asked to help by supplying a replacement donation site. Up to 90 patients in the region would have been nega-tively impacted by this cancellation

where patients are recover-ng from invasive procedures. Know that MRSA can survive on fabrics as well as surfaces, including privacy curtains or a caregiver’s clothes. The termi-nal cleaning of resident rooms and all other clinical areas is our set standard policy protocol to control for nosocomial MRSA.

Snowy Nature Trail Outback

GCIT Students Caroling in the Dining Room

Blanche Burton enjoys Thanks-giving with family

Many people think that if they were only in

some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful.

So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off

being happy until some future date.

Dale Carnegie

With Winter here, a full program for Therapeutic Recreation con-tinues.

With much of the season is be-hind us, we have had a great time highlighted by our Holiday night for our families and residents, New Years’ Eve ball drop and entertainment galore! Our monthly VFW birthday parties continue as well.

Our Red Hat Club continues to meet at 5:30 pm every Tuesday.

Therapeutic Recreation

Food Service Notes

Employee Profile

One often overlooked aspect to proper nutrition is hydration. It is certainly import to make sure you get enough fluid consider-ing that your body is 60-70% water. Your blood is mostly water. Your lungs, brain, and muscles contain and need a lot of water. We need to be mind-ful that caffeine and alcohol are examples of diuretics that trick your body into thinking it has more water than it needs. Water is obviously the best source of fluid. Believe it or not, if you eat a healthy diet, 20% of your water intake could come from the foods you eat. Juices are good because they tend to contain vitamins and minerals. Sports drinks, while a

good source of electrolytes, can also be high in sugar and calories. Check the nutrition label on a sports drink and you might be surprised. Soda is generally also

high in calories and sugar . A good rule of thumb for projecting how much water you

should drink every day is to take your body weight and divide it in half to roughly give you the num-ber of ounces you should drink. So if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink 80 ounces or 8 - 8 ounce glasses of water each day. You’ll need an extra 8 ounce glass for every 20 minutes of exercise. While this seems like a hassle in a busy day, keeping a bottle of wa-ter with you and making it a habit will help.

and worked as a carpenter before coming to Shady Lane in February 2003. Besides being everywhere he is needed (often at off hours) and willing to go the extra mile for our residents at Shady Lane, Rob volunteers his time with the Repaupo Fire Company where, until recently, he was the Chief. He recently attended specialized fire training in Austin Texas. We are certainly lucky to have him as a co-worker. We thank Rob for

For this edition of the Shady Lane Times, we would like to highlight a member of our Maintenance De-partment, Robert Licci-ardello. Rob, his wife Karen, and chil-dren Robbie and Jenna live in Logan Township. He is a gradu-ate of Paulsboro High School

Page 3 Shady Lane T imes Volume 2, Issue 3

Feb 5th was our Mardi Gras Party, a lot of fun. For Val-entine's Day, our residents made their own Sundaes for their lunch dessert. "Paws of Joy" will be by every 2nd Thursday of each month with therapy dogs. We look forward to community outings, fund raisers, & BBQ's in the weeks to come. Bring on Spring!

The sounds of “Unforgettable” entertaining in our dining room.

Celebrating New Year’s Day

Mary McCormick at the Super Bowl Party

Dorothy Dallas & Edith Bozza at the Senior Lunch-

eon held at Aulletto’s

Marie Caban showing Ro-land Paradise the Love

Rob Licciardello

his continued efforts and hard work here and in the community and invite you to do the same!

Other GCIA Projects! Paulsboro Port Development Moves Forward —The GCIA is working as the developer for the South Jersey Port Corporation to develop a port in Paulsboro. The project seeks to redevelop the old BP site, an existing industrial, brownsfield site. The project will be funded by bonds sold by the SJPC. The GCIA had also received grant funding from the NJ Department of Transportation to construct an overpass over the Mantua Creek so that port truck traffic coming to and from Route 295 can bypass the neighborhoods. Both aspects of the project are currently in the design and permitting stage. While we are still several years from substantial completion, the economic benefits of this will eventually be sig-nificant. Several thousand living wage jobs are projected to be created either directly at the port or through the businesses that it will support.

Shady Lane Home 256 County House Road

Clarksboro, NJ 08020

We’re on the web! Visit us at:

www.gcianj.com/shady_main.htm

on a daily basis. Struggling through activities of daily living is not fun, especially when it's you. Not only walking, but hav-ing some trouble initially dress-ing was also a problem. The loss of independence with the inabil-ity to drive has been extremely frustrating and required me to stifle my pride. Dealing with pain is never fun, to say the least but chronic pain can certainly compromise not only your spirit

Hobbling around on crutches for the past many weeks has certainly been about as fun as it looks. But I always try to look at the good in the bad and learn from challenges. Having torn my Achilles tendon on Thanksgiving Day I’ve needed to undergo surgery and the subse-quent rehab and recovery.

What I’ve been able to take out this pretty unpleasant experience has been a greater feeling of empathy for what our residents go through

but other health aspects as your body devotes resources toward pain relief. I offer these exam-ples not from a perspective of complaint, but as illustration of the greater appreciation for daily struggles our residents have and/or continue to endure. More-over, there is little doubt that I’m getting better. In contrast, most residents of long term care facili-ties have a disease process that does not. My situation is tempo-

From the Administrator’s Desk

Phone: 856-224-6979 Fax: 856-423-3634

Email: gstrachan@gcianj.com

Gloucester County Improvement Authority

(cont. from Page 1) James J. Angarola, a Veteran of the United States Army, during World War II, with the rank of Sergeant. Mr. Angarola was from Philadelphia, Pa. before the war and was employed as a rigger helper. Battles & Cam-paigns – Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe. Medals & Citations – The Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Medal with 4 Bronze Stars, denoting four major campaigns.

on many levels. There is little doubt that we all can learn from bad things and that understanding and compassion can in fact em-power us to be better not just physi-cally.

Thanks for your hard work. George D. Strachan

Gloucester County DREAM Park Set to Open — With the finishing touches being placed on the build-ings, the state of the art equestrian facility is set to open at the DREAM Park in Logan Township. It will feature a 55,000 square foot indoor arena enclosing a 150’ X 300’ ring with bleacher seating for 500. At-tached to the Arena will be an 8,000 square foot exhibition area, includ-ing restrooms and a concession stand. There will also be two 150’ X 300’ outdoor rings, one of which will be lit for night use; one 190’ X 350’ Grand Prix & Carriage Dressage Ring with adjacent 90’ X 150’ warm-up ring; one 150’ X 290’ schooling ring; and one 114’ X 190’ schooling ring for resident horses. The facility will also include two 120 stall barns for show horses and a resident barn with 48 stalls. There will be on site trailer parking and an area for RV’s. The facilities are to open in May. The next phase of the project will involve construction of riding trails.

Blanche Tavenor & family at Thanksgiving Dinner

Ruth Stauffer & Debbie Blake