The INFORMER December 2019

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Mayflower’s Langerud Named to Governing Board

Steve Langerud has now served since August 1, 2018 as the Executive Director of The

Mayflower Community in Grinnell, Iowa. Steve and his wife, Director of the Grinnell College

Laboratory Preschool Karen Veerhusen-Langerud, have lived in Grinnell since 1986.

After serving as dean of experiential education at Grinnell College, Steve traveled the United

States as a workplace consultant, providing training, guidance, and facilitation for numerous

companies and organizations.

Recently, Steve was elected to the

governing board of directors of

LeadingAge Iowa, a statewide

membership organization of non-profit

providers of aging services and

supports. The Mayflower Community

is a 50-year member of the

organization, which has a unique focus

on advancement and innovation in

senior living and healthcare services. In

addition to the LeadingAge Iowa

volunteer role, Steve serves as a

Director of the Grinnell Chamber of

Commerce, member of the Grinnell

Heritage Center Project, member of

the Grinnell Community Homelessness task force, facilitator for the Grinnell-Newburg Schools

building plans focus groups, founding member of the Healthy Grinnell task force and chief

administrator of its Iowa Health Collaborative grant, and member of the Grinnell Music Therapy

task force.

Steve is a Trustee of Maharishi University, Fairfield, Iowa and has facilitated programs for the

Iowa Association of Business and Industry Foundation and Leadership Iowa. He coordinates

numerous Mayflower collaborations with Grinnell College faculty and students, including a

resident database project, a wellness and spirituality study, the open dining software program to

organize and present varied menus at Mayflower, various Applied Anthropology research

Mayflower Executive Director Steve Langerud

studies, the “Reading with Retirees” program at Davis School, and the utilization of the College-

based AmeriCorps Work Study student.

So, why does Steve involve Mayflower is so many community collaborations? Easy. According to

Steve, “These endeavors help to strengthen the Grinnell community and, as a result, provide a

healthier environment for Mayflower residents and staff members.”

- Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director

Poets in The Mayflower Community

Five Grinnell poets have had their pieces chosen for

publication in “Lyrical Iowa 2019.” This select

anthology is published annually by The Iowa Poetry

Association, an affiliate Society of The Academy of

American Poets and the National Federation of State

Poetry Societies, Inc (NFSPS).

1,835 poems were submitted in various categories for

the 2019 publication. 381 were chosen. The

contributions came from over 100 Iowa cities and 77

of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Gene Rohr was named 3rd Honorable Mention in the

National & World Affairs category. Others who were

published include Pasha Buck, Lynn Cavanagh, Sue

Drake, and Warren Reinecke. All are residents of The

Mayflower Community, except Cavanagh, who is a

Mayflower Wait-List member. All but Pasha have been

involved in the Mayflower Poetry Club.

The Iowa Poetry Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization whose sole objective is to

promote interest in and appreciation for better poetry by Iowans. The IPA publishes a

newsletter four times a year with a message from the president, news on members of the

association, news about important NFSPS events, and information about upcoming contests.

Marilyn Baszczynski, Editor-in-Chief of “Lyrical Iowa 2019,” writes about the anthology, “There

are poems that lament loss, replenish hope, give voice to what is not easily shared.”

- Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director

Front row (left to right) – Gene Rohr, Pasha

Buck, Sue Drake. Back row (left to right) –

Lynn Cavanagh and Warren Reinecke.

Mayflower Hospitality Council Gears Up

Many volunteer residents working as part of the Mayflower Residents Association (MRA) handle

the welcoming and acclimating of new independent living residents to the community.

“Hosts” and “Guides” were feted at a brunch on Monday, December 2nd. MRA President-Elect, Gene Wubbels, who will assume the presidency in January, thanked the 40 or so attendees for the

roles they performed in 2019 and have committed to in 2020. Each of the 24 new Mayflower

residents in 2019 were support by one or two hosts and a guide.

Hosts have two general responsibilities. They personally welcome new residents to their

“neighborhoods” (apartment buildings, Watertower Square, or Harwich Terrace patio homes). Later, the host schedules time with the new resident(s) for instruction about how things work—

trash, recycling, storage lockers, mail, sources of information, staff contacts, use of common areas,

etc. The hosts also make reservations for the new residents at the monthly “Neighborhood

Luncheons,” where multiple Mayflower neighborhoods gather for lunch and conversation.

Guides are tasked with the responsibility of explaining in detail how facets of Mayflower are accessed and used. This is accomplished with a thick three-ring binder full of Mayflower information, all the

way from resident contact information to how to access nursing services in the event of a health episode. In addition, the guides take the new residents on a tour of the entire Mayflower campus—

various neighborhoods, tunnels, skywalk, Health Center, Beebe Assisted Living, dining and meeting rooms, Obermiller Fitness Center, Mini-Gift Shop, Kiesel Theatre, administrative offices, MRA

conference room and work space, book and CD libraries, lounges, and gardens.

Speaking about all the volunteer roles played at Mayflower, President-Elect Wubbels shared his own personal story of commitment. He stated that during the first three years that his wife Joyce and he

lived at Mayflower, he had limited involvement in MRA activities. When asked if he would consider becoming the President-Elect, Gene said he reminisced about the 18 years his mother lived at

Mayflower and about all the people who enhanced her life while here. Gene said, “How could I not

take a role in this?” - Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director

IN MEMORIAM

Miriam Kaye Schultz

May 20, 1933 - November 17, 2019

Don Paul Beach

November 2, 1934 – December 2, 2019

Joe Derby Named Department Head

Mayflower Community Director of Facility Operations Jack Morrison

announced that Joe Derby has been named Technology and Risk Management

Department Head. Joe has been employed at Mayflower since 2010. He is a

licensed electrician.

In the new position, Joe’s duties will include development of budgets, provision

of computer hardware support, campus audio/visual and webinar activities

assistance, emergency preparedness planning and execution, safety compliance,

supervision of information technology contractors, and federal and state

regulation compliance throughout Mayflower.

Morrison says, “The increasingly complex nature of senior living and healthcare requires significant skills

and time in meeting regulation and compliance requirements, while staying current with information

technology software and hardware. Joe’s involvement will provide an experienced resource in dealing

with this environment.”

Joe will be based in Mayflower’s “Vosburg building,” 2nd Avenue and Park Street, and will report to

Jack Morrison.

- Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director

College Psychology Class Converses with

Mayflower Residents

Professor Ann Ellis, PhD brought 13 Grinnell College

students back to The Mayflower Community on

Monday, December 9th to again participate in small

group discussions with Mayflower residents. They

previously worked with residents last October.

As an assignment for Professor Ellis’ Adult

Development class, the students gathered information

about social and family changes in the lives of the

residents. Specifically, residents were asked how events

in their lives—marriage and partnerships, family,

friendships, parenthood, social events, and life

challenges—have influenced the course of their adult lives.

Professor Ellis, a Grinnell College faculty member since 1994, teaches classes on psychology and child

development in addition to supervising the operation of the Grinnell College Preschool Laboratory.

The event resulted in engrossing conversations…and the gist for papers the students will be writing.

One student shared that she will be exploring how adults adapt and adjust as they age. Professor Ellis

noted later that on the return bus trip to the College, the students talked enthusiastically about the

information they gleaned.

Grinnell College Students’ Spirituality

Project Presentation

Two Grinnell College students have been conducting

focus groups of residents on the Mayflower

Community campus. This is a follow-up project to a

wellness study performed during the spring semester

2019, both for the Advanced Anthropology class

taught by Professor Monty Roper.

The new results will be discussed in a drop-by poster presentation on Wednesday, December

18th from 2:00 to 4:00pm in the second-floor atrium (top of the stairs) at the JRC (Joseph

Rosenfield Center) on the College campus. This is the large building on the north side of 8th

Avenue between Park and East streets. In addition, the students will deliver a final copy of the

report to Steve Langerud, Mayflower’s Executive Director.

The goal of this study was to explore one of the original study’s initial findings that senior citizens

are desirous of exploring their spirituality in the later stages of life.

Ruby Romero is a third-year student from Los Angeles and Leo Ewing is a senior from Columbia,

Missouri. They conducted six focus groups of independent living and healthcare residents,

interviewing over 40 Mayflower residents. In addition, the students have interviewed over 20

nursing staff members.

- Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director

STILL NEED A SECRET SANTA GIFT?

The Mini-Gift Shop is a charitable operation of the Mayflower Residents Association that accepts donations and sells them for minimal prices with

the proceeds being contributed to the care of residents whose funds have been depleted. It is managed and staffed by Mayflower residents, about 40

different volunteers doing something in support. It is open six days a week, two hours a day at 9:30am on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and

Saturday and 2:00pm on Thursdays.

CHRISTMAS DINNER December 25, 2018 • 12:00 Noon

Ham

Roast Beef Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Scalloped Corn

Green Bean Casserole

Dinner Roll Fruit Compote

Cranberry Apple Salad

Cheesecake

Reservations are required by Sunday December 22 (noon). Cost: $12. Call Buckley kitchen or e-mail Scott: sgruhn@mayflowerhomes.com.

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL

Dec 17 - Alberta, Canada and 3 Islands in Hawaii

Dec 24 - Idaho, Chicago, Illinois, and The Alps

(Italy and Austria)

Dec 31 - New Zealand, Indiana, and Adams &

Clayton Counties (Iowa)

Are YOU in the Mayflower Directory?

As new residents are welcomed into Mayflower, one of the forms they are given is a consent

form for the on-line directory to be filled out and returned to Mayflower Facilities Assistant Rita

McVey. This form contains the information each new resident wants to have available to other

Mayflower residents on line. It also gives each person the option to have limited or no

information on the directory. Once the form is filled out, what happens next? Rita then creates

the on-line profile for the new resident if they have given consent, and uploads it on to the site.

Unfortunately, it often ends there and the new resident never gives it another thought. Because

the site is password protected, many new residents do not know how to access the site and

never even see it.

The team developing the on-line directory would like to help every member of the Mayflower

community develop a password and become familiar with the site. We also encourage all

residents who are listed on the site to place a short biography of themselves on their personal

page along with the information already listed there by Rita. To help with this, Karen Phillips will

hold several “Help Desk” sessions in the MRA Conference Room in Pearson beginning in January

2020. These are drop-in times when residents can learn more about the on-line directory,

actually see the directory on a laptop there, set a personal password, and learn about how to

write a biography that can be uploaded by the team members. You are encouraged to bring a

laptop or personal device with you to these sessions. However, if your computer is a table top

model, we can also help you in your apartment or home.

The Help Sessions are scheduled for Saturday January 4th 10 am, Thursday January 16th 10 am,

Tuesday January 28th 3pm, and Friday February 7th 3 pm. The sessions will last 2 hours or until

all the drop-ins have been helped. Questions? Please contact Karen Phillips at 236-8114.

Tekkie Tutors!

Grinnell College students are again volunteering their skills and time to Mayflower residents who

would like help with computers, cell phones and other electronic devices. They can provide help weekly or as needed only. This semester 3 come to Mayflower on Wednesdays between 4 and 5

pm. Others are available for other days and times.

Please contact Rey Evans (236-5503) to arrange a visit from one of our six student volunteers

this year.

NOROVIRUS: WHAT THE CDC WANTS YOU TO KNOW

The Mayflower Community recently experienced what’s commonly referred to as “the stomach

flu.” It’s actually not an influenza at all, but a highly contagious bug called norovirus.

For most people, norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting which lasts a few days but, the symptoms can be serious for some people, especially young children and older adults. Each year in the United States, norovirus causes 19 to 21 million illnesses and contributes to 56,000 to 71,000

hospitalizations and 570 to 800 deaths.

While there is hope for a norovirus vaccine in the future, there are steps you can take now to

prevent norovirus.

Additionally, norovirus is increasingly being recognized as a major cause of diarrheal disease around

the globe, accounting for nearly 20% of all diarrheal cases. In developing countries, it is associated

with approximately 50,000 to 100,000 child deaths every year. Because it is so infectious, hand washing and improvements in sanitation and hygiene can only go so far in preventing people from

getting infected and sick with norovirus.

This is why efforts to develop a vaccine are so

important and why in February 2015 the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation, CDC Foundation, and CDC

brought together norovirus experts from around the

world to discuss how to make the norovirus vaccine

a reality. Participants were from 17 countries on 6

continents and included

representatives from academia, industry, government, and private charitable foundations.

Important questions remain regarding how humans develop immunity to norovirus, how long

immunity lasts, and whether immunity to one norovirus strain protects against infection from other

strains. There are also relevant questions as to how a norovirus vaccine would be used to prevent

the most disease and protect those at highest risk for severe illness. These are all critical questions for a vaccine, and this meeting was a step toward finding answers to these questions and making a

norovirus vaccine a reality.

For more information on norovirus visit CDC’s webpage: http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/

The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons

As this historical novel begins, Elise Landau is a young, privileged Jewish teen

in Vienna in 1938. Her mother is an opera singer and her father a novelist. Although her parents are not ready to leave Austria, they fear for Elise’s safety and arrange for her to become a parlor maid in England. (The story is

based on the historical fact that young Jews could get work visas to come to England in the late 30s if they were willing to work as domestic servants.)

While her adjustment is traumatic, over time Elise learns to love the rural southern coast of England, and she makes friends with the son of the house

and several villagers of her own age. The book is set in a village clearly fashioned after the real English hamlet of Tyneham in Dorset, which was commandeered by the British government in

1943 for use by the military in preparation for D-Day. Sadly, the inhabitants have never been allowed to return. You can look up Tyneham, England in Google Maps and see the shells of

empty houses that still remain. In this book, the house and hamlet almost seem like another main character. For another good read, look for a second of Solomon’s books, The House of Gold,

among the new books in Pearson. - Katherine McClelland

Far From The Tree by Robin Benway

Far From the Tree is a believable, moving novel about three semi-siblings. Grace, adopted as an infant, gives her own baby up for adoption. Maya,

adopted a year before her parents realized they were going to have a ‘bio’ child, is gay. Joaquin lives with his foster parents—who badly want to adopt

him. Author Robin Benway describes what happens when these three young people discover they share a biological mother—and begin to share their

own lives with each other. - Betty Moffett

New Library Acquisitions:

The Body by Bill Bryson the Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris The New Iberian Blues by James Lee Burke The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes Next Year In Havana by Chanel Cleeton Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett A Bitter Feast, by Deboarah Crombie The 19th Christmas, by James Patterson The Guardians, by John Grisham Nanaville, by Anna Quindlen Unto Us A Son Is Born, by Donna Leon The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons The House of Gold, by Natasha Solomons Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again, by Elizabeth Strout

Journey to Munich, by Jacqueline Winspear In This Grave Hour, by Jacqueline Winspear To Die But Once, by Jacqueline Winspear The American Agent, by Jacqueline Winspear

On the Podium: The National Geography of Religion

KIESEL THEATER SATURDAY MATINEES

A Christmas Story • Rated PG – December 21 • 2:00pm

Based on the humorous writings of author Jean Shepherd, this

beloved holiday movie follows the wintry exploits of youngster

Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who spends most of his time

dodging a bully (Zack Ward) and dreaming of his ideal

Christmas gift, a "Red Ryder air rifle." Frequently at odds with

his cranky dad (Darren McGavin) but comforted by his doting

mother (Melinda Dillon), Ralphie struggles to make it to

Christmas Day with his glasses and his hopes intact.

First Man • Rated PG • December 28 • 2:00pm

Hoping to reach the moon by the end of the decade, NASA

plans a series of extremely dangerous, unprecedented missions

in the early 1960s. Engineer Neil Armstrong joins the space

program, spending years in training and risking his life during

test flights. On July 16, 1969, the nation and world watch in

wonder as Armstrong and fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and

Michael Collins embark on the historic Apollo 11 spaceflight.

CATCH A RIDE ON LESTER!

Grocery Shopping

December 18 – Sig Barber

DOCUMENTARY AND DISCUSSION

“MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE”

KIESEL THEATER

Third Thursdays 2:30 pm

Discussion Leader: Harley Henry

SEX TRAFFICKING IN AMERICA • December 19 PBS FRONTLINE: 60 Minutes with Subtitles

FRONTINE tells the unimaginable stories of young women coerced into prostitution

and follows one police unit combatting trafficking.

RISE OF THE SUPERSTORMS • January 16, 2020 PBS NOVA: 60 Minutes with Subtitles

In just one month, Houston, Florida, and the Caribbean were changed forever. In the

summer of 2017, three monster hurricanes swept in from the Atlantic one after

another, shattering storm records and killing hundreds of people.

BLUE GOLD: WORLD WATER WARS • February 20, 2020 PURPLE TURTLE FILMS & PBS : 90 Minutes (CC)

Wars of the future will be fought over water, as today they are over oil, as the source

of all life enters the global and political arena. [Winner: Best Ecological

Film, Toronto Film Festival]

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

1 Roger Long, Dona Emmert 19 Netia Worley

7 Mary Schuchmann 20 Gerald Adams

8 Gaye Van Hamme 21 Jenny Erickson

14 Dick Schild – 100 YEARS! 24 Betty Anne Francis

15 Joyce Hintermeister 29 Verlene Mitchell

17 Lorna Caulkins 30 Harold Kasimow

UPCOMING EVENTS

NEIGHBORHOOD LUNCH GROUPS

(Mondays at 12 noon in Buckley Dining Room)

December 9: Buckley 3rd, Pearson, Watertower 1st

December 16: Buckley 2nd floor, Watertower 2nd & 3rd floors, Harwich Terrace East

December 23: Altemeier, Harwich Terrace Southeast, & Harwich Terrace North

December 30: Buckley 1st, Harwich Terrace South, Edwards, Montgomery

Book Club: Friday December 20 at 1:00 in the Game Room Half-Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls. All are welcome!

Kiesel Theatre Documentary - Discussion Leader: Harley Henry

SEX TRAFFICKING IN AMERICA • December 19

FRONTINE tells the unimaginable stories of young women coerced into prostitution and

follows one police unit combatting trafficking.

WEEKLY ACTIVITIES Theraband Mon, Wed, Fri - 11am Beebe Activity Room Senior Strength Mon, Wed - 2:15pm Sports Center Women’s Table Tennis Monday - 4pm Table Tennis Center Walking Warriors Tues, Thurs 8:15am Buckley 2nd Floor Lounge Chair Yoga Tues, Thurs 11am Montgomery Lounge Game Night Wednesday - 6:30pm Anchor Room Koffee & Konversation Friday - 9:30am Buckley Dining Room Men’s Coffee Group Thursdays - 8:30am Buckley 3rd Floor Lounge Senior Strength Friday - 11am Sports Center

WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Sunday Worship Sunday - 10am Carman Center MRA Chapel Tuesday - 10am Carman Center

December 17- Father Ross Epping - St. Mary’s Catholic Church

Unitarian Service 2nd & 4th Sunday - 10:30am Montgomery Lounge Eucharist (BCP) 1st Sunday - 3pm Fireside Room

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO OUR WONDERFUL MAYFLOWER FAMILY AND FRIENDS!