​​Dedicated to the countless number of elders, families, friends, and neighbors near and far who have walked this journey with us over the past twenty years, from lovely Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and throughout our great state of New Mexico, from Ohio, and from the Netherlands, Britain, and Colombia,  who have entrusted us to walk through this forest with them. We have shared laughs, tears, stories, and great food in our lovely homes.

Sierra Vista Alzheimer’s Community was the first assisted living in the great state of New Mexico to be inducted into the Eden Alternative Registry. Eden Alternative is an international movement dedicated to truly changing the culture of how we care for our elders.  In essence, is the honor society for long-term care dedicated to transforming the culture of care; being a part of this registry makes a public statement about our commitment to the journey of change.

The newest team member of the Sierra Vista Family is James Pingel also known as Jim, or to our elders “that nice young man.”

Jim comes to us from a background that didn’t deal with health care but felt it was time for a change he said there was a calling to make a difference in the lives of those around him. That is exactly what he does he brings a smile to the faces of elders with his stories and songs and acting monologues.  He in no way is shy to doing what he needs to do to get an elder laughing and enjoying that moment of their day.

We talk a lot about the engagement of our Elders here at Sierra Vista and how important that they feel connected and while we did it well before Jim joined us, we do it even better now with his energy and we are grateful to the love and care that Jim gives when he for the 100th time answers the same question or is followed around from room to room as he busily tries to keep all elders at different stages in their disease active and engaged. So when you come by for a tour don’t be surprised if he pulls you into song or dance as you walk by that is just the fun-loving guy he is.

This month is National Glaucoma month and we are happy to offer a caregiver tip for those who are mildly or even severely visually impaired. Not only glaucoma can affect vision, but cataracts, head injuries and even age affect vision.   Our wonderful caregiver Ivonne understands that if her elder has Alzheimer's there is a possibility he or she may either refuse to wear their glasses, misplace his or her glasses, break his or her glasses, or perhaps glasses don't improve vision at all.  Through hard work and training Ivonne understands the concept of cognitive blindness as well.  Meaning, the elder has no physiological impairment but due to the dementia cannot "see" what we need them to see (speaking figuratively).  She will find projects for the elder that don't require reading rather, Ivonne will find projects where they can use other senses to feel like they're contributing to a project.  Folding, stuffing envelopes, or handing over a sheet of paper. 

Vista Hermosa celebrated the Holidays with respect for Santa Fe’s ancient Christian traditions including a live Nativity.  Yolanda our Director in training, brought her sons; Ivan and Ernesto who portrayed St. Joseph and one of the three kings or wise men.  Estefani our lovely caregiver’s children played Mary and a second king, while Laura’s son Joshua was the third king.  Bonfires lit the way as many invited guests gathered.  Our friend and neighbor Connie, a native of Picuris Pueblo, shared stories of growing up at Picuris with bonfires on Christmas Eve and was enamored that we would have roaring bonfires.  Our elders, their families and our wonderful Vista Hermosa friends and neighbors ate delicious traditional foods, listened to live music, danced and shared the special friendship of Christmas, Winter Solstice, Kwanza, and Hanukkah! Our beautiful antique menorah was lit each night for Hanukah, followed by delicious latkes.

It is the time of year to count the angels we all have in our lives and remember how much kindness there is out there.  It is a true blessing to be surrounded by the ladies in this picture.  The caregivers at Vista Hermosa are a special group of hardworking, creative, intelligent and exceptionally loving women.  Each one of them brings something special to the work they do every day. It can be too easy to see the darkness in this world and too easy to forget to be grateful for the angels in our midst. Our caregivers, elders, families and friends all give light and life to our small part of this world. Thank you. Muchas gracias.  Much love and many prayers to every one of you.

Alfred celebrated his 94 years young birthday with pizza, family, friends and dancing.  Alfred is always there to share a smile, dance to good music and make everyone feel welcome.  His daughters Dani and Tracy both inherited his warm personality and generous spirit, surprising our Vista Hermosa elders with pizzas and cake.  This was served with Hermosa’s homemade horchata.  Happy 94th Birthday, Alfred!

The annual ugly Christmas sweater party is a favorite at the Arbors!

Our youngest Elder at Sierra celebrates her 53 birthday with us. Here she is shown with her wonderful caring parents who came to celebrate this beautiful day with their daughter.

Each of our Elders come from such amazing backgrounds and each one has a story of what brought them to where they are today. Despite the tragedy many days here at Sierra are filled with laughter and enjoyment from so many simple pleasures of daily living. We are reminded daily not only how quickly life can change but also that in the important thing in life is not found in our wealth and accumulation of objects but rather it is the love and caring of those that surround you in times of sorrow and in times of joy that truly matters and brings us the greatest joy in life.

We also celebrated Ms. Lonnie’s 92nd Birthday this month. She was very surprised and so happy with her flowers and cake.

We just celebrated Dr. Raymond Willem’s 82nd birthday with  a beautiful cake made by his wife.

At Vista Living Care we celebrate life and pride ourselves in making each and every one of our elders feel special.

Vista Hermosa elders worked on beautiful handmade cards that were mailed to their children this past week. Irene, Lucy M and Lucy Romero, Joan and Virginia all created cards with handmade paper, drawings and origami paper. These cards are a creative way to express love, appreciation and connection. The process of picking color, texture and pattern becomes a conversation.
Our elders are also helping take this idea on the road for the Hospice Education Day on November 10th .

Vista hermosa will be sponsoring an open art workshop focused on cardmaking as communication and meditative journaling. We are thankful to Ambercare Hospice and coming Home connections for inviting us to bring our creative space to the day long education, comfort and support of our Santa Fe
community.

We welcome All our trick or treaters, children and grandchildren to visit Vista Hermosa on Halloween at 3:45pm after school to trick or treat.
Candy, Drinks and snacks will be served to all; Princesses, ghouls, superheroes and Goblins.

Please come in costume!

The “craft ladies” of the Arbors of Del Rey began coming approximately one year ago.  These ladies have or had a loved one at the Arbors and spend their Friday mornings with coffee and donuts, incorporating a seasonal craft which brings much excitement and enjoyment to each Elder and family member.  The group originally started with only about three ladies, and presently there are at least ten attending – most of them are family members.

The Arbors lights up with happiness, laughter, music and real entertainment with each piece of art created by the Elder.  The art work is displayed in the dining room, hallways and living area for visitors and family to marvel at. It is an event that is looked forward to each and every week by all of us here at the Arbors.
 
This beautiful piece of art created by our Elders, family members, and staff is currently being framed and will on exhibit on our art wall at the Arbors.

This group of singers have started coming to the Arbors quite frequently and FREE of charge to us!

Music is something that is so enjoyable to our Elders and staff. Their performances include popular music from many genres expanding eight decades of Life, Love, Friendship and Happiness. Popular music from pop/rock, jazz/swing, gospel, country, and Broadway and film.

Their performances are some upbeat foot-stomping, toe-tapping, hand-clapping songs, some beautiful ballads, and some fun and funky chart-topping Pop hits too.

We are so delighted to have found this group at a senior expo, and even more thrilled they perform right here at the Arbors and bring so much merriment to our Elders. This group of singers also perform through out the Las Cruces community and have an upcoming musical at the Atkinson Recital Hall on the campus of New Mexico State University.

Vista Living will be taking over the air waves on August 4th 2018 at 2:30 pm. Yolanda Arrey, MSW and Ruth Dennis MA were interviewed for the first in a series of discussions on aging, Alzheimer’s and healthy living. Our host is Jewel Cabeza de Vaca, producer of the Healthy Woman at KSFR 101.1 FM Santa Fe Public Radio.

In this initial show we discussed a wide range of issues related to Alzheimer’s and how to care for yourself while caring for someone you love. We will follow with discussions on specific topics that all of us who are young-at-heart face.

Vista Hermosa will keep you posted!

Vista Hermosa’s beautiful apricot tree is simply loaded with delicious apricots.  On Tuesday, Laura, our elders and caregivers harvested two large baskets of fruit.  Elders and caregivers then spent all afternoon in Vista Hermosa’s kitchen making jam and apricot cake from scratch.  The smell from the kitchen is simply irresistible.  The cake was delicioso in Robert’s words and all our Vista Hermosa family ate very well.

We harvested at just the right time.  Our much-anticipated kitchen remodeling adventure started promptly at 8 am last Wednesday.

Father’s Day is a time to remember how much all the men in our lives matter.  Our elders Robert Sandoval, Ron Coss and Alfred Lutz celebrated Father’s Day at Hermosa with flowers, homemade desserts and the loving company of family and friends.  These amazing guys make all our lives at Vista Hermosa better.  Robert brings music, candy, faith and family to our home.  Ron shares wonderful dining room table discussions and the addition of his big, beautiful family to our home.  Alfred is always there with a joke, a dance and an amazing smile to make the day bright.  We are also honored by the memory of all the men who we have had the honor of caring for.  Thank you.  And on this Father’s Day we can’t forget the skill, intelligence and support offered by Luke, Gary, Allen and our amazing volunteer Craig. Thank you.  You are all special.  Vista Hermosa also honors the gifts of all the husbands, brothers, sons and grandsons who make life better for all of us.   

The New Mexico State University Department of Special Education of Communication Disorders Masters of Speech Pathology student’s practicum hours are concentrated at the Arbors Dementia community in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  They participate twice per week, the entire semester encompassing the whole school year.

For the most part, eight to ten students participate per session for a period of at least two hours, engaging every single one of our Elders. The schedule for each day begins with the Pledge of Allegiance, impeccably recited by every Elder, students and staff. An amazing experience of memory windows from our Elders is observed by everyone.

After the opening of the sessions, the Elders work with orientation – date, time and season. Moving into simple ROM/Stretching exercises, songs, language activity, arts and crafts and sensory activities.  These multiple techniques are so important to the quality of life of our Elders by connecting both sides of the brain.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please be introduced to the “Real Cowboy” famous country and western singer and songwriter, who has traveled the world and entertained the masses with his incredible passionate guitar and voice.

Mr. Tom Morris attends all function in our beautiful city of Las Cruces, New Mexico and takes his music entertainment to multiple venues. We here at the Arbors are so grateful to have found this local gem who brings the beauty of music to our Elders who sign and tap their feet right along with him.

Thank You to; Carolyn and Ellen Benson for donating art books, photo books and a great selection of novels to our new library.  These gently loved books are a beautiful way to spend a lazy summer afternoon.

Thank You to ; Bettina Milliken and Santa Fe Clown Care Group for donating inspirational books but also for nearly 20 years of bringing laughter, music and joy to elders in the City Different!  You have touched the lives of so many and we at Vista Hermosa are proud of the work you do!

Thank You to; Margaret Harrach for donating an awesome selection of art books to our library.  Thank you for your support.

Thank You to; Velma Arellano and Deb Nachtrab for your design, décor and remodel skills.  The first stage of our project is a true success.  You Rock!