North Shore Living July/August 2024 Newsletter
By: JEAN MARIE MODL
Hello! My name is Jean Marie Modl and I am the new Activities Director for North Shore Health. I have lived in Grand Marais for 34 years and it has been a great place to call home.
Since retiring from newspaper work about a year ago, I have worked at North Shore Health on the housekeeping crew. If you would like to work with a great group of people and get paid to exercise, I would recommend that you consider joining the crew. For me, it was a wonderful way to make new friends and to get to know North Shore Health staff and residents.
For Activities, as we honor the long tradition of BINGO games and Friday Happy Hours, we will also be trying some new activities. I am an artist, musician, and writer, so we will explore creative ways to express our selves. We will also try to use the family kitchens more of ten for baking and cooking projects. As we grow older, we tend to focus on what we can’t do rather than on what is still possible. Here at North Shore Living (the care center), we are going to have some fun exploring what is still possible.
Here is what has been happening at North Shore Living:
With American flags everywhere, festive table cloths and napkins, we celebrated the Fourth of July with a picnic lunch, some grilling, and watermelon all around. Some of us celebrated out doors on the patio, in-between the summer day’s scattered showers.
Fisherman’s Picnic Parade watchers cheered for the North Shore Health bicycle built-for-two: Corey was in the driver’s seat and Anita was riding in the passenger seat. They had a lot of fun. The official name of the bike is the lyrical “Wheelchair Bike Duet.” The Cook County ambulance crew, Ben and Nate, with Char in the passenger seat, also enjoyed the parade. They tossed candy and treats to the happy crowds. Back at the care center, we enjoyed some of volunteer Barb Wright’s delicious home baked cookies and watched the parade on the Grand Marais harbor live webcam. This camera gives you a birds-eye view of the town and rotates every few minutes around the harbor. You can find it at the Visit Cook County web site.
Other volunteers, Diane Nowers and Beth Blank, make sure that there are bouquets of fresh flowers for everyone to enjoy at North Shore Living. They gather traditional cut flowers and interesting native plants, then create beautiful combinations to share with us each week.
Some new raised-bed gardens were planted this year for the personal enjoyment of the residents. The beds are a riot of color right now with so many flowers: phlox, marigolds, geraniums, sages, and others. And when the garden was planted, Lisa tucked in some vegetables too. Squash vines cascade from the boxes with bright yellow fruit and bold red cherry tomatoes peek out from the flower blossoms. Residents can visit these gardens and see these gardens from their rooms.
The courtyard Serenity Garden has been very beautiful this year. Volunteer Doug Sanders has been keeping the garden watered and has shared some photos with us. A group of volunteers help tend the garden. As the season unfolds, new flowers, shrubs, and trees greet us with delightful colors and smells. Flowers open up, drop their petals, and form fruit and seed. Fall colors are beginning to show. It is hard to believe, but the plants know it is time to get ready for winter.
North Shore Health and North Shore Living have hosted two busy student interns this summer, Ben Obinger and Bear Foster. For the Activities program, Ben and Bear researched music from the 1950s and explored the best technology choices for sharing the music at the care center. They also took the time to interview two elders. I will share excerpts from their interviews in next month’s newsletter. Those of us who are older can look back through decades of person al and historical memory; there are lessons to share.
We are recruiting staff to join the Activities team; you could become a half time staff person, a casual staff person, or a volunteer. We play games, do art and craft projects, bake and cook, read stories, organize events, and try to connect with residents in a way that is personal and fun. Visit the North Shore Health website for more information or call Jean Marie at 218-387-3518, Extension 518.
We are looking for new Christmas decorations for the North Shore Living’s holiday collection. We seem to have enough large artificial trees but we could use ornaments and other decorations throughout the care center. Religious decorations like a manger scene or angels are fine; non-religious decorations are great too. Call Jean Marie at 218- 387-3518, Extension 518, if you have some nice decorations that are looking for a new home. Thank you.
Surprise yourself today; try something new.