Our Donors and the Difference They Have Made

Click on any of the following links to view donor stories we’ve collected that provide a sense of how donor contributions to everyday LIFE, a service of Presbyterian Senior Living, can impact our residents’ daily lives.

In less than a month of operation, everyday LIFE has impacted the life of a least one family in an amazing way.

The everyday LIFE program has been a godsend for me and for my husband Wilbur.  This is not a cliché; this is reality.

In 2000, at age 68, Wilbur was diagnosed with vascular dementia.  I’m ten years younger than he is, and caring for him is the first thing in my life.  I knew the only way we could stay together and not have him go into a nursing home was to sell our house and get an apartment.  So we moved, and here we are – a good place.  I believe, truly, that God is planning our lives.  As the stress of caring for Wilbur 24/7 was beginning to take a toll on my health (I’m a cancer survivor), the everyday LIFE program opened right next door!  It was an answer to prayer.

It’s a wonderful, wonderful program we’ve been blessed with.  It is homey, comfortable, and warm.  Wilbur attends three days a week from 10am to 2pm.  By 9:20am, he’s ready to go – he’s anxious to get there because he just loves it!  I feel the staff genuinely caring for him and for me.  One day Wilbur came home and told me he’s learning to play Wii “just like Jake” (our grandson).  Then, the physical therapist has him walking distances again – even though he’s only been in the program less than a month!  Wilbur is diabetic, so the dietician has been coming to our apartment each week to teach me menu planning.  I’m learning how to get him healthier, as well as myself.  No way is this a “daycare program” – I call it a wellness program.  It’s working for both of us.

Wilbur has always been a happy person.  Now he’s a more relaxed person and a stronger, more active one.  I think, “maybe he will never need a nursing home.”

When I first heard about the everyday LIFE program I thought, wow, this sounds too good to be true.  (When they say something is too good to be true it usually is.)  But this is truly a wonderful program.  When more people come, it will be even better.

This is a ministry, that’s exactly what it is.  I can’t thank Presbyterian Senior Living enough for starting it.

Beverly Westwood
Bethlehem, Pa.
June 30, 2009