Well, it’s that time of the year again. THE HOLLERAN SURVEY. Now that we are out of Covid, albeit a new strain to deal with, we are back to annually completing our Residents Holleran Survey. No doubt there is another article or two in this issue of the Sunburst on this subject, but I thought I would take a few minutes to look at it from strictly a residents’ perspective, as opposed to an administration perspective. First and foremost, let us complete the survey looking at it from a longer-term perspective, not what happened last night, or last week, at a restaurant or whether I had to wait too long to get my internet connection working again or whatever recently. Secondly, use it to ‘rate’ our own Charlestown administration, Don, Leslie, Jay, Gladstone, and OUR other directors, not ‘the home office’. As Don has recently told us, he has a lot more latitude to ‘do things’ than he first thought. So, let’s rate OUR guys, not THEM guys. Third, on the question dealing with ‘value for price paid’, it is all too easy to get caught up in the mindset of only looking at the tangible cost savings to be applied to ‘value’, things like mortgage, utilities, taxes, etc. I would urge us to really take a hard look at the intangibles. One of my big ones is socialization. It is a scientific fact that the greater the opportunity for us to socialize, the better our overall health becomes – physically, mentally, emotionally, and the like. This is truly a great benefit here at Charlestown. Other intangibles can include the feeling of a safe environment; close access to medical care both at our Med Center as well as being provided the vaccines we need; being fed regularly; just being “taken care of” by a caring and competent staff. All this is not to say that you should not add your comments, or verbatims, that may be critical, or positive, as well. Bottom line – Please complete the Survey!

Now, on to a bit of Residents’ Council business. The subject is SUSTAINABILITY. A group of dedicated residents is proposing that we organize three work groups to investigate what we, right here in Charlestown, can do as I would say “Do what WE can do to help save the earth from itself in the arena of its’ limited renewable resources”. During the month of September, our Dining, Grounds, Resident Life, Finance, and Legislative committees have been asked to provide representatives to help in this effort. The work groups will be led by a combination of residents and key staff with the very active involvement of our Executive Director (Don Grove), Associate Executive Director (Leslie Johnson), and Directors Jay Spivey and Gladstone James. Stay tuned for further updates as this effort proceeds.

And again, this month, I am asking you to JOIN US. Become a member of one, or more, of our committees, which are open to ALL residents. This is the place to share your concerns and/or plaudits with other residents and the staff liaisons that attend the monthly committee meetings. As I said at the September Residents’ Council meeting, the staff liaisons are there to listen to you and provide a response to your input. We, the Council, say that we are the VOICE OF THE RESIDENTS, but you can be your own voice there as well. Copies of our Residents’ Council brochure are available at the lobby front desks. This brochure explains the organization of the Council and includes a list of all our committees and their scheduled monthly meeting dates. A great starting point for YOU. Our theme this year is Partnership. So, join a committee and be our partner!!