Gathered in the entrance of the Brookwood Gardens building, residents, family members and stakeholders celebrated together this day invoking God’s blessings and protections upon the United States and its citizens. After opening the event with the national anthem, Chaplain Eddie Santana, Director of Spirituality at Brookwood gave the invocation followed by an introduction of the days activities. Kesler Thelemaque, administrator of the facility, read the presidential proclamation officially recognizing May 2, 2013, as The National Day of Prayer.

Students from St. John Episcopal School joined the Brookwood Gardens family, as they sang hymns of praises and blessing. Stakeholders and residents were later invited to present prayers of petitions for the nation which were later tied to a balloon and was freed into the air as a sign of their prayers being lifted up to the Lord.

Two special students from a Christian Martial Art school attended the event where they preformed martial art exercises with patriotic hymns as their musical and artistic martial art steps.

The event was a total success as all participating the festivities ended the activity praying psalm 85.6 , Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?

Well Rejoice the Brookwood Family did as they thanked the good Lord for this country. May God Bless The United States of America!

Eddie Santana, J.C.D., M.A., M.Div.
Director of Spirituality
Signature HealthCARE of Brookwood Gardens

A great example of this importance was manifested in Signature HealthCARE of Brookwood Garden’s first annual NATIONAL HAITIAN FLAG DAY ceremony. Recognizing that a large group of it’s C N A’s and nurses, including the facility’s Administrator and DON are natives of the HAITI nation, this strong and active community within the facility, organized its very first National Flag Day celebration in honor of Haiti’s 210th celebration of the creation of its flag celebrated every 18th of May.

As described in an article by maps of the world.com., “the colors of the Haitian flag reflect Haiti’s status as a former French colony, using the red and blue from the French flag. The story behind this resemblance is that the revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the flag from the French flag, removing the white center and rotating the stripes, the blue and red left to represent Haitians, symbolically removing any remnants of white influence. The blue represented the former slaves and the red represented the mulatto population, who are people of mixed black and white ancestry.”

The flag first came into use in 1806, and was made official by the national constitution on February 25, 2012.

In a spirit of unity and festivity, filled with music, dancing and typical nationalize Haitian food, the Haitian Stakeholders of Brookwood Gardens put on a show and party worthy of their nations love and pride for their flag and what it represents. As chaplain Eddie, the facility’s, Director of Spirituality summarized it, “This celebration and festival has been long in coming. Brookwood Garden’s Haitian Stakeholders are hard workers and this type of family oriented festivities will not only help them realize the love and importance their culture represent here at Brookwood, but will also help raise their morale and commitment in their unconditional service and care to our residents.”

L’Union Fait La Force,” which means “Unity is Strength” is the motto that is written in the Haitian flag. There is no doubt that this first national Haitian Flag day ceremony at Brookwood Gardens, will strengthen the unity among all of its Haitian Stakeholders and their fellow co-worker and team members as well; Unity is Strength!

Eddie Santana, J.C.D., M.A., M.Div.
Director of Spirituality
Signature HealthCARE of Brookwood Gardens

Someone once said, ‘nursing is not just an art, it has a heart, and nursing is not just a science, it has a conSCIENCE.’ This all too evident when one gets to meet the great team of nurses who care and serve the residents at Signature HealthCARE Brookwood Gardens in Homestead, Florida.

As a tribute to their loving care and dedication, Brookwood honored these inspirational men and women by celebrating each day of National Nurses’ Week with morning breakfasts, afternoons lunches and evenings gifted with special dinners. But to top the week off, the staff at Brookwood Gardens also challenged the nurses by hosting a ‘Best Dressed Uniform Nurse Pageant.’

As nurses walked the runways showing off their many nursing ‘talents,’ pageant judge Chaplain Eddie Santana had no other choice but to pick among the many gifted servants, Ms. Nadeline Fung-A-Fat, unit manager for the east station at Brookwood Gardens.

Jumping up and down as if she won the Readers Digest Publishing House award, Nurse Nadeline thanked the audience for helping to choose her, despite the fact that she warned the chaplain, ‘it better be me!’ The event was a fun and happy celebration for all participants. The winner received a $50 award, but as Chaplain Eddie expressed, ‘The service these nurses provide, in reality, has no price.’

As Maya Angelou so wisely put it: ‘As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, the mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.’

Brookwood Gardens knows and recognizes the work their nurses do in making its residents feel loved, welcome and cared for. This week’s celebration was only a symbolic token of the facility’s appreciation in letting its nurses know it will never forget their name or their service!

– Eddie Santana, Chaplain and Director of Spirituality, SHC of Brookwood Gardens

]]> http://shcofbrookwoodgardens.com/2013/05/13/shc-of-brookwood-gardens-celebrate-national-nurses-week-with-best-dressed-nurse-pageant/feed/ 0 http://shcofbrookwoodgardens.com/2013/05/02/brookwood-gardens-celebrates-national-day-of-prayer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=brookwood-gardens-celebrates-national-day-of-prayer http://shcofbrookwoodgardens.com/2013/05/02/brookwood-gardens-celebrates-national-day-of-prayer/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 19:57:32 +0000 Ben Adkins http://brookwood.sigltc.com/?p=610

Following this year’s theme proposed by the organizing committee for the National Day of Prayer, SHC of Brookwood Gardens, in Homestead, Fla., joined Signature HealthCARE facilities across the nation in ‘Praying for America.’

Gathered in the entrance of the building, residents, family members and stakeholders celebrated together this day invoking God’s blessings and protections upon the United States and its citizens. The event opened with the singing of the National Anthem. Brookwood Chaplain and Spirituality Director Eddie Santana then gave the invocation, followed by an introduction of the day’s activities. Facility Administrator Kesler Thelemaque read the presidential proclamation officially recognizing May 2, 2013, as The National Day of Prayer.

Students from St. John Episcopal School  joined the Brookwood Gardens family, as they sang hymns of praises and blessing. Stakeholders and residents were later invited to present prayers of petitions for the nation, which were later tied to balloons and freed into the air as signs of their prayers being lifted up to the Lord.

Two special students from a Christian Martial Arts school attended the event where they preformed martial art exercises with patriotic hymns as their musical and artistic martial art steps.

The event was a total success as all participating in the festivities ended the activity praying Psalm 85:6, ‘Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?’

Rejoice the Brookwood Family did as they thanked the good Lord for this country. May God bless the United States of America!

– Eddie Santana, Director of Spirituality

Where could one get this highly sought after medicine and prescription? It was located in what is being found in all the promoting stations sponsored by the Department of Spirituality during these facility wellness fair, in a box called the Laughing Box. As participants walked into the fair one of the first table they encountered was the table sponsored by the Chaplain,( in this case Chaplain Eddie Santana of Brookwood), with the information describing what the Department of Spirituality at the facility offers its residents, stakeholders and family members and guests. In hopes of lifting the spirits of those who walked into the fair a box filled with comical disguises and pranks were offered. The participants would pull out an item and either played or disguised themselves with whatever they pulled out. The looks on their faces as well as those who saw them brought much needed tears of laughter’s into their souls. “What better way to relieve stressed” commented one of the participants.

The Brookwood Gardens Wellness fair, sponsored by many of the local health and wellness agencies around the area, was a total success thanks to the united efforts of the Brookwood Gardens HR office, Spirituality Department, Dietary and Activities team.

Quoting Mark Twain, Chaplain Eddie affirmed that “the human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter!”

Eddie Santana, Director of Spirituality
Signature HealthCARE of Brookwood Gardens

To read the newspaper article, visit the newspaper’s website. For WSMV coverage, see below.

WSMV Channel 4

At Signature HealthCARE, we understand, and are here to help guide you through this process. Many of our top executives have also been our customers, including President and C.E.O. Joe Steier.

In this video you will hear our executives reflect on their experiences as customers, and we will help you understand what to expect when a loved one makes this transition.

The Signature Service Corps is a grassroots service organization designed to help those fellow stakeholders or people in our communities in need, offering services of fellowship and support including volunteering or donating time, leading an emergency relief initiative, preparing meals for the hungry, visiting stakeholders or their family members in the hospital, circulating sympathy cards for those in need of loving encouragement, as well as many other kinds of active help wherever it is most needed.

Vision:
To elevate the quality of life of our residents, their families and our dedicated stakeholders through a community partnership and a spirit of service.

Mission:
The Signature Service Corps will revolutionize the long term care industry through recruitment, retention and recognition of volunteers in order to enhance the quality of life of our residents, their families, our stakeholders and our community.

If you would like to volunteer or learn more, please contact us by sending an email to volunteer@signaturehealthcarellc.com, and we will connect you with volunteer opportunities in your community.

Left-click to view, right-click to download:
SHC Volunteer Application 2011

“But I don’t know what to do…”
It doesn’t require any special skills or talents to be a volunteer. All it takes is a little time and a desire to help. Here is a list of just some of the volunteer opportunities at Signature HealthCARE:

• Open front door
• Play checkers with residents
• One-to-one visitation
• Take residents for wheelchair rides
• Magazine cart
• Correspondence—cards & letters
• Filling up bird feeders
• Lead supplemental art class
• Lead supplemental crafts class
• Employee birthday and anniversary cards
• Manicure services
• Help with Blue Belle Society
• Help with Men’s groups
• Arrange flowers donated by funeral homes
• Pick up funeral flowers
• Deliver newspapers