Full Circle
Circle Center's E-Newsletter
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"Keep your face always toward
the sunshine, and the shadows
will fall behind you."
-Walt Whitman
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While May saw us celebrating our milestone 45th Anniversary, this June also represents an anniversary, that while not quite as monumental in size, is just as poignant. June 22 served as the Anniversary of one year of service since we re-opened in the midst of a global Pandemic.
The uncertainty and challenges of serving during the pandemic were unlike anything we ever thought we'd experience and we are beyond grateful to celebrate this achievement. We adjusted and modified nearly every element of our services, practices, work and life. Yet we maintained the health and safety of our participants, families and staff as our number one priority, and never wavered from our dedication of providing the best service.
Thank you to all of you for playing a pivotal rule in our ability to remain open. Your trust in us, your support, and your commitment to our policies and procedures made all the difference.
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When we temporarily suspended services in March 2020 in the face of the pandemic, we knew it was always with the goal to re-open as soon and as safely as possible. We modified our program and put safety measures into effect and opened our doors again on June 22, 2020. Reaching a year of service in a pandemic was no small feat, and we did it with the support of our families, our participants, our supporters, friends, and the incredible efforts of our staff and board.
As we reflect on this past year, and as we have steadily increased our daily census from 12 to today's 35 on-site, we remain incredibly proud of all of our efforts, as difficult as many of them were, that allowed us to be celebrating one year of service.
We also look forward to the future. We are so appreciative of the efforts of our staff, and our friends at Bremo Pharmacy, who continue to ensure that vaccinations are available, and we work with our partners and our community leaders to ease restrictions as we enter into the next phase. We will continue to focus on the health and safety of our participants, so we will keep in place certain measures while we slowly allow a sense of normalcy to return to our day to day operations.
We are thrilled as we slowly welcome back volunteers! While our volunteer program is not fully up and running, and we will continue to uphold recommended CDC guidelines, we are beyond happy to see some of the familiar faces we have missed. We will continue to practice temperature checks for all staff, participants and volunteers who enter on-site, we will continue to maintain the 6 foot distancing protocol, and staff and volunteers will wear masks while in program areas.
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Take a Virtual Tour of Circle Center! |
The true magic of Circle Center often needs to be seen, felt and heard, so we are thrilled to finally have a virtual tour that can help prospective families learn a little more about us.
Check out our virtual tour and please share with anyone who might want to learn more about Circle Center!
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Thank you to everyone who appeared in this video and a huge Thank You to Michael Snell of Dominion Vistas, who shared his time and talent pro-bono with us to produce this video.
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We have welcomed new students on-site for their Recreational Therapy rotation. Staff and participants alike love having students join us. The students receive hands-on experience, our participants enjoy new friends and our staff love the extra help and the opportunity to share what makes what we do so special.
Welcome to Sam from Longwood University, Lauren from UNC Wilmington, and Caroline from Virginia Wesleyan who will be with us through the summer!
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and Welcome Back, Lauren!
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We are also thrilled to be welcoming back another familiar face, Lauren Glaser! Lauren was a Recreational Therapist and Memory Lane Program Manager with us from 2011 - 2013, and when she left to focus on the real estate company she and her husband founded, The Glaser Group, she still stayed involved. She was a front desk volunteer for many years, always jumped in to help when staff were away, and most recently she served as a super member of our 45th Anniversary Committee (in fact you may recognize her from our BINGO night)! Lauren will be joining us 2 days a week as a Recreational Therapist and we are all happy to have her back! |
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We were so excited to welcome a volunteer group back to Circle Center! A volunteer group from Genworth came on a recent Saturday to spruce up our outdoor areas. They weeded, potted plants, cleaned up and added some new festive touches, like painted birdhouses and planters, for our participants to enjoy! We are so excited to enjoy our refreshed and updated outdoor spaces! |
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Dr. Thelma Bland Watson was a true visionary and inspiration. She was a tireless advocate for aging adults and made a huge and lasting impact on our community through her work with Senior Connections. She was a dear friend and advocate for Circle Center and while we mourn her loss, we celebrate her countless contributions, her unwavering dedication, her unmatched compassion and her incredible legacy.
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