Parker Health Group, Inc. employee, Candice Pietrzak, Talent Management & Organizational Development Specialist has been awarded the Excellence in Community Service Award from LeadingAge New Jersey. The award recognizes member achievements that contribute to neighboring communities by providing outstanding services, programs and opportunities for engagement. Pietrzak was nominated by the New Jersey Alliance for Culture Change (NJACC) for her 20 years in the aging services field. She was recognized for her work in bringing person-centered care to Parker and for becoming a role model for culture change in the field of aging services. Pietrzak has been part of NJACC since its inception and also serves as chair. Parker Life is at 1421 River Road in Piscataway. Visit www.parkerlife.org.
Parker Health Group, Inc. employee Candice Pietrzak, Talent Management & Organizational Development Specialist, has been awarded the Excellence in Community Service Award from LeadingAge New Jersey.
The award recognizes member achievements that contribute to neighboring communities by providing outstanding services, programs and opportunities for engagement. Pietrzak was nominated by the New Jersey Alliance for Culture Change (NJACC) for her twenty years in the aging services field. She was recognized for bringing person-centered care to Parker and for becoming a role model for culture change in the field of aging services.
By Jennifer Amato, Managing Director
centraljersey.com
On Feb. 10, 1905, Francis Eyre Parker, the eldest son of Thomas F. B. Parker, was laid to rest just two days after Thomas passed away.
Francis Parker, a lawyer from New York who lived in the New Brunswick area, had suffered two years from an illness that required constant care. He was fortunate enough to be able to afford round-the-clock care while being confined to his bed, according to Kearney Y. Kuhlthau. It was during that time that Parker sought a place for others who were suffering from surgeries, disabilities and incurable diseases, since he realized others couldn’t necessarily rest without being a burden to their families, he said.
Almost two years after his passing, his wife Henrietta Macauley Parker donated a portion of the land surrounding her family’s home of Rose Bank to build the Francis E. Parker Memorial Home, a place where “incurables” could receive 24-hour nursing care at a reasonable cost. The property at the corners of Easton Avenue and Landing Lane in New Brunswick is adjacent to Buccleuch Park.
After Francis Parker’s internment more than 100 years ago, a monument was placed at the Macauley plot in Elmwood Cemetery in North Brunswick.
The Roman-style stoa with her right hand outstretched has her finger pointing to heaven. In her left hand is a mariner’s cross, a symbol of hope. At her feet is an inscription of “Friend after friend departs” by James Montgomery. On the base of the statue, in lead on marble, are the names and dates of fellow departed family members.
On Sept. 21, the memorial was rededicated, as extensive efforts went into refurbishing the monument, which had fallen into disrepair over time.
“Thanks to you all, we restored a treasure,” said Eleanor Molloy, president of Elmwood Cemetery. “This magnificent statue is a message from our past.
“The visual character of Elmwood’s landscape is paramount to our mission … so for years it had been a dream of mine to preserve this beautiful work of art. … She is a beautiful reminder of hope and promise,” she said.
Joined by 18 members of the extended Parker family, Clifford Van Voorhees spoke of the task to connect and reconnect with his cousins in the project to restore their great grandparents’ burial site.
Francis and Henrietta had three daughters; Van Voorhees’ grandparents were Adelaide and Clifford. He said about three years ago, his cousin Patricia Schultz became distressed about the condition of the monument, so he corralled his cousins to support the mission morally and financially.
Since 2016, the female statue has been covered in lichens, her thumb and forefinger were broken, and some of the lettering was missing. Surrounded by a large eastern white pine, she was covered in pine and needles.
Marco Federico, senior conservator from Materials Conservation in Philadelphia, said the fine grained statuary marble was probably imported at the time, and thus required careful hand skills to carve in great detail.
He said the conservators had to erect scaffolding to clean the lichens, and upon noticing her broken hand, meticulously filled the cracks and installed a small stainless pin to resculpt the fingers. They made a template on site to trace the existing letters, and brought it to their studio in Philadelphia to hand cut the letters.
He said their mission was “to show honesty” in the restoration and “to respect the original fabric.”
“We tell the story of change over time,” Federico said. “We can be certain the monument will stand well into the future, a testament to the legacy of the Parker family.”
“It doesn’t change it, but it brings it back to really what it’s meant to be,” Van Voorhees said.
Schultz acknowledged the “quiet power of the dynasty” and said, “This has been such a wonderful opportunity to remember those who have gone before us.”
The Francis E. Parker Memorial Home group now includes Evergreen Way Memory Care Neighborhood in Piscataway, Parker at Stonegate assisted living residence in Highland Park, Parker at River Road nursing care residence in Piscataway, Parker at Monroe nursing care residence in Monroe, Parker at Landing Lane nursing care residence in New Brunswick, and Parker at Somerset post-acute rehabilitation and nursing care residence in Somerset.
“We strive every day to follow in the footsteps of these remarkable trailblazers,” said Roberto Muñiz, president and CEO of Parker Health Group.
Serving around 1,000 people a day through all its facilities and services, Parker Life finds ways to make aging manageable and relatable, Muñiz said.
He said Parker at Stonegate received the gold award for quality, only one of three longterm care facilities in the United States to do so.
“We make aging a part of life,” Muñiz said. “Every day we help those we care for, as well as our staff, enjoy life,” he said.
“I know my great grandparents would be incredibly proud … of preserving and expanding their missions,” Van Voorhees said.
After Margaret Fourounjian, director of marketing for Parker, unveiled a bench in honor of the rededication, Muñiz said, “I hope this serves as a place of rest and relaxation for all who visit the site.”
For more information, visit parkerlife.org or theelmwoodcemetery.org.
Contact Jennifer Amato at jamato@newspapermediagroup.com.
By Danielle Woodruffe
Parker at Somerset, our post-acute rehabilitation and nursing home, is about to undergo a makeover that has been years in the making. We're excited to announce that we recently broke ground on what will be a remarkable home for our long-term care residents, a state of the arts post-acute care center, an additional Adult Day services program and a greater work environment for our employees to work and provide the best possible care to those we serve.
The new Parker at Somerset will be a model for Parker and others in aging services with a more spacious environment and opportunities for varied support services and hospitality. The existing building will be fully renovated to promote more space for residents to live and staff to perform their tasks. There will be new common areas including a cafe, lounges, multi-purpose rooms for residents and visitors to enjoy, an education suite, and administrative spaces. Similar to our Parker at Monroe home, each 16-room neighborhood will have its own dining area. For more direct access to nature, we are adding two additional patios for a total of three. On top of all this, there will be a new rehabilitation center with state-of-the-art equipment. We are especially excited for the hydrotherapy pool, which is the first of its kind at Parker.
The library has a goal of creating and donating at least 20 quilts/muffs to residents in Monroe. The program is open to ages 12 and up.
People living with dementia often fiddle with objects like buttons. The quilts help evoke memories for some people.
Some are designed as a knitted tube, more of a muff than mittens, they are decorated with odds and ends like buttons, bells and ribbons. The idea is for the wearer to have something with which to fidget.
The library will donate the finished quilts and twiddle muffs to the Parker Adult Day Center in Monroe.
This past weekend more than a dozen members of a historic family traveled to NJ to honor their late ancestors. Henrietta and Francis Parker were pioneers in long-term care, opening Parker at Landing Lane in New Brunswick more than a 112 years ago.
Parker at Stonegate, an assisted living community in Highland Park, has earned a 2019 Gold – Excellence in Quality Award by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) for superior performance in the long term and post-acute care profession, according to a release. The award is the final of three distinct levels possible through the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program, which recognizes nursing home and assisted living organizations nationally that serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality care, the release said. Parker at Stonegate was one of five assisted living communities and nursing homes nationwide to receive the 2019 Gold – Excellence in Quality Award. This is the second year since the program’s inception in 1996 that assisted living communities have achieved Gold. In 22 years, AHCA/NCAL has recognized only 38 organizations—excluding this year’s recipients—with awards at the Gold level. For a full list of recipients, visit AHCA/NCAL’s Quality Award website www.ahcancal.org.
This past weekend more than a dozen members of a historic family traveled to NJ to honor their late ancestors. Henrietta and Francis Parker were pioneers in long-term care, opening Parker at Landing Lane in New Brunswick more than a 112 years ago.
Assisted living community among one of five in the country to earn long-term care's highest honor
Highland Park-based Parker at Stonegate has earned a 2019 Gold – Excellence in Quality Award by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) for superior performance in the long term and post-acute care profession.
The award is the final of three distinct levels possible through the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program, which recognizes nursing home and assisted living organizations nationally that serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality care.
Elmwood Cemetery will hold a rededication and ribbon cutting ceremony at the Parker Family Monument at 10 a.m. on Sept. 21 at the cemetery, 425 Georges Road, North Brunswick.
The Parker family founded Parker Home. The family, Parker Home staff and board members will be at the ribbon cutting as well as Marco Federico from Materials Conservation, the conservators of the monument.
The monument is significant statuary.
For more information, visit www.theelmwoodcemetery.com.