50+ Lifestyles

Ridgecrest Village = FUN & LOVE

By Mary Huebbe
Marketing Director at Ridgecrest Village

So many times our article is about the beautiful 22 acres of land we are nestled in, or that we have continuum of care (from Independent to end of life), or the benefits of our Lifecare program. This time is going to be a little different. I want to highlight the “life” we have at Ridgecrest, as well as the community support we give outside of Ridgecrest.

Inside the facility, our community “living” is something we pride ourselves on. Our residents enjoy so many activities and are never bored. We do have the typical entertainment such as music, cards, bingo, and movies, but we also have more… They have many fun get-togethers; doing silly things like blowing bubbles outside to see if they freeze or cups of ice to see if it turns to snow before it lands, happy hours, travel logs and so many more things. A bunch of our ladies got together this week and decided to let loose; they put different colored streaks in their hair to change things up a bit. We decided to call them the “Ridgecrest Streakers.” Last week we made 3D snow faces, snow angels and a couple of guys made me a snowman on the upper outside patio (they are quite talented if you ask me). We also tried to have a sled race, but it got too cold. No worries, though, it’s still in the plan.  Marcie, who lives in one of our cottages, challenged our Executive Director, Cris, and she never turns down a challenge! So keep an eye on our Facebook page or Instagram to see what happens in the future.  Jay Kidwell (From KWQC- TV-6) might even show up and do the challenge with them!

In the summer time we had a big July party, and several of our Residents decided it would be fun to go into the dunk tank.   One of our residents wore a bikini (it was painted on a t-shirt, but it was a bikini).  Barb, another resident here at Ridgecrest, thought it would be fun to do a marathon like the Bix does. We set that up and had sign up sheets to see how many people would be interested. I was amazed that we had well over 40 residents that “ran” our Merry-a-thon. We started at the end of our drive on Northwest Blvd. and finished at the opposite end.  We had antique cars and our activity director lead the event on her motorcycle.  One of our residents felt they were moving too slow and she was trying to pass them. It was a lot of fun, and I truly enjoyed seeing all their spirit as well, as all the rest of the residents, staff and their families that sat on the sideline watching it.

Many of our activities are resident encouraged. If there is a place our residents want to go to (as long as 5 people want to do it) Marlene will set it up as an activity. We really want our Residents to have the best of the best; that’s what we pride ourselves on!

Marlene, our Independent Activity Director, tries to make all the events fun.  At one of the exercise program,s they decided to have a jousting competition. I think Sue won! Although we have many scheduled activities, I personally feel the ones that are spur of the moment always turn out best.

One of my favorite activities that happen at Ridgecrest is our monthly sing-a-long.  Shirley and Milo, who live in our Assisted Living, along with Shirley’s daughter, bring in quite the crowd.  They have the piano playing, a mandolin accompanying, and residents from all levels of care join in.  They just have a lot of fun; sometimes there’s dancing, and there is always a lot of laughing.  I see the true joy of our community in that one event.

Outside our community we do many things as well.   Instead of Birthday cards for each other (which ultimately become trash) we donate money in honor of our birthday person.  Last month we donated over $512.00 to the food bank! This month we are helping Harrison elementary purchase books.  We do donations to the friendly house at Christmas time, make blankets for the greyhounds, and donate to habitat for humanity.

One of the biggest outreaches in our community is housing Honor Flight of the Quad Cities.  Honor Flight is celebrating their 10th anniversary and 50th flight this year and their hub has been in Ridgecrest Village the entire time.  We are excited to be the host of this flight.  I was blessed to be able to be a guardian on a couple of the flights.  It is an amazing experience for our veterans to be able to travel to Washington D.C. for the day so they can see their memorials and be honored for everything they did for our County… at no cost.  No words can describe it.

At Ridgecrest Village, we pride ourselves on our Christian values.  That means we treat life as a gift and try to enjoy every moment of it, but it also means we believe in the dignity of the human person and strive to love each other.  It’s nice to see when someone new moves in they immediately feel welcomed.  When they go to the dining room, people ask if they would like to join them at their table, or if they are already sitting they will ask if they can join the newcomers.  Our residents are very welcoming in so many ways.   They are always willing to show people around and help them find the different activities that are going on.

Because we are a continuum of care facility we are able to watch that love grow.  When someone falls and becomes injured their friends show them support.  They visit them at the hospital, then, when they return to our facility for therapy, they visit them in our health center, giving them support and encouragement to help rebuild their strength.  Not just an injury though; I also watch as our Independent residents need higher levels of care and move to our Assisted living or Health Center, their friends go there to visit or sign them out and take them to their apartment or an activity. No matter what stages they transition to they still have the love and support of their friends here at Ridgecrest.  They never have to deal with isolation, and weather doesn’t prevent them from having their friends visit.   

I know I said I wouldn’t mention our Lifecare program but I do need to state one thing… with the Lifecare program, you never have to worry about running out of funds and having to move Once you are a resident of Ridgecrest Village you will always be a resident of Ridgecrest.  I feel that is a very important part about us because you can be comfortable not worrying about what your future might hold, you’ve alreRidgecrest Village = FUN & LOVE

At Ridgecrest Village we pride ourselves on our Christian values. That means we treat life as a gift and try to enjoy every moment of it, but it also means we believe in the dignity of the human person and strive to love each other. It’s nice to see when someone new moves in they immediately feel welcomed. When they go to the dining room, people ask if they would like to join them at their table, or if they are already sitting they will ask if they can join the newcomers. Our residents are very welcoming in so many ways. They are always willing to show people around and help them find the different activities that are going on.

Because we are a continuum of care facility we are able to watch that love grow. When someone falls and becomes injured their friends show them support. They visit them at the hospital, then, when they return to our facility for therapy, they visit them in our health center, giving them support and encouragement to help rebuild their strength. Not just an injury though; I also watch as our Independent residents need higher levels of care and move to our Assisted living or Heath Center, their friends go there to visit or sign them out and take them to their apartment or an activity. No matter what stages they transition to they still have the love and support of their friends here at Ridgecrest. They never have to deal with isolation, and weather doesn’t prevent them from having their friends visit.

I know I said I wouldn’t mention our Lifecare program but I do need to state one thing… with the Lifecare program you never have to worry about running out of funds and having to move Once you are a resident of Ridgecrest Village you will always be a resident of Ridgecrest. I feel that is a very important part about us because you can be comfortable not worrying about what your future might hold, you’ve already made that decision and you can now live stress-free!

I’ve talked a lot about our residents, but another important factor about Ridgecrest is our staff. We have several staff members that have been here for over twenty years. Four years after Kim started at Ridgecrest (twenty-nine years ago) in our dining services they did an article (see the article on the right). She felt working here was like having a second family, and that the residents were friendly and interested in her as a person. Today our staff still feels the same way. Our residents make this a very happy place to work and happy workers help make happy residents.

If you want your golden years to truly be your best years give Mary or Karen a call at 563-391-3430 and set up your free lunch tour today. Anyone who has moved into Ridgecrest Village has told me they wished they “did it sooner.” Come see for yourself; I’d love to hear you say the same thing to me.

Mary Huebbe is Marketing Director and Karen McCoy is Marketing Consultant for Ridgecrest Village in Davenport, Iowa. For more information about Ridgecrest Village, contact Mary or Karen at (563) 391-3430.