About The Event
The Deacons and the Adult Spiritual Growth Ministry are collaborating on a three-part series. Three professionals will help us understand the choices we have as we age. The workshops will be held on Sundays, March 1, 15, and 29, immediately following the worship service. A light lunch will be provided. The speakers we have lined up for this important topic are all from Forest Hill Church!
March 1 – Senior care, senior communities and skilled care facilities
A 50-year church member, Linn Obery, will be speaking on the topics of senior care, senior communities and skilled care facilities. In his 10-year career with A Place for Mom, a senior resource placement service, he has developed associations with ancillary services such as senior driving, downsizing, dementia assistance and other local resources. He has helped over 9000 families in the Northeast Ohio area. He will explain what to look for in choosing a new living arrangement and how to determine the best fit at a new place.
March 15 – End-of-life care organizing
Bill Finn will be offering his expertise as the President and CEO of Hospice of the Western Reserve since February 2011. Bill began his hospital and palliative care career in 1983 and has more than 4 decades of experience serving people with serious illness. He created Western Reserve Care Solutions (WRCS) and managed the integration of Hospice of Medina and Stein Hospice into WRCS. Bill also created Care Solutions Network, a 10-member organization supporting community-based, not for profit, hospice care across Ohio. He brings a wealth of knowledge about end-of-life care organizations. He will address how to talk with your loved ones about this difficult topic, how to organize important paperwork, how to make important decisions. He will bring packets of information on making decisions on end-of-life directives.
March 29 – Interactive workshop on aging, faith, grief, vocation, and purpose
Sally Wile will be presenting an interactive, faith-based workshop. We have been aging since birth and are loved by God at every stage of life. That includes the last stages! In the anti-aging society we live, the changes that old age brings can leave us feeling, at best, deficient, and at worst, alone. That isn’t fair or accurate. Despite natural losses and diminishments, our lives continue to have purpose. We are never too old to grow out of what doesn’t work for us anymore, or to grow into new understandings. Drawing on the wisdom of Joan Chittister, Richard Rohr, and Mary Morrison, and sharing the collective wisdom of those attending the class, we will talk about aging and faith, grief, vocation, and purpose. Sally Wile (with her husband Ed Gemerchak) has been a part of the FHC community since 2007. She’s a UCC minister who was called to hospice care, parish ministry, and hospital chaplaincy over the course of her career. Married at 37, and having birthed two sons as a “geriatric” patient at age 38 and 40, Sally seeks to embrace the challenges of “growing old” so as not to miss its blessings.
Please join us for any or all of these informative talks from experts in the field.
This is for people 45 years old and up to attend. The more you know, the more prepared you will be when it comes time for important decisions to be made either for yourself or for your loved ones. As Linn says, “The family is in a much better position being prepared-before a crisis.”
Location
Forest Hill Church
3031 Monticello Blvd
Cleveland Heights,
OH
44118
United States