Louis J. Prues of Grosse Pointe, director of strategic planning and business development at Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, has been named by Governor Rick Snyder to the Michigan Board of Medicine as a representative of the general public. He will take the oath of office January 25. Board members serve for eight years.

The Michigan Board of Medicine is responsible for regulating the entry of physicians and surgeons into practice in the state, for requiring continuing medical education of licensed physicians and for the disciplinary action against those who violate the public health code.

Prues previously served on the Michigan Board of Nursing as an appointee of Governor John Engler.

 The Lansing office, Services for Children & Families, held a door-decorating contest for staff. The doors were decorated between Thanksgiving and the first week of December. Jill Peck, director of Quality Assurance, was the guest judge. First place was awarded to Bobbie Harden and Danielle Guty for their snowman door. Second place went to Michael Banks for his Naughty and Nice door (with lots of debate around the office about who was going on which list). Honorable emtnions wen to Andrew Martineau and megan Karinen, who used a Twelve Days of Christmas them, Jill Frame, Ashley Hayden and Nichole Hoerner for their door decorated with stockings, and Paula Bashore, who used a penguin/winter wonderland motif.

The "Faith at Work" blog series is created and written by Pastor Doug Kahl, LSSM's Organizational Chaplain. Look for a new entry every week!

Think of all the wonderful things you can do in 72 hours.  That’s 3 full days.  If someone gave them to you as a gift (which God does over and over again) what would you plan?

·        Curl up and read a good book or two?

·        Go golfing until you couldn’t swing another club?

·        Take your grandchildren to the zoo?

·        Write letters to friends you haven’t written to in awhile?

·        Go for a long drive with no destination or deadline?

72 hours…3 full days…they would fly by in a heart beat!  Unless, you had to figure out how to survive a disaster for which you weren’t prepared.  That’s how long it could be before vital services are restored in a major disaster; 3 days or longer.  It’s time to once again think about how well prepared we are to survive, on our own, for that critical 72 hour period.

So let’s begin by going over the basics.  First we need to have a kit; then we have to make a plan; and finally we need to be informed.  These are the basic activities at the heart of disaster preparation. 

On August 26th, our summer intern, Precious Ansley had a first time experience: Being interviewed on the radio! As part of the "Our Energy Now" Show on WJR Radio, Precious was interviewed by Paul W. Smith about her participation in a great intitiative where the DTE Foundation provided $500,000 to fund the Grow Detroit's Young Talent Youth Employment Program run by the nonprofit organization City Connect Detroit for young people ages 14-24. Click the link below to hear Precious's segment!

Precious Ansley, "Our Energy Future" WJR Radio, Interviewed by Paul W. Smith [AUDIO]

Hi!  I’m Doug Kahl, LSSM’s Organizational Chaplain. The writings that will appear in the "Faith at Work" blog series are intended to encourage the use of what we believe in our work lives. They will, I hope, also encourage dialogue about the public use of what is often thought of as  personal – our faith.  Welcome to the conversation.

BLOGGING ON LIVING THAT REFLECTS OUR FAITH

The tumult in the public square these days has me wondering about living a life that reflects faith in a nation that has a spiritual/Christian foundation.  I’m not seeing the faith that builds and maintains living for the furthering of the common good influencing our decision making.

The Bible is filled with stories about and “formulas” for what it means to live out our faith, especially for those of us who are Christian.  My favorite “formula” is recorded in the Old Testament book of Micah, chapter 6, verse 8.  It reads, with my additions in parentheses, like this:

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice (making individuals, communities, and the cosmos whole by upholding goodness and impartiality), to love mercy (when we are spared from judgment and harm), and to walk humbly (free from pride, knowing that I am in inadequate but also knowing who I am in Christ) with God.”

In a recent New York Times opinion piece these statistics caught my eye:

1.       400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans.

2.      Average middle class family income has stagnated over the past 30 years while the richest 1 percent have seen income skyrocket.

3.      Political scientists have shown that it’s not public opinion but the opinions of the wealthy that predict votes in the Senate.

What’s all this say about justice, mercy, and humility (the very heart of faith) in America today?

Cathy Stathakis has accepted the position of manager of Hope Village, an independent living/assisted living senior community in Williamsburg, near Traverse City.

Stathakis has more than 13 years of senior housing sales and marketing experience in the senior housing industry. Prior to coming to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan in 2010, she served as divisional director of sales for the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago Service Corporation, supporting 18 senior living communities in six states. Previously, Stathakis worked in public relations and journalism, including nine years as senior staff writer and publicist for Interlochen Center for the Arts. As a news reporter, she received first-place honors from the National Federation of Press Women. Stathakis is a former president of Michigan Press Women. Stathakis and her husband, Stace, are longtime residents of Traverse City. She graduated from Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City and Central Michigan University.

Lutheran Social Services of Michigan has promoted MapleCreek Executive Director Susan Lemon of Grand Rapids to vice president of Senior Adult Services statewide. She will oversee the administration of three skilled nursing centers, three assisted living centers and five independent living programs.

While a search is underway for her replacement at MapleCreek, Lemon will divide her time between administering the full-continuum senior living campus in southeast Grand Rapids and fulfilling her new statewide role from the organization’s headquarters in Detroit. Lemon is expected to work from Detroit full-time in early September.

Under Lemon’s leadership, MapleCreek remained in operation during a two-year $32 million building and renovation project. This comprehensive makeover for the newly re-branded senior living community continues to impress visitors. During her 10 years at MapleCreek, Lemon guided a change in service delivery from a medical model to a resident-focused model. “It will be my pleasure” was the attitude impressed on the staff. In addition, food service transitioned to a restaurant-style service approach with each resident’s meal freshly prepared, plated and served.

Lemon has been employed by Lutheran Social Services of Michigan for 11 years, previously serving as director of quality long-term care and consulting for skilled nursing centers in Michigan and Indiana. She has worked in the senior services field for nearly 30 years, with experience in long-term care in a variety of settings, including independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and home care services. Lemon is a registered nurse and a licensed nursing home administrator. She completed her bachelor of science degree in nursing at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1980. 

Under the guidance of Chaplain Doug Kahl, Lutheran Social Services’ 15 group homes have set up libraries of devotional materials, including Bibles, books, DVDs, movies and games. The staff develop activities that appeal to the developmentally disabled residents and are on a level they can understand. They might read a story with a spiritual message, listen to Christian music or simply say a prayer before meals. “The goal is to help further residents’ understand of God’s love for them,” said Pr. Kahl.

Chaplain Becky Ebb-Speese at MapleCreek decided to make a “quiet but visible statement” about interfaith coexistence after September 11, when a Florida pastor threatened to burn the Quran. She put a Quran and Bible next to each other on her desk, to let the Muslim staff at MapleCreek know that she respects their faith. Albert Preniqi, a dietary assistant at The Terraces originally from Albania (in photo with Becky, at left), took note. “He was quite surprised to see the display and to know that I had read the Quran,” said Pastor Becky. The chaplain also bought rosaries for residents of The Woods at MapleCreek after she read The Year of Living Like Jesus by Ed Dobson. “The Catholic residents were thrilled to be able to show the rest of us how to pray the rosary,” she said. “Many of the residents wear them around their necks or attached to their walkers. I assured the Protestants that they could use prayers other than ‘Hail, Mary’ when they use the rosary for prayer.”

Nadir Abdelrahman, MD, a native of Sudan, was the first physician chosen to participate in the Grand Rapids Geriatric Fellowship program of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, a program based at MapleCreek in Grand Rapids. Dr. Abdelrahman works at the clinic at The Terraces at MapleCreek every Wednesday morning, under the supervisioin of Robert Riekse, MD, MapleCreek’s attending physician. The residents benefit from his up-to-date expertise in geriatrics, and in turn give the doctor a sense of what it’s like to be an older person