Living At Revel

Aging is no cakewalk. Yet, living here at the Revel Senior Complex does its best to make it so.  The staff and leadership are exceptional at making all 150 residents feel at home. As I have mentioned previously, there are daily activities from exercise classes to art and crafts, bus trips to shows, live theatre, restaurants, shopping at favorite markets, a heated saltwater indoor pool, meeting rooms, card games, lectures, movies, and special event parties almost weekly. Also, our Wednesday “Wine down,” where any drink is on the house. This and more contribute to why I write that Revel is truly a village and, for many living here, being part of a family or becoming so.

At a certain point living in one’s own home, whether it be an apartment, condo, or house, and even with family, is a challenge for the caregivers of those being cared for. They are family, but one can’t call such singular arrangements a village. I refer to Revel as a village with a goodly number of people in the same boat. Old is what we are; although Revel is not a “care facility,” it cares for each of us because it is what they do.

I recently met with the dining service crew and told them that their most important job is not delivering food but that they are “caregivers” and that all else is secondary. They have the power to make a difference in the residents’ daily lives simply by how they approach each of us.

They are mostly college students employed to serve us our meals. Still, I am telling them that they are not just servers but much more. They are caregivers with the power to affect residents with their care… and even love! 

My job is to serve—I discover it is more—Caregiver/server

Sy 

Author: Sy Ogulnick

Sy Ogulnick received a BA from UCLA, Teacher’s Credential from Los Angeles Board of Education and completed phase I (Master’s portion) in a Doctor of Behavioral Science program at California Coast University. Sy leased and operated a summer day camp in LA. He and his wife then purchased virgin wilderness land in Northern CA, where they built and operated a coed summer camp. They moved to Las Vegas, NV, and purchased, built and operated a community children’s program for families staying in a major resort casino in Las Vegas. They have created programs for children nationwide that employed many people and in the process developed successful training programs for personnel. This led Sy to lecture on how to train staff and the creating of community within the workplace. Sy was then invited to speak at professional conferences on how best to hire and train employees, which led to his becoming a consultant in the art of improving relationships in a work environment and eventually to his epiphany that “Leaders are the primary problem and the answer to the personnel issues that arise in the workplace.” Sy has written numerous papers on the subject of interpersonal relationships, leadership and power. He has lectured throughout the United States, has been interviewed by the media and has appeared on many radio and TV talk shows

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