The Friends of Cedar Village will host the 2009 AJHSA Symposium in Cincinnati from May 1-5, 2009. We are thrilled to be able to welcome AJHSA back to Cincinnati. Many of our members attended the 2001 Symposium we hosted. Since then, there has been a lot of growth and development in the Mason area where Cedar Village is located. We have many new restaurants, stores, and a beautiful Marriott Hotel just down the road. The hotel has an indoor pool and fitness room.

Co-chairs of the 2009 AJHSA Symposium are Marjorie Lampe and Sonia Fox who attended the Symposuim in West Palm. Our honorary co-chairs are Freda Schwartz, Pearl Schwartz, and Marcia Westcott. We have plans for many wonderful educational and musical programs as well as some time for fun and relaxation (and shopping)! We are working on plans for an evening of shopping and fun in an area of Cincinnati with boutiques and restaurants.

We will welcome Fran Avni, a Jewish songwriter/performer who spent time at Cedar Village in February, 2008. Fran will conduct some musical workshops and inspire us to make music an important part of our programming. We are also in conversation with Teepa Snow, an Occupational Therapist and Educator with the North Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. Teepa has been a featured speaker at the last two Cedar Village Symposiums on Long-Term Care issues, and provides many hands-on tips for working and volunteering with residents with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia.

Dr. Gordon Margolin, the former Cedar Village Medical Director and a renowned geriatrician who spoke at our 2001 Symposium in Cincinnati, will be one of our keynote speakers. The Cincinnati delegation to the 2008 AJHSA Symposium in West Palm met up with Gordon and his wife on our return flight to Cincinnati. They had been in Florida visiting family. We immediately signed him up as a speaker!

In addition, we will plan some panels on Best Practices so that our AJHSA members can share our expertise with each other. The presentation by the Sarah Neuman team was our inspiration for this. And of course, you will get a chance to meet some of our favorite residents who will give you a tour of their apartments and rooms in our Health Care Center.

If you have any ideas for programming, please let Rachel Festenstein (rfestenstein@cedar-village.org) or Sally Korkin (skorkin@cedar-village.org) know.

So mark your calendars for May 1-5, 2009 for an exciting AJHSA Symposium!