Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio (MHCO) is honoring its 420 employees during Older Americans Month, May 2018. 

With the theme, “You Are a Work of Heart,” MHCO is planning celebrations at Mennonite Memorial Home, Maple Crest, Willow Ridge and Mennonite Home Health & Senior Services, Bluffton, and Hilty Home in Pandora. 

Older Americans Month occurs each May as a program of the Administration on Aging.  Begun by John F. Kennedy in 1963 as Senior Citizens Month when only 17 million Americans reached age 65 (compared to 40 million today), Older Americans Month is encouraging everyone to “Engage at Any Age” in 2018. 

According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, by 2050, the number of individuals using paid long-term care services in any setting (e.g., at home, residential care such as assisted living, or skilled nursing facilities) will likely double from the 13 million using services in 2000, to 27 million people. This estimate is influenced by growth in the population of older people in need of care.

Providing care for older Americans since 1955, Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio served 676 elders in 2017 and provided more than $900,000 in benevolent care. 

“We’re honoring our employees this month because of the excellent care they provide to our elders 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said Laura Voth, MHCO chief executive officer. “They make every effort to truly ‘know’ our elders and to build relationships with them and their families. This is a deep knowing, the kind that makes the person who is known feel precious.”

MHCO offers skilled nursing, memory care, short-term rehabilitation, assisted and independent living.  In 2012, it opened Willow Ridge, the first Greenhouse Homes in Ohio, redefining the concept of long-term care by establishing an environment where “elders rule.” 

In addition, MHCO provides services to the senior community through the “Delay the Disease” Parkinson’s exercise program; an Alzheimer’s Support Group, Our Daily Bread Mobile Meals program, and Home Health and Senior Services.  For more information, visit mhcoliving.org