Congratulations to our member facility, Villa Maria in Tucson!
Through their life enrichment program, they established Villa Maria University (VMU) and hosted a very special graduation for first 32 VMU graduates! Better yet, you can watch this on You Tube! Click here to view the video.
Lisa Jones filmed the event and Sharon Kha, proud daughter of a resident graduate Addie Heinrichs, spent many hours editing this footage. Kudos for this effort! It allows our colleagues from around the country to experience the impact this kind of programming can have for residents of senior living communities.

AHCA is partnering with the Foundation for Senior Living (FSL) to offer discounted rates for assisted living training opportunities that FSL provides.  Training includes: Caregiver (all levels), CNA bridge courses for current CNAs to become certified Caregivers/Managers, AL Managers, among others.  All training is approved by the Arizona Board of Examiners (NCIA) and CEUs are offered. The Foundation for Senior Living provides numerous services to older adults throughout Arizona and recently completed their Caregiver House. The Caregiver House is a state of the art training facility in Phoenix.  
 
If you are interested in sending your staff to these trainings or already do, please inform FSL that you are an AHCA member to receive the discounted training rate.  Trainings are held at FSL in Phoenix, but can take place at member buildings across the state if at least five participants are in attendance.  For additional information, please click here to go to the “Just for Members” section of the website for a listing of the upcoming class schedule, or contact Karla Averill at (602) 265-5331 (e-mail kaverill@azhca.org.)  The contact person at FSL is Shari Zint, (602) 285-0505 ext. 128 or szint@fsl.org. 

The following pictures were taken during Villa Maria's First Poetry Reading --- "The White Dove - A Celebration of Fr. Kino" by Author Jane Candia Coleman on Monday, May 12, at 2 pm. This event was part of Villa Maria Care Center's celebration of 2008 National Nursing Home Week May 11-17 with the theme "Love is Ageless." 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: The Arizona Assisted Living Nursing Association will hold a statewide workshop on June 20, 2008 entitled How to Manage Infections and Pain in Assisted Living. The workshop will be held at the Encore Senior Village at Paradise Valley in Phoenix. Look for more information regarding location and registration fees to be posted on the events page. To download a copy of the registration brochure, please click here.