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Southgate at Shrewsbury

Retirement community near Shrewsbury and Worcester, MA

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senior living

Southgate & CVS Vaccinate Residents Successfully

March 5, 2021 by Southgate

After several weeks of preplanning, Southgate at Shrewsbury and CVS Pharmacy orchestrated six successful vaccine clinics to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine safely and efficiently to their residents and staff.


CVS & Southgate Teams. Featured in this Photo are Kate Aleksiewicz, Lead Pharmacist and members of her CVS pharmacy staff, Southgate employees Sheila Meucci, Health & Wellness Director; Kara Ewick, Resident Services Director; Deborah Bourque, Resident Liaison; Rogerio Neves, Housekeeping Director; William Zangarine, Hampton Suites Director.


Southgate at Shrewsbury management organized the clinic to ensure that social distancing protocols were followed and that common surfaces were sanitized between each appointment. Many Southgate staff volunteered to assist in setting up and running separate pre-registration areas for temperature screening, a quiet area where staff could assist residents with paperwork, a CVS registration table, and four screened-off areas for vaccination and observation.

Not even a challenge from an impressive Nor’easter storm could halt the efforts of Southgate and CVS to safely vaccinate residents and staff. To ensure delivery of the second vaccine, Southgate provided their guest apartment with dining accommodations to CVS pharmacists, who stayed overnight to ensure the clinic could be held the day following the storm.


Lead Pharmacist Kate Aleksiewicz and her CVS Pharmacy team brave a nor’easter  to vaccinate over 200 Residents and Employee


In a letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Southgate CEO Dana Levenson wrote, “We could not have higher praise for the folks from CVS. Our residents and employees have been thanking us for the vaccinations, but it truly should be us thanking you and CVS.”

Of the team at Southgate at Shrewsbury, Executive Vice President Patricia A. LaCross provided the following comment:

“Our Southgate staff have been very present during the last 11 months of COVID, stepping up to guard the stations at our entrances to screen guests 24 hours a day, providing services safely to the best of their ability, and working the day-long vaccine clinics to assure that operations ran smoothly, so there were no missed opportunities to vaccinate our Residents. We have a real committed staff, and I honestly couldn’t be prouder of our team. I call them Southgate Warriors!”


Last Clinic Day: Bill Zangarine and Kara Ewick presented several gift baskets to the CVS Pharmacy Team in thanks for their extraordinary effort to vaccine our entire Southgate Community.

 

Filed Under: About Southgate at Shrewsbury Tagged With: COVID-19, health, healthy living, senior health, senior living, southgate

How To Spot Text Message Fraud & Avoid Scams

March 4, 2021 by Southgate

Text Messaging

When it comes to spotting scams, it is important to scrutinize all forms of digital communication—particularly those that do not come from somebody you know. In recent year, this has become more important in regard to text or multimedia messages to your phone.

While there will always be nefarious actors trying to scam others, you can safeguard yourself by following some best practices to protect yourself from these text message fraudsters. It’s time to shut the door on scammers!

Do You Know The Sender? Are You in an Active Conversation with Them?

Text or multimedia messages from people you have saved into your contacts or are in active conversation with and know are safe, but with the continued rise of digital technology, text and multimedia messaging has increasingly been used as a marketing tool.

This means you may have opted in to receiving messages from certain retailers or services. It is very important to make sure you know the text message is legitimate before opening the message. If you have recently ordered something online, and receive a message from the retailer such as Amazon or Best Buy, or if you receive a message from a delivery service such as FedEx or UPS, these are legitimate messages. If you opted in for routine marketing texts from certain retailers and you aren’t sure, call them to make sure the text is legitimate before opening it.

If the marketing texts you receive from companies come from the same number, consider saving it in your contacts to mark it as safe.

Additionally, if a text message comes in from an unknown number and refers to you as “Customer” instead of your name or misspells your name, this is surefire sign the message is fraudulent.

Avoid Clicking Links

Unless the link is sent by someone you personally know and actively converse with, the best practice is just avoid opening links from messages, altogether. Because scammers have become quite adept at imitating genuine retailers and services, it is always best to log in to the interface directly through your computer or an internet application on your phone.

For instance, if FedEx sends you a tracking update text message, you can always enter the package number directly into their website or log in to track packages if you have an account. The vast majority of retailers and services will allow you to track things this way, which is much safer.

Block Fraudulent Callers & Texters

Each time you see a fraudulent text or receive a spammy phone call, immediately cease communications and block the phone number. This is very easy to do on most devices.

Some text messages will obviously be fraudulent. You may see misspellings or come across awkward use of English grammar. The supposed company may be misspelled by one letter or the link may contain a slight spelling error. These are dead giveaways—block them and move on.

Be sure to practice the above with your text messages, and you will stop fraudsters in their digital tracks!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: independence, independent living, senior living, technology

How To Avoid Email Scams

October 8, 2020 by Southgate

While the internet and the digital age have brought on a new wave of innovations and forms of communication, it has also opened the door for nefarious actors to commit fraud in new ways.

Being vigilant regarding email scams will ensure you are less likely to be the victim of a cybercrime and keep your personal data and conversations safe.

Check The Sender’s Email Address

The first line of defense is to ensure the sender’s email address is legitimate. Some scammers have gotten increasingly clever and have created email address that mimic those of corporate entities or even personal friends. For example:


From which sender would you NOT open an email?

marketing@southgateatshrewsbury.com
marketing@southgatatshrewsbury.com

yourgrandson@gmail.com
yourgrandson@gmial.com


Tricky, but in both cases, the first email address is the one you want to open. So how can you tell? Luckily, most email services have an easy, built-in method for you to fully preview email address. The following image is what happens when you simply hold your mouse cursor over the sender’s name in Gmail. You will see from the email address in the image that this email is a legitimate email from the Worcester Business Journal.

Check the Subject Line

Is anything misspelled? Are traditional grammar rules ignored? Are strange characters used? These are all signs to look out for when it comes to email scams. If you see anything in the subject line that stands out as odd, check the email address, just to be safe.

Preview Any Links

One final way to safeguard yourself from email scams is to check every link before you click on it. Just like with email naming conventions, scammers set up fraudulent websites to mimic legitimate ones while using links that closely resemble that of a legitimate company or entity. See the examples below:


https://www.greenchef.com
https://www.grenchef.com

Preview the links, closely. One is for the legitimate company Green Chef that came from an email. The other is a close copy that could lead to an identical-looking webpage.

Once again, the first choice is the correct link.

Like email addresses, most email services have a built in safeguard that allows you to preview links before clicking on it. Simply hold your mouse cursor over the link, and the web address will populate on the bottom left portion of the screen. The following visual is how this looks in Gmail.

If you take these three steps, you can safeguard yourself from email scams and safeguard your internet privacy. Arm yourself with the knowledge, and your internet world will remain secure for you to enjoy!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: internet, senior living, technology

Book Review

April 10, 2020 by Southgate

Being retired means you have more free time to devote to enriching things you simply want to do. You may be unsure of how to spend that free time at first, but over time, you will come to find there are numerous ways to bolster your life in retirement.

One such thing we get to do more after we’re through with the hustle and bustle of work life is enter the wondrous world of literature. Whether it be with a group or under the simple light of your bedside table, delving into a great story brings us both emotional and cognitive benefits. If you’re looking to add some books to your list or do some extra reading while social distancing, check out the following five award-winners and recent releases:

The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead’s dramatization of a real juvenile reform school operating in Florida during the Jim Crow-era South is explored through the eyes of Elwood Curtis, a young black man living in segregated Tallahassee who takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to heart. He believes he is “as good as anyone” and is about to attend a local black college. One innocent mistake changes Elwood’s trajectory, and he is sentenced to the Nickel Academy, a juvenile reformatory whose mission statement claims to turn delinquent boys into “honorable and honest men.” As Elwood encounters a sadistically abusive staff, he clings to Dr. King’s words: “Throw us in jail and we will still love you.” His ideals clash with his friend Turner’s, who believes scheming and avoiding trouble is the only way to make it in a corrupted world. The results of this ideological clash will echo for decades.

The Nickel Boys: A Novel explores the devastating history of a real reform school operated for 111 years in Florida during one of its darkest periods. The Florida School for Boys, or the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, would be completely shut down in the 21st century, but not before warping the lives of thousands. Whitehead’s dramatization is a New York Times Bestseller, winner of the Kirkus Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and was listed on Time Magazine’s list of the 10 Best Fiction Books of the Decade.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Author Robert Kolker uncovers and weaves the tale of the Galvin family, one of the first families studied by the National Institute of Mental Health, whose DNA has offered important information leading to decades of headway into understanding and combatting schizophrenia.

Don and Mimi Galvin are purportedly living the American Dream. After World War II, the Air Force moved Don to Colorado where he and Mimi had twelve children throughout the baby boom from 1945 to 1965. They seemed to be happy—a poster family for the new American Dream—but behind closed doors, the story was vastly different.

Being subjected to the hidden psychological, physical and emotional abuse took a major toll on the Galvin children. By the mid-1970’s, six of the ten Galvin boys had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, baffling the medical community.
The untold story of the Galvin’s offers a look through the often-dark history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization and lobotomies to the modern searches for genetic indicators of the disease. The happenings within the Galvin’s home on Hidden Valley Road and their DNA continue to play vital roles in the continuing effort to treat, protect from and even eradicate schizophrenia.

Code Name Hélène: A Novel by Ariel Lawhon

Ariel Lawhon explores the captivating story of real-life socialite-turned-spy Nancy Wake during World War II through four interweaving timelines coinciding with the four different names Wake used, starting with the time she married wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca in Paris.

After the Germans invade France, Mrs. Fiocca adopts a code name: Lucienne Carlier. She begins smuggling people and documents across the border to safety. As Ms. Carlier, she was dubbed The White Mouse by the Gestapo for her ability to both avoid capture and keep her identity secret. Eventually, a bounty of five million francs was placed on Nancy’s head, and she is forced to leave France and her husband behind.

After escaping to Britain, Nancy Wake trains with the Special Operations Executives in Britain and is given a new code name to use only with comrades: Hélène. Upon completion of her training, Nancy receives a mission and is airdropped back into France.
Back in France, Nancy now goes by Madam Andrée. She goes on to become one of the most influential and dangerous leaders of the French Revolution. She was witty, cunning, and known for both her signature red lipstick and ability to summon weapons straight from Allied Forces. Nancy only remains safe as long as the enemy cannot connect the dots and link her four identities. As France nears liberation, Nancy becomes more exposed and keeping her identities separate and secret from her enemy becomes more difficult and more imperative.

This novel was just published on March 31, 2020, and is already generating excellent reviews and substantial buzz. Kirkus Reviews says, “A compulsively readable account of a little-known yet extraordinary historical figure—Lawhon’s best book to date.”

Valentine: A Novel by Elizabeth Wetmore

In February 1976, the next great oil boom is about to hit Odessa, Texas. Wealth and prosperity are on the horizon, and the town is abuzz. Suddenly, the morning after Valentine’s Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramirez appears on Mary Rose Whitehead’s front porch, barely alive after suffering a vicious attack in a nearby oil field.

What happens when justice is difficult to achieve? When a case has already been tried on the local barstools and in the local church pews? Valentine explores the intersections of violence, race, class, religion and industry during the West Texas oil boom, painting a dark yet hopeful tale.

The number one new release on Amazon, Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine: A Novel has already received high praises, marking a wildly successful debut for Wetmore. Publishers Weekly says in a starred review, “Stirring … Wetmore poetically weaves the landscape of Odessa and the internal lives of her characters, whose presence remains vivid after the last page is turned. This moving portrait of West Texas oil country evokes the work of Larry McMurtry and John Sayles with strong, memorable female voices.”

The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel

Recently released in March 2020, The Mirror & The Light brings author Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy to a close. Following Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror & The Light explores the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the once-poor boy who became one of the most powerful men of his time.

The latest installment picks up in May, 1536 after the decapitation of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell, the simple blacksmith’s son from Putney, is celebrating with the victors. His master, Henry VIII, weds his third queen, Jane Seymour. The regime faces many threats, both internal and external. Under Henry VIII’s watchful and ruthless eye, how will Cromwell go on to become one of the most feared and influential people of his time?

Crafting a story from a historical event in which the outcome is known can be very difficult, but that’s exactly what Mantel does expertly in closing out the Wolf Hall Trilogy. The Times Literary Supplement referred to it as “some of the most complex and immersive fiction to have come along in years,” while the New York Times hailed it “the triumphant capstone to Mantel’s trilogy.”
Not sure what to do with some of that previously social time during social distancing? Dive into a great story and visit a whole new world.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: reading, retirement, senior living, southgate

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