How can you help?

• Donate by phone- Contact the foundation office at 218-291-2287
• Donate by mail- Mail checks payable to Eventide Foundation, or cash gifts to:

• Donate gift cards for carry-out restaurants, stores in your community. Please mail gift cards to the address above.

We’ve had a lot of people ask about how they can help our residents during this difficult time. We invite you to volunteer from your home! Below you will find a list of our campuses with a contact number for each. There are many options for virtual visits – simply having a conversation, facilitating a Bible study, playing music for a resident, or encouraging children to read books or sing. Thank you for your kindness and for thinking of our residents!

Fargo: Eventide Fargo Care Center and Senior Living 

Call Main Line at 701-478-1800

Moorhead: Eventide on Eighth, The Fairmont, and The Linden

Call Kaley Harms (Director of Life Enrichment) at 218-291-2258

West Fargo: Eventide Sheyenne Crossings Care Center and Senior Living 

Call the Main Line at 701-478-9360

Devils Lake: Eventide Downtown Care Center

Call the Main Line at 701-662-6580

Devils Lake: Eventide Lake Country Manor

Call Randi Lamb (Director of Senior Living) at 701-662-1880

Devils Lake: Eventide Heartland Care Center and Heartland Courts 

Call the Main Line 701-665-1401

Jamestown: Eventide Jamestown Care Center and Senior Living

Call Nancy Steckler (Director of Life Enrichment) at 701-952-3413 or 701-659-0509

By Jodee Bock, daughter of Eventide Sheyenne Crossings resident Maurene Bock

What is “normal,” anyway?

Our world is in a bit of a tizzy right now. We are maneuvering through uncharted territory. Not only does this pandemic affect our businesses and our schools and our social lives, it affects our elderly in ways most of us can’t even imagine.

I can’t visit Mom right now, and I understand that. It would be selfish of me to expect that being able to give my mom a hug like I have been able to do for the past four years since she’s lived five minutes away from me should be my right.

This is a new “normal.”

Knowing that this crazy COVID-19 virus affects people who are most vulnerable like my mom who, by the way, except for her Parkinson’s diagnosis, is an incredibly healthy and hearty 88-year-old, and the others who share her living space, is enough to remind me that when we see the world through the eyes of love, we make sacrifices for the good of the whole.

That doesn’t make it easier to know I can’t just stop by for a quick hug, or drop off a new shirt, or stay and chat. And if it’s difficult for me, I can’t even imagine how it must be for her.

Does she understand what’s going on in the world she only watches through the window? Does she know that just because I’m on the other side of that window, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to visit and leave her with a hug that squishes her face in my shoulder? We always laugh about that because she says “I love you, Jodee” as I’m squishing her face in my hug, and I always apologize for squeezing too tight, but neither of us cares.

The phone hasn’t been an easy gadget for Mom to figure out, so we don’t talk on the phone. We connect in person. She can talk on the phone when I maneuver it and we call my sister or her brother to catch up. But Mom’s never been a talker. She’s a listener. And it’s difficult to do that on the phone.

I don’t visit Mom every single day. I go when I know I can spend quality time, and that doesn’t mean every day. But knowing that I am restricted from going whenever I can is kind of surreal. And not only because I miss Mom, but also because I miss the nurses and aides and workers who have become like my family. Heck, I see them more than I see my own family, and they definitely see Mom more than any of us do.

Bless you, Eventide staff members, for setting up FaceTime options for us so we can actually see each other without having to climb the snowbank outside the window. (I’m thankful Mom is on the ground floor!)

This quarantine period is new, but I can’t imagine it will ever be “normal.”

Let’s just nip this virus in the bud and get on with our regular routines, shall we?

In the meantime, I’ll play by the rules and do what I can to stay connected.

I know you all will do everything you can to take care of her. Just make sure one of those squish face hugs is from me, OK?

Jodee Bock is a certified Life Purpose and Career Coach and the author or co-author of seven books. She is the founder of her own company, Bock’s Office Transformational Consulting, and is also the Dean of LifeWorks University, an online learning portal that uses the principles of Think and Grow Rich as the foundation for creating the life of your dreams. 

When she’s not writing, coaching or speaking, you can find Jodee singing with the City of Lakes Chorus, an award-winning barbershop chorus, keeping busy as the head scorekeeper for the North Dakota State University men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Her mom, Maurene Bock, is a resident of Sheyenne Crossings in West Fargo.

Stay in touch with your loved one!

Call the number below to schedule a video chat:

Call Main Line at 701-478-1800

Call Kaley Harms (Director of Life Enrichment) at 218-291-2258

Call the Main Line at 701-478-9360

Call the Main Line at 701-662-6580

Call Randi Lamb (Director of Senior Living) at 701-662-1880

Devils Lake: Eventide Heartland Care Center and Heartland Courts 

Call the Main Line 701-665-1401

Call Nancy Steckler (Director of Life Enrichment) at 701-952-3413 or 701-659-0509

Update regarding visitors:

We know many of you are concerned about the spread of novel coronoavirus ( COVID-19 ) and how it may impact our communities. Although we have not identified any cases of COVID-19 in our facilities, it is our responsibility to be prepared. Protecting our residents’ health and safety is our top priority. Therefore, we have made the decision to follow the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommendations on visitation and begin restricting visitors to our campuses.

What this means for you:

• We will begin screening all visitors when they enter the facility
• The screening will include:
  o Requesting you wash your hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
  when you arrive
  o Asking you several questions regarding any respiratory symptoms you may be
  experiencing and/or any recent travel you have done
  o Discouraging routine social visits

As always, we encourage you not to visit if you are experiencing any symptoms of illness.
We recognize that maintaining contact with your loved one(s) is important and we will make
every effort to facilitate communication via phone calls, texts, emails, and video chats.

Thank you for your understanding and patience during this time.

While we do not have any cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) at any of our communities, we are taking necessary precautions to keep the health, wellness and safety of residents and staff  our number one priority. We are taking steps now to prevent this illness and be positioned to respond quickly and effectively should it impact our communities.

Eventide has an active COVID-19 Task Force who are meeting regularly and are in direct conversations with official resources to stay informed with the latest information. We are closely monitoring the latest information from the Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and we are working with state and local public health and emergency preparedness officials to strengthen our preparation for a possible outbreak of COVID-19.

We have emergency preparedness and infection prevention and control plans in place, which address how we prepare for and manage infectious disease outbreaks. We have incorporated new information on COVID-19 into those procedures. Our staff are trained in infection control practices and follow established protocols based on that training. This being flu season, staff already have a heightened awareness of the risks posed to our residents/tenants by respiratory illnesses and the vital importance of effective infection control practices. However, we have increased our training and retraining efforts in this area.

We are actively educating staff, residents and families on symptom awareness for COVID-19 and have clear protocols for staff to stay home and not come to work if they are ill or symptomatic. We may need to postpone activities, screen visitors or limit visitor access.

You are a key partner in keeping yourself and others healthy—wash your hands often; avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth; and if you are feeling ill, we ask that you not visit at this time. If you have signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection such as fever, cough and/or sore throat or if you have traveled internationally in the past 14 days or come in contact with someone who has, please delay your visit to our communities.

Additional information from the CDC is available at www.cdc.gov/COVID19

Here are helpful documents from the CDC to help answer questions:

What you need to know about COVID-19

What to do if you are sick with COVID-19

Each campus has an Infection Preventionist on site who is available to answer any questions you may have:

Eventide on Eighth/ Eventide Fairmont in Moorhead
Ashley Best: 218-291-2280

Eventide Fargo
Maggie Richardson: 701-478-1807

Eventide Sheyenne Crossings in West Fargo
Justine Winterowd: 701-478-9362

Eventide Jamestown
Judy Gerntholz: 701- 952-3422.

Eventide Heartland in Devils Lake
Farrah Trottier: 701-665-1413

Eventide Downtown in Devils Lake
Christy Sprenger: 701-665-1413

Standing next to a chair, Viola Toppen slowly reaches to touch her toes. She raises one arm high in the air; a shoulder injury limits mobility in the other.

Still, nearly daily exercises like these keep her strong and engaged.

“I hate to brag,” she says. “But I’m pretty good for 105 and eight months.”

Viola moved into Eventide Sheyenne Crossings 13 years ago. She had been legally blind for nearly five years and was tired of shoveling snow and asking someone to mow the lawn at her farm south of Fargo.

A sunny apartment at Eventide Sheyenne Crossings was perfect.

To meet her new neighbors, Viola added an exercise class to her daily schedule. She still does yoga three times a week and attends a general fitness class three times a week.

“I like that it keeps me limber,” she says. “I think it’s good for me.”

The daily class also gives her a chance to socialize with the other residents who attend.

“We get along; we joke,” she says.

Viola graduated high school in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression. For a few years, she worked in New York City where she also attended night school and learned secretarial skills like shorthand and typing.

She returned to North Dakota when World War II started and married a friend from high school. He died at age 37, leaving her with two little boys. To support the small family, she got what she calls “the best job in Kindred” with Cass County Electric Cooperative. She worked there for 30 years, retiring in 1981 when her second husband became ill.

Her family now numbers more than 30 members including her four children, in-laws, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Viola keeps busy by enjoying the programs and activities at Eventide. She checks out audiobooks from the North Dakota State Library Talking Book program and uses a magnifying machine at the Eventide library to read newspaper headlines and the obituaries.

Once spring descends, the life-time baseball fan listens to Twins baseball games on the radio.

“It’s a good life,” she says.

Jodee Bock with her mother, Maurene

As I drive the five minutes from my house to hers, I wonder to myself:

“Will today be the day she no longer recognizes me?”

I greet Kim at the front desk and linger a little too long chatting about my haircut and my decision to let it go gray, and then turn left, peeking down the familiar hallway.

Today I spot her sitting in her wheelchair in the lounge area. The TV is on, and she’s sitting about a foot away from it, staring, but not really watching.

“Hi, Mom,” I whisper as I come close to her left side.

“JODEE!” She looks surprised, but grateful to see me. And I breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s not today. She still knows me.

“How did you find me?” She thinks she’s so elusive.

“I walked right down the hall and here you are!”

I wheel her over next to a comfy chair and we settle in for a conversation about something that doesn’t involve choices or decisions. Those are difficult for her, and really good for me as I learn to be a better decision-maker.

“We are coming here for Thanksgiving,” I tell her instead of asking whether she’d like to come to my house instead.

“That will be nice. Will your sister be here?”

She’s having a good day. We chat about our Thanksgiving plans, the weather, the Bison and Viking football teams, and my upcoming travel plans.

The nurse aides stop to chat and give hugs. They have become like family. I am more grateful for them than I know how to express, so smiles and hugs will have to do.

On another day we might explore the hallways or, if it’s nice, venture outside.

But today, we just chat. I show her pictures on Facebook of her friends and relatives. She still hasn’t gotten the hang of my smartphone as she tries to touch the screen, making the photo go away.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t break it.” She’s always worried about that.

A couple of months ago my sister brought some old (really old) photo albums of Mom’s that were in storage. I decide to go get one and see if she remembers anyone.

Mom spent her entire career as an elementary teacher, and her first job was in a one-room rural school. This particular album appears to be from that time.

Thankfully she was really organized and detail-oriented, and she has written the names of these students on the front of the black and white photos.

“Who is this, Mom?”

“Oh, that’s Colleen. And this is her brother. Oh and that’s my first car, the Green Hornet.”

She remembers everything, and I learn details I’ve never heard before about the car she bought and then loaned to her friend who was also teaching in a one-room school.

The CNAs are as fascinated as I that Mom remembers these kids, many of whose own kids and grandkids Mom probably also taught during her nearly 40-year-career.

I can tell she’s getting tired. Her eyes give her away when she’s tired.

I wheel her back to her room and let the aide know she’s sleepy.

“Mom, I’m teaching a class tonight, so I’ve got to go and get ready.”

“Yes, you better go.”

I lean down to hug her and always end up squishing her face as she is saying “I love you, Jodee” and we laugh about it.

“Good night and God bless you.”

She’s said that to me since I was a baby, and it’s comforting to know she still does.

I leave her in the capable hands of whoever is on duty tonight, knowing that my Sheyenne Crossings family will take good care of her.

And I walk down the hall, stopping to greet Kim on the way out.

Today was a good day.

Jodee Bock is a certified Life Purpose and Career Coach and the author or co-author of seven books. She is the founder of her own company, Bock’s Office Transformational Consulting, and is also the Dean of LifeWorks University, an online learning portal that uses the principles of Think and Grow Rich as the foundation for creating the life of your dreams. 

When she’s not writing, coaching or speaking, you can find Jodee singing with the City of Lakes Chorus, an award-winning barbershop chorus, keeping busy as the head scorekeeper for the North Dakota State University men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Her mom, Maurene Bock, is a resident of Sheyenne Crossings in West Fargo.

Volunteer Cindy Johnson

At the end of every Forever Fit class led by volunteer Cindy Johnson, Eventide Sheyenne Crossings residents lift their fists in the air and shout in unison, “Looking good, feeling good!”

For eight years, Johnson has led the exercise class at Eventide Sheyenne Crossings for 30 minutes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. With a background in physical education teaching primarily working with kids, Johnson never saw herself working with older people. It wasn’t until she was faced with health issues preventing her from working full time that she was prompted by a friend to look into volunteering.

Johnson met with the Eventide Sheyenne Crossings Senior Living Director to learn about what opportunities there were available. Although initially apprehensive of the role of leading the Forever Fit class, she agreed to check it out for a week. She quickly grew to love leading the class.

“I love it. It’s been an amazing adventure and I never would have envisioned this ever,” said Johnson.

Now, eight years later, Forever Fit has grown from 8-10 residents to 25-28 residents per session. With exercises that are adaptive to both standing and sitting, every resident is able to participate. The benefits for the residents are difficult to measure exactly, but they include increased physical activity, social interaction and mental stimulation.

Johnson’s philosophy has always been, “Come, do what you can. If there are days when you can’t do something just sit, watch, and laugh w

ith us. We have a blast. Even if you just sit and laugh, your stomach is getting a work out from laughing! It works for everybody. And, a lot of this is just social. For me, too. They can come down here, be with their friends, talk and laugh. We just have a good time.”

“Some of them are talking each other into coming so there’s accountability, which I think is cool. It’s almost like a little team. In fact, we have shirts that say “Team Flamingo” that we wear on Wednesdays. It’s a team effort,” said Johnson.

Eventide Sheyenne Crossings residents make a consc

ious effort every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to get up, come down to the class and spend time with friends exercising. “I look at all of them and my heroes are in this group. They don’t have to come. They come because they say, ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it.’  They tell me, ‘Not only do we know that we need to come, it also makes us happy,’” said Johnson.

Similarly, Johnson has benefited greatly from volunteering to lead the Forever Fit class. After each class she leaves feeling inspired, encouraged, and appreciated. Throughout the years that Johnson has been volunteering, she has experienced several health issues including having a pacemaker placed, dealing with thyroid cancer and having a brain tumor removed.

“I tell the class that I sometimes feel like I get more out of it than they do. We push each other.  Volunteering for this class has carried me through all of my health issues. The support and love from these guys is amazing. They’re my reason and volunteering here gives me a purpose,” said Johnson.

“They know my family, they’ve met my husband. It’s kind of like everyone is intertwined and it’s so cool. I think people are put in your life for a reason. I truly believe I’m supposed to be here. I’ve been told by a lot of people in the class, ‘Hey, you’re making a huge difference.’ I say, ‘You’re making a huge difference in my life. This is amazing,’” said Johnson.

Read our latest edition of Eventidings!

In this issue:

• Our 5th Annual Leaders in Living event featuring Kim Campbell!
• Coming Soon: Streed Commons
• Weaving a Legacy for the Future