Barbara Rita’s smile can light up a room, and her positive attitude is infectious. “I really have come a long way since moving here. Everyone here has become my family.” Barbara Rita Haag is a Syracuse native and a resident in Loretto’s Community Residence Program, which provides supportive residential living environments for adults 45+ with…

Cindy Guiles’ story is like that of most kids—she lived in Syracuse with her family and went to school, eventually earning her GED as a Syracuse City School District student. When she was 18, she started living independently, working various community service jobs as a cashier, customer service employee, and volunteered at the Boys and…

Loretto is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Community Residence Program, which offers safe and supportive residential living environments for adults 45+ who struggle with psychiatric disabilities. The mission of the program is “to provide a safe, homelike setting and treatment services for challenged adults that promotes and maintains rehabilitation responding to the desires, tolerance,…

Loretto Nurse Practitioner Desta Anthony is determined to help residents living with Dementia find purpose and is finding unique ways to do just that. As the primary care provider at The Heritage, one of Loretto’s memory care communities, Desta created a free boutique and a baby nursery in 2023 to allow residents to engage in…

May is Older Americans Month, a national month of recognition for older citizens and their impact on our country. This national designation was instituted by President Kennedy and the National Council of Senior Citizens in an effort to raise awareness of the lack of programming needed to support those who lived past 65 to bring…

Loretto was recognized in March for successfully incorporating innovative technology into the care of its residents at The Heritage, a Loretto Memory Life Community. The Heritage earned a “Brilliance in Resident Experience” award from LifeLoop, a comprehensive software platform, that identified The Heritage as a “Community That Shines,” an honor given to only 12 senior…

Yancey Thomas is reimagining the dining experience for residents as the Food and Beverage Supervisor at Sedgwick Heights, a Loretto community located on James Street in Syracuse. “I am one of the leaders of the dining room team, but it’s really more than a team; we are a tight-knit family who wants to create the…

“Hey Erwin, can you fix this?” Meet Erwin Williams, Support Service Manager for Sedgwick Heights, a Loretto Assisted Living Facility on James Street in Syracuse. Erwin is known as a fixer and is happy to oblige whenever he hears this question. “I love helping people and solving problems. This job is a good fit for…

The Month of May pays homage to many observations: Mental Health Awareness, Stroke Awareness, National Nurses Month, but also, Older Americans Month. This holiday was created out of necessity for the appreciation and recognition of the accomplishments of older adults in American society. It is also a time for the rest of us to renew…

Marcia Barnes was one of the first students to enroll in Niagara University’s new baccalaureate degree program in nursing in 1946. In the early 1970s, she returned to Niagara as a nursing instructor. As the oldest of two children, Marcia grew up in Buffalo, New York, and felt the call to be a caregiver as…