OLEAN, N.Y. — The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany enjoyed a day of massage therapy, visits with health professionals and physical therapy during their inaugural health fair Thursday.
The event, held at St. Elizabeth’s Motherhouse on East Main Street, was open to the Sisters and staff and will continue today. Professionals and therapists on-hand are from Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in New York state and Bradford, Pa. Officials also announced during the event that an open house will be held for the community in October.
The health fair was organized by Sister Mary Lou Lafferty with the help of other department heads at the facility. The event included nutritional information, advice for fall prevention, vital signs taken by nurses, dental assessments, hearing aid checks and information booths. Other booths will be set up today for a vascular specialist, an acupuncture therapist and for Alzheimer’s information.
“While this is going on all of the Sisters will have a cognitive assessments for long-term care,” Lafferty added. “The (vendors) are just so gracious to the Sisters. We hope to continue doing this (fair) and add more to it” in ensuing years.
Vendors included Allison Ayers Hendy, a caseworker with the Department of Aging, New York Connects, who provided brochures and information to the Sisters and staff.
“This is wonderful, I think it’s a great idea that they opted to do this and thought to include us,” Ayers Hendy said. “Everybody has been pleasant. I’ve had a lot of people sit down and talk one-on-one.”
Tracie Edwards, a hearing instrument specialist with The Hearing Aid Shop in Bolivar, was also at the event. She was found assessing Sister Marigene Kennedy’s hearing aids.
“Today I was cleaning hearing aids, talking about hearing aids and handing out bags of goodies,” Edwards remarked. For her part, Kennedy said she enjoyed having the health fair at the Motherhouse.
“I absolutely think it’s the best thing that ever happened,” Kennedy said of the fair. “We’re so happy to have everybody here, and I know that some of the Sisters are taking advantage of it.”
In other news, Lafferty said two events have been scheduled for the facility in October. The first will be a visit at 2 p.m. Oct. 3 from Bishop Richard J. Malone of the Diocese of Buffalo.
“He will come here to celebrate Mass and bless the buildings” during the invitation-only event, she said.
The buildings Lafferty was referring to are the Motherhouse, which was renovated several years ago and the annexed health care center which was built for the Sisters at the same time.
Lafferty said both facilities will be open for community tours from 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 15. The building can be accessed by doors off of the East Main and Seventh Street entrances. Refreshments will be served in the conference room beneath the chapel.
“The health center houses a floor for memory care, a floor for 24-hour critical care and full-time nursing care,” Lafferty continued. She noted there is also an assisted living facility for the Sisters.
Renovations of the Motherhouse and construction of the health center began in 2010 and were completed in 2014. The multimillion-dollar project at the 160,000-square-foot facility was done to accommodate the older members of the congregation. The work included the construction of the new two-story health care facility and renovation of former floors into modernized living quarters for the aging Sisters. Also included in the project was the installation of new electrical, heating, cooling, plumbing and telephone systems.
Lafferty said long-range plans will include transitioning the Motherhouse to lease to businesses and agencies. She noted an area health care agency had leased space from the Motherhouse last year.
“We have a whole wing that is empty” and available to rent, Lafferty added. “All they would have to do is design it the way they’d want” and move in.
She said that as the elderly Sisters move on to the health center, their living spaces could be available to older community members to rent as smaller apartments.
Lafferty said there are a total of 221 Franciscan Sisters in the overall congregation, many of whom are 60 years old and older. Of those, 64 currently reside at the Motherhouse and health center. As they age, many Sisters in the congregation move to the Motherhouse for more care.
