Senior citizen apts.--a sense of community

In retirement, residents of BBA complex

are active participants in apartment life

Jane Lax was exhausted.

"I can't keep up with you all day," the youthful director joked to a group of senior citizens at her workplace, Bishop Broderick Apartments in Colonie, after a tour of the grounds.

"Well, when you get as young as us,..." the crowd retorted.

The easy banter of the staff and residents of Bishop Broderick Apartments ("BBA") is one example of the spirit that makes the diocese-run complex a place many are glad to call home.

Sites for elderly

Through DePaul Management Corporation, the Albany Diocese manages several sites of federally subsidized HUD housing for low-income elderly and handicapped persons: BBA, Bishop Hubbard Apartments in Clifton Park, Branson Manor in Rensselaer, Cabrini Acres in Watervliet, Marie-Rose Manor in Bethlehem, St. Vincent's Apartments in Albany, St. Jude Apartments in Wynantskill and Sanderson Court in Latham.

BBA presently serves 104 residents, most of whom are women in their 70s and 80s. The complex, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in June, is not a nursing home, but an apartment building.

Residents must be able to function independently, Ms. Lax told The Evangelist: "They're not necessarily able to take care of their needs, but they're able to arrange for it."

Activities

They do. In addition to the many activities sponsored by BBA -- including health promotion programs, mobile libraries, shopping trips, reading circles and dinners -- and trips that all eight diocesan residences take together, BBA residents are famous for the number of activities they have created themselves.

"Resident volunteers" serve lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays and coffee on Fridays, work bingo and bazaars, hold pinochle games, send cards and flowers to ailing residents, collect money for groceries for low-income individuals, show movies on Friday nights, and sew teddy bears for local ambulance companies to give to injured children.

"Our service coordinator, Mary McCabe, once tried to set up a phone tree" for residents to be sure their neighbors were feeling well, Ms. Lax remembered. "She found there was one already in place! There are people who regularly check in on each other. It's a natural outgrowth of the community spirit."

Getting involved

That spirit can be seen in resident Louise Randalls, who calls herself "an unclaimed jewel." Having no family, she moved to BBA at the suggestion of a friend.

Today, the energetic senior boasts that BBA is "considered the best" senior apartment complex around, and that she is a member of the Welcoming Committee and a "volunteer-at-large," helping with a number of activities.

Theresa Cioppa celebrated her 90th birthday recently. One of the original residents of BBA, she remembered making the decision with her husband to move to the complex together. "He was sick, and he said, `You're doing too much work,'" she said. "A few weeks later, he died. They called me and said, `Do you still want to come?' I told them, `More than ever, I'm coming.'"

Mrs. Cioppa enjoys distributing Communion to residents and helping with monthly Masses held at BBA with the aid of clergy from St. Clare's parish in Colonie.

Pluses

All the residents touted the complex's privacy and convenient location, the security, and the beauty of the grounds, agreeing that BBA is "like a family." But Ms. Lax told The Evangelist that it is the residents who make it so.

"I don't know how to describe the phenomenon," she said thoughtfully. "There's a very caring atmosphere here. It's a privilege to be privy to that."

On the day The Evangelist visited, a dozen residents eagerly proposed a tour of the grounds. Each pointed out her contribution to BBA: a flower garden, a crop of tomatoes and string beans, a flag for the flagpole. When one resident died some time ago, others made contributions for new flowers to keep up the garden he had planted.

Those who weren't gardeners listed other activities: for example, Edith Miller sold cards and donated items to collect funds to buy a player piano for BBA. Rose Carcia runs the "coffee club" and works at BBA's annual bake sale and bazaar. Anna Tompkins is BBA's "resident photographer," whose work is on display in the building's bustling, simply-decorated lobby.

Fun and laughter

When a shirtless construction worker was spotted working on the roof, the group gathered to point and nudge one another, joking that watching him work wouldn't be a bad activity, either. Laughter dominated the group as they teased Ms. Lax and one another, planned future projects on the grounds, and cited the many advantages of BBA over other senior apartments.

"Some places I've been to were very cold," said resident Edie May. "Everybody was sitting out on concrete; there was no patio. Here, you just look out the window and see such beautiful grounds."

"And if anyone's sick, you let the priest know and he comes right over," Ms. Cioppa put in.

Spiritual side

The spiritual needs of residents are never forgotten. In addition to Mass and Communion, pastoral care associate Sister Mary Anne Rodgers, CSJ, joined the BBA staff a year ago to provide emotional and spiritual support.

"I don't know how we ever lived without her!" Ms. Lax stated.

BBA may be a radical idea to residents, but the director believes that someday, the myriad of services it offers will be commonplace in other facilities, as well. "This is the wave of the future for the older generation," she said.

"This is our home," said several residents.

(Bishop Broderick Apartments can be reached at 869-7441; DePaul Management Corporation at 459-0183.)

(09-26-96)

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