Welcome Suzette!
The Market community is excited to welcome Suzette – Heritage House‘s new Activities Supervisor! A program of Providence Health & Services, Heritage House is an assisted living facility for our most fragile senior residents in the heart of the Market. Suzette brings years of experience in planning activities for seniors and she is already creating waves among the senior residents there. Suzette shared her favorite part of the job: “Meeting people who don’t know their own powers or interests and with a little push, watching them come alive.”
One of the opportunities that Suzette has been most excited about is the ability to partner with The Market Commons on fun activities. Heritage House residents were clamoring to sign up for Cuddle for a Cause which was an opportunity for residents to spend time with rescue pups at The Market Commons.
As Suzette explained, while some residents are quite independent, others take a bit more coaxing. The fact that The Market Commons is right next door and offers programs that they can easily partake in expands their world and makes them feel a part of the Market Community. Other popular programs at The Market Commons have been Tech Support 101 and Coloring for Calm.
Heritage House says farewell to a beloved Market resident
Heritage House suffered a loss earlier this month with the passing of one of their beloved residents – Rick Cavanaugh. Rick was a long time Market community member, having worked in the Market fresh out of high school.
After suffering from a stroke it became harder for Rick to work in the Market. Luckily, he had already established a relationship with Heritage House and so when he turned 62 he moved into assisted living. Jennifer Herman, the director of Heritage House told us, “When there are Market folks who identify Pike Place Market as home, we want them to be able to stay here after they stop working.”
Living in Heritage House provided the proximity that Rick needed to cruise around the Market in his motorized wheelchair – allowing him to preserve many important relationships and stay connected to his community.
After Rick passed away The Market Commons offered their space for the memorial, which made it easy for Market community members and Heritage House residents to attend. A community is made up of its individual members. It is always hard to loose one of the unique threads that creates the fabric of Pike Place Market. Rick left an impact on both the place and the people here and will be remembered.