My 89th Birthday and Wish for Quality of Life Improvement Here at THD

Pinoy Sweet Goodies for My Birthday from Frank and Mildred Cabunoc. 

December 1 was the start of my six months of residency here at THD. Today, the 20th is my 89th Birthday. 

I wish to extend my thanks to all your Birthday Greetings. I have several greetings from friends and relatives in the Philippines and United States. Thank you Relatives and Friends for your Greetings!

One of the greetings I will always remember is from a Fellow Chemist and Friend ( Renan Del Rosario). Renan wished me-Happy Actinium Birthday.  To Non-chemist the greetings probably does not make sense. So for information of readers of my blog, Actinium atomic number is 89. 

Here's a short lesson in Chemistry from a former Instructor of Chemistry, UP Dilman-my first job after my Bachelors Degree in Chemistry in 1955. 

"Actinium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ac and atomic number 89. It was first isolated by Friedrich Oskar Giesel in 1902, who gave it the name emanium; the element got its name by being wrongly identified with a substance André-Louis Debierne found in 1899 and called actinium. Actinium gave the name to the actinide series, a set of 15 elements between actinium and lawrencium in the periodic table. Together with polonium, radium, and radon, actinium was one of the first non-primordial radioactive elements to be isolated."  

Another first of my birthday greetings was a singing telephone greetings from Dick and Linda Botton.

If you remember, Dick's is a Cantor and had a beautiful Hanukkah Celebration just recently. Thank you Dick for your birthday song via telephone. 

 https://chateaudumer.blogspot.com/2023/12/welcome-december-hanukkah-celebration.html 

Last but not least is a very special thank you to Frank and Mildred Cabunoc for the Pinoy birthday cake/pastries that they gave me last Saturday.  I have been enjoying the rice cakes, the ube (purple yam) and pistachio pastries for the last five days. 

Here are photos of Frank and Mildred visit last Saturday.

Dodie, Ruth and Dinah are also taking me out for Dinner on the 20th -the day of my birth, 89 years ago. 

 I am very happy here at THD, but there is always room for improvement. So far so Good!!

The above is the list of the THD Staff as 12/12/23- a Total of 44 employees ( some are part time). The employees checked are my housekeeping ladies.   Please do not forget our 8 servers this Christmas. 

But before I list some of my suggestions and wishes, here are some facts on the THD community that I know.  There are 147 apartment units, some apartments are converted to offices.  And as of last month the telephone directory listed about 100 residents. There are four buildings, the Heritage, the Plaza, Liberty and Fairmount.  THD was originally built as a condominium, but converted to an active senior living community about 13 years ago ( This is just a guess). It is privately owned.    

The two main buildings- Heritage and Plaza are about 90% occupancy(just a guess). The Fairmount (my building), 1st and 3rd floors are 90% occupied, but the second floor is only about 50% occupied  (just my guess).  I was told that the Liberty Building is only 50% occupied. The good news is that more residents are expected next year, so I heard.  

Now for my suggestions and wishes :

1. Top Priority: THD should provide Emergency Generator for the Fairmount and Liberty Buildings. During the last 6 months of my residency at the Fairmount Tower,  the two buildings have been affected by 3 electrical brownouts for more than 2 hrs. Luckily the Plaza and Heritage Buildings were not affected by these 3 outages and the residents had a place to go during these brown outs. The most irritating brown out occurred last Sunday afternoon ( 12/17) during the 49er's vs Arizona NFL Game.  Unexpected Brown Outs could be a Danger to the Lives of Residents here at both the Fairmount and Liberty Buildings.  

2. I hope the Dining Menu will include an International Dish once a month beginning next year. 

3. THD Monthly Newsletter ( The Herald) be Activated and Residents Encourage to Participate. This will improve communications between residents and THD employees,

4. Residents and Staff -Get To Know-Orientation Party for New Residents Expanded-Introduced THD management not only their names/titles but a little bit of background of their Education and their Ability for Empathy to the Needs of Senior Citizens.   

5. Short Biographies of THD management be made apparent to All Residents- This will assure that Residents will feel Management Staff have empathy for their needs and well being. 

6. As far as Activities: Currently activities Here at THD, I am rating 4.5 Star.  I hope it will continue in the next year.  

A Happy PERSONAL NOTE:  THD partnership with Hillendale Home Care is an alliance that will allow professional, compassionate, and personalized health care directly into the comfortable surroundings of this active senior living community. THD management says that its mission is to enhance the residents' quality of life while encouraging and supporting the senior residents independence. I salute THD for this partnership. 

ON a Final Note:  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Safe and Prosperous New Year to ALL!

My Christmas Capiz Shell Parol ( Lantern) Imported from the Philippines with my Marble Table Lamp!
and my Christmas Flower Arrangement