This made me smile. I just heard about a wonderful exhibit at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee. “Art from the Heart” is a display of artwork from 35 nursing home and assisted living residents from throughout Florida. The elderly residents created the artwork as entries for the Florida Health Care Association’s “Art from the Heart” 2009 calendar competition. According to a news release from the FHCA, some of the artists have been creating art their entire lives, while others have recently discovered their talent. Some of the individuals who submitted pieces for this year’s calendar include:

• 82-year old Helene Kereluk’s passion is painting, as demonstrated by her “St. John’s River” artwork featured on the 2009 calendar cover. She studied art in Chicago and continued her studies after moving to DeLand, Florida, where today she resides at The Cloisters independent and assisted living facility (ALF) and teaches a monthly class for her fellow residents.
• 84-year old Sally Darcangelo never realized her natural talent for painting, ceramics and crafts until entering Palm Garden of Pinellas in Largo, where she has lived for over a year. Her “Starry Night” painting is the featured artwork for May.
• 56-year old Bruce Landers is a C5, 6, 7 quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the chest down and has no hand or finger function. He used a hand adaptation to create his “Lighthouse Keepers Home” painted jigsaw puzzle that is the featured artwork for September. Bruce resides at Park Meadows Health and Rehabilitation Center in Gainesville.

The artwork will be on display in the Museum’s Heritage Gallery through September 7. The 2009 Art from the Heart calendars sold for $7 each, with proceeds used toward FHCA’s Quality Credentialing Foundation. The Foundation focuses on improving services and quality care for those living in Florida’s nursing homes by offering long term care providers mentoring, information and resource sharing and advocacy. The Foundation also promotes increased customer satisfaction and employee retention in long term care facilities and offers continuing education and scholarships for long term care nurses, nursing assistants (CNAs) and other professional staff.

For a comprehensive searchable database of senior living facilities in Florida, visit Florida Senior Living Advisor.

Tags: "Art from the Heart", assisted living facility, florida assisted living facility, Florida Health Care Association, Florida Nursing Homes, Florida Senior Living Advisor, nursing home

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