Terri Lanham
Terri joined Kendal at Oberlin on September 23, 1993, just before it opened. She worked as the full-time LPN in the Health and Wellness Clinic, which was then called the Resident Care Clinic. Even with two growing daughters, she managed to work, raise her children, and continue her education to become an RN.
For fifteen years, Terri also owned her own Jazzercise Program and taught there three times a week. She is now the Care Coordinator for Kendal at Home, making sure that members’ needs are met.
Terri remembers that, in the early years, medications were hand delivered, and there was extra time to just talk even when residents were just coming in for blood pressure tests. The staff here is like family. A good example is how Rosemarie Sheffield is still a part of the group even after her accident. They all grew together, and they made time to play as well. To tease each other, they used to put mannequins in rooms for “appointments.” They even enjoyed games with residents, like the Milwaukee Brewers’ fan who came for an appointment and found that Terri had put Cleveland Indians’ paraphernalia on the ceiling just to tease him for cheering for the “wrong team.”
Terri had a key role in implementing the medical assessment e-tool, COLLAGE, here at Kendal, and also co-chaired the Staff Special Events Committee. She gives special thanks to Molly Singletary and Dr. Arora for being such good teachers. As a result, she brings even greater experience and training to her position as Care Coordinator for Kendal at Home. As friends have said, it is here that she learned to give “the shirt off her back” – which she literally had to do once when someone fell to the ground bleeding and injured.
Terri feels blessed to have gotten the job at Kendal at Home. Looking forward, she hopes that Kendal Northern Ohio stays connected but doesn’t get so big that they lose the intimacy that makes KaO so special. The trick is to stay small enough to maintain close relations with residents, and yet grow and be able to help others experience what we have known. She misses the close relationship she formed with residents here, but is glad to be making new friendships with the members she now serves and hopes they will see her as an asset. The way things are going – with projected retirement at 70 – she and her husband may need Kendal at Home before they can retire!
Terri and her husband Jerry still really like to travel. They exercise at 4:30 many mornings to help keep themselves in shape. They also have a speed boat that they enjoy taking out on Lake Erie. Terri’s daughters are now grown, and she has a three-year-old grandson, with another grandson on the way. Luckily they all live close. Her daughter’s due date is on October 4, so she may be with us only in spirit at the big 20th anniversary celebration, but she is marking her calendar.
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