Sue Founds sent a message to Takuya Nakata President and Representative Director, Yamaha Corporation that said:
Director of Yamaha Corporation:
Dear Mr. Takuya Nakatai:
I have long played pianos all over the area that have been created in your fabulous facility. As a music student, and later as a musician, I have been blessed with playing wonderful pianos for many years. Because of that it gives me pleasure to reach out to you, to tell you about my job, my residents, and the mission I have developed with them in mind. I am in the process of rebuilding Activity Programming at a non-profit nursing facility, consisting of almost 200 residents. I have been the activity director in many different facilities in the past. I have worked in CCRCâs with unlimited budgets, regular nursing homes with more average activity budgets, and very poor facilities, where you have little to no budget. I have always faced all the possibilities with the feeling that just because someone has less money it doesnât mean that they should receive less attention, or lessor activities and programming. It might mean that my staff has to work harder, or more creatively, but I am a firm believer that although we may be a small group our devotion and passion makes us mighty. I make sure that all the bases are covered, everyone receives attention, and the proper kind of attention, be it cognitive stimulation to sensory programming. A friendly face and a pups affection are free, and we watch as new memories and moments are built for our residents. Many of these residents do not have living relatives, or even friends. They have buried most of their families, and people tend to forget their loved ones are in facilities. It is heartbreaking to watch this, and we try to dispel this as much as possible. The residents have lived a long life, but they continue to live now and in the future. They do deserve complete programming with an enthusiastic and caring staff, and with a director with as much imagination as she can muster.
The blessing is that I am a professional musician, and have worked as a musician for decades. The curse is that I am now in a facility that has the worst piano I have ever seen in my entire life. There is absolutely no way to play it successfully, and it boggles the mind that it continues to exist. The frustration is that when you consider I am a musician and should be able to create music for the residents here at no additional cost, I am unable to do so because of the lack of a working piano. All the residents would like is music in their lives. This is something I am desperately interested in doing, but I am unable to do.
I try to take the job that has been entrusted for me to do, and widen the expectations. The fact that there is little money is challenging, but it does not make the residents less worthy of good and creative programming. They may have been in specific categories of wealth or lack there of for their lives, but thinking outside the box is my favorite place to think, and it doesnât take money to use imagination.
Bringing an animal rescue into our building for the residents to visit with on a monthly basis is a win-win situation. They have lost touch with their own pets, and they appreciate seeing these pets.
Bringing in music and offering it on a regular basis would be another wonderful way to humanize their existence. When I look into the beds here, or a wheelchair I see the vital person within, and the challenge is how to widen their existence for their final years. I feel strongly that Yamaha, with your help, could be a way for the residents to widen their horizons while there is still time remaining to do so. If you cannot do this, I respect that. I know you must be asked for things often, and you cannot give to all. If you are able to grant this sort of wish for these great men and ladies, it will be a pay it forward moment of un-comprehendible joy. So many have forgotten them. They have been bypassed by their beauty, their youth, and the people that they have known their whole lives. Deep within there is a desire to learn and to understand, and to continue to live with all that remains within.
You are hopefully someone who realizes that this would be a wonderful and much appreciated program, for some very deserving individuals.
And I thank you tremendously for simply reading this email.
Best Regards:
Sue Founds,
