University Express is coming back to The GreenFields!
University Express is a program designed to enhance the lives of older adults through lifelong learning. Each “semester,” a variety of content experts will present on various topics including history, arts and humanities, health, science, and current affairs. RSVP for classes by calling (716) 684-8400.
Each class is held at GreenField Manor, Richard Siebold Auditorium at 5953 Broadway in Lancaster unless otherwise noted. Below is the schedule of classes for the Spring of 2018:
Thursday, April 26th – 1:00p: Strong to the Core
Instructor: Bob O’Malley, Excelsior Orthopaedics
Strong core muscles – the ones in your abdomen, back and hips – improve posture and balance, and so help you avoid falls. Strengthening your core increases stability for safe and effective movement, improves posture and reduces pain in the lower back. On the other hand, having a weak core can undermine everyday life motions like walking, bending, turning, bathing, and dressing. Learn some simple core-strengthening exercises that you can do at home. It’s never too late to strengthen your core!
Wednesday, May 2nd – 1:30p: The Larkin Soap Company
Instructor: Shane Stephenson
The Larkin Soap Company was founded in 1875 in Buffalo as a small soap factory. Its tremendous growth through the first quarter of the 20th century is attributed to its unique marketing approach called “The Larkin Idea” that transformed the company into a mail-order conglomerate that employed 4,000 people and had annual sales of $28.6 million (equivalent to $341,917,000 in 2016) in 1920. The company’s success allowed them to hire Frank Lloyd Wright to design the iconic Larkin Administration Building which stood as a symbol of Larkin prosperity until the company’s demise in the 1940s. Instructor: Shane E. Stephenson, Business Services specialist in Workforce Development; Library and Archives Technician Buffalo History Museum; business owner, Archives in the Buff.
Tuesday, May 8th – 1:30p: The Guaranty Building
Instructor: Harry Meyer, Docent and Lecturer of WNY History and Architecture
The Guaranty Building, completed in 1895, is recognized as one of the masterpieces of Louis Sullivan, probably the most important American architect of the 19th century and acknowledged today as the “Father of the Skyscraper.” In the 1890s the skyscraper was a new and uniquely American building type.
Monday, May 14th – 1:30p: Maintaining Mental Well-Being
Instructor: Melanie Washington, BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York
New Year’s resolutions often focus on improving physical health, but what if you focused on mental health this year? We’ll discuss things you can do that can help you elevate your mood, become more resilient, and enjoy life more. But just as it requires effort to build and maintain physical health, so it is with mental health.
Tuesday, May 15th – 1:30p: 20th Century Americana: Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood
Instructor: Jean Serusa, Certified NYS Art Educator; Docent at Burchfield Penney Art Center
Gain more insight into the times that produced Grant Wood’s iconic “American Gothic” and Norman Rockwell’s magazine illustrations for “Saturday Evening Post” depicting everyday life in mid-America with humor and insight. Realism, Regionalism and Reminiscence of the times and places these artists knew best? All may NOT be what you see, or thought it was!
Monday, May 21st – 1:30p: Wellness with a Purpose for Older Adults: An interactive approach to improving daily living
Instructor: Marla Walker, Senior Coordinator, YMCA Buffalo Niagara
Add purpose to exercise! One of the latest trends in fitness terms is “functional fitness” – exercising for real life activities, not events. This interactive approach will help you to recognize that exercise for older adults should directly translate to improving your daily activities, whatever that may be. It might be staining the deck, painting a room, rearranging furniture, picking up groceries or a grandchild, or going up and down stairs. We’ll explore how exercise is the tool to enjoying what life has to offer!
Tuesday, May 22nd – 1:00p: The Conversation Project
Instructor: Sandra Lauer, RN, Director of Continuum of Care at ECMC; Dr. Katie Grimm, Physician, Supportive Care and Palliative Medicine at ECMC; Elder Wiggins, Chaplain at Terrace View Long Term Care
The Conversation Project is a national campaign to encourage people to talk to loved ones about their wishes for future care, to make sure their end-of-life wishes are expressed and respected. It means talking with family and friends, especially the person who will speak for you if you cannot speak for yourself in the event of a serious illness or an unexpected event. The Project helps you to get the conversation started, whether you are getting ready to tell someone else what you want, or you want to help someone else get ready to share their wishes.
Friday, May 25th – 1:30p: The Silver Tsunami
Instructor: Larry Zielinski, Executive in Residence, Health Care Administration, University at Buffalo, School of Management Jacobs Management Center; Past President of Buffalo General Hospital
Our current nursing home system tends to create sterile, lifeless environments for our elders, which in turn fosters loneliness and boredom. Advocates call for a culture change in the way we build and operate senior housing in order to make our loved ones’ lives healthier, livelier and more meaningful. We’ll examine models such as the Eden Alternative that move decision-making closer to the elders themselves, and create a vibrant, empowered existence for the elders they serve and the people who work closely with them.
Tuesday, May 29th – 1:30p: Evolution of the Modern Orchestra
Instructor: Brett Shurtliffe, Principal Musician, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Brett Shurtliffe, associate principal double bass of the BPO, shares the progression from the earliest orchestral ensembles to today’s modern symphony orchestra. With a special focus on his own instrument’s predecessor, the ancient viol, Brett will share his insights on how the advancing technical capabilities and the changing social constructs of the times led to the orchestra we know and love today.
Wednesday, May 30th – 1:30p: Understanding Immunotherapy
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Repasky, Professor of Oncology, Department of Immunology, The Dr. William Huebsch Professorship in Immunology, Co-Leader, Cell Stress and Biophysical Therapies CCSG Program, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Immunotherapy is a new class of cancer treatment that works to harness the innate powers of your own immune system to fight cancer. Immunotherapy can use your own immune system in two ways: Power up your immune system so it is stronger and better able to fight cancer; and enhance or alter your cells to target and attack cancer cells. Because of the immune system’s unique properties, these immunotherapies may hold greater potential than current treatment approaches to fight cancer.
Friday, June 1st – 1:30p: Othello
Instructor: Jim Banko
Othello has been called a study into the potency of evil. Evil always radiates from the demonic Iago, who manipulates and eventually destroys Othello. We’ll examine the many ways that evil is conveyed, and how it affects everything and everybody in the play.
Tuesday, June 5th – 1:30p: Inside The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit
Instructor: Mike Liwicki, retired FBI special agent specialized in foreign counterintelligence and espionage; currently Director, Corporate Security and Administrative Services at BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York
Hear how the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (think of the TV show, Criminal Minds) investigates special cases and how non-verbal communication (body language) plays a role in solving complex cases. We will discuss how body language played a role and how it was used in the last presidential debates between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton.
Wednesday, June 13th – 1:30p: The Wizard’s Duel: Supernatural Storytelling from Celtic and Celtic-American Tradition
Instructor: Mason Winfield, acclaimed author, storyteller, and founder of Haunted History Ghost Walks, Inc.
America’s ethnic groups have not only distinct natural cultures; they have colorful supernatural folk-traditions, too, that often last to this day in family report. While the fairies, banshees, leprechauns and curses of the Old World don’t seem to have crossed the Atlantic in their classic forms, something answering to them can occasionally be found in the paranormal report of Western New York. “The Wizard’s Duel” is an entertaining and sometimes riotous mix of contemporary Irish, Scottish, and Welsh American supernatural stories with a handful of selected Celtic tales upon the same themes.
Tuesday, June 19th – 1:30p: A Life in Theatre
Instructor: Vincent O’ Neill, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Irish Classical Theatre
Vincent O’ Neill will discuss his career in theatre from when as a young boy he attended drama school , to training in Paris with the world’s greatest mime-artist, Marcel Marceau, touring the world as a member of Ireland’s celebrated national theatre company, The Abbey, to creating his own one-man-show, to founding his own mime company, running a theatre school and repertory company with his brother in Ireland, his emigration to the USA, settling in Buffalo and co-founding the Irish Classical Theatre Company. He will also discuss his acting and directing experiences, and explain how an actor creates a role, bringing a character to life in the journey from page to stage. At the end of his informal talk, he will open up the floor to any questions from the audience.
Wednesday, June 20th – 10:00a: Good Bugs – Part 1
Instructor: Jennifer Johnson, wellness coordinator, BlueCross BlueShield of Western NY
Learn how good and bad bacteria affect our gut and impact digestive and immune systems. We will define probiotics and prebiotics and discuss where to find them in foods as well as supplements and how to choose a good one.
Friday, June 22nd – 1:30p: Jerusalem: Then and Now
Instructor: Maxine Seller, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education and adjunct in the Department of History, University at Buffalo
The status of Jerusalem remains a crucial issue in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For Israelis, all of Jerusalem, including the Old City and its eastern suburbs, is their “eternal and indivisible” capital. For Palestinians, East Jerusalem is a symbol of their national struggle and home to Islam’s third-most sacred site, the al-Aqsa mosque, and the nearby glittering Dome of the Rock. The U.N. maintains that Jerusalem must be the capital of both Israel and Palestine—living side-by-side in peace and security, with arrangements for the holy sites acceptable to all—for peace in the Middle East to be achieved. We’ll examine the history of this divided and holy city, and where people representing both the Jewish Israelis and the Palestinians seem to be now, and why.
Monday, June 25th – 1:30p: Salvadore Dali
Instructor: Jean Serusa, Certified NYS Art Educator; Docent at Burchfield Penney Art Center
Salvador Dalí is among the most versatile and prolific artists of the twentieth century and the most famous Surrealist. A true Renaissance man, he also dabbled in many other mediums such as cinema, sculpture, fashion design, and writing. He approached everything he did in life, from art to interviews to facial hair, in an equally individualistic way. His eccentricity earned him a reputation as a genius, a lunatic, and a gimmick, though he didn’t seem to really care about what anyone thought of him. He is remembered as one of the greatest and most intriguing artists to have ever lived.
Tuesday, June 26th – 1:30p: Threats to the Great Lakes
Instructor: Dave Rosenthal, Managing Editor, Great Lakes Today, WBFO
The Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water supply and are one of the most ecologically diverse ecosystems on earth. More than 30 million people depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water, and millions more benefit from the commerce and business that depends on the waters of the Great Lakes. Although the Lakes are significantly cleaner today than they were during the era of heavy industry, the health of our Lakes is threatened by problems such as climate change, untreated sewage and invasive species. We’ll examine the impact of some of these threats, and how these can be mitigated.
Wednesday, June 27th – 1:30p: A Day at the Office: Orchestra Edition
Instructor: Tim Smith, Principal Musician, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Join BPO trombonist Tim Smith for a presentation illuminating the unseen operation of the orchestra. He will focus on musicians’ onstage communication through breathing, eye contact, body language, etc. He will also share insights on rehearsal procedure, working with guest artists and how he manages the multiple folders of repertoire that the BPO performs week in and week out. Get an inside look at the unique work environment of an orchestra musician.
Thursday, June 28th – 6:00p (GreenField Health & Rehabilitation Center Auditorium, 5949 Broadway, Lancaster): Shoulder or Knee Pain?
Instructor: Dr. Adam Burzynski, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Excelsior Orthoapedics
Do you have nagging knee or shoulder pain? Join orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Adam Burzynski, as he discusses osteoarthritis, joint preservation and the latest in surgical and conservative treatment options.
Friday, June 29th – 1:30p: Have a Heart-to-Heart with Cardiologist, Salvatore Calandra, MD
Instructor: Dr. Salvatore Calandra, Cardiologist and Partner, Mobile Primary Healthcare
Join renowned cardiologist, Salvatore Calandra, for an interactive discussion on preventing and treating heart disease! Dr. Calandra will address risk factors, knowing your numbers, what to talk to your doctor about and the steps that you can take to get heart healthy. There will be a Q&A session, so bring your questions for the doctor!
About The GreenFields Continuing Care Community:
The GreenFields Continuing Care Community in Lancaster, NY provides residential living at GreenField Manor and assisted living at GreenField Court. GreenField Terrace provides memory care and enhanced assisted living. GreenField Health & Rehabilitation Center provides 24-hour skilled nursing care, dementia care, respite care and myriad rehabilitation services.
