Special dose of love

AP Photo Edith Getz, LIFE Geisinger Lewistown participant, receives valentines that were handmade by local children from Brooke Penepacker, LIFE Lewistown program manager, on Valentine’s Day 2022. Edith is a resident of Lewistown.
LEWISTOWN — Participants at LIFE Geisinger Lewistown received a special dose of love this Valentine’s Day. Children at Summit Early Learning in Lewistown made 100 Valentine’s Day cards for the seniors enrolled in the program.
“Our participants love children and enjoy seeing them, but that’s become more difficult because of COVID,” said Brooke Penepacker, LIFE Geisinger Lewistown manager. “It’s such a nice gesture that children from Summit made our participants cards.”
About 90 participants received a Valentine on Monday, Feb. 14, at the center, which serves participants throughout the Juniata River Valley.
The LIFE Geisinger participants say they enjoy the program and the opportunities it offers them for activities. “I love it,” said Jim Hile of Mt. Pleasant Mills. “I do too,” chimed in Edith Getz of Lewistown. “It’s very fun and they are very respectful to me.”
“This is a great example of communities supporting each other,” Penepacker said. “It brings so much joy to our participants.”
LIFE Geisinger supports adults 55 and older who would otherwise be confined to a nursing home so they can continue to live independently in their own homes. Through Geisinger’s capabilities as a full-service health system, the program provides specialized senior health and medical care, as well as a range of daily activities to enhance participants’ quality of life.
Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves.
Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes 10 hospital campuses, a health plan with more than half a million members, a research center and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. With nearly 24,000 employees and more than 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at geisinger.org.