Care Facility Is Aces
To The Editor:

This is written as a reminder to reinforce all Woodsiders and Sunnysiders that we have a great facility for our sick seniors: the Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility at 61st Street and Queens Boulevard. I recently spent for weeks there in rehab after knee replacement surgery. I can't believe how friendly and helpful the staff was- perpetual smiles it seems- feeding patients, making sure they ate, bathing them and helping them dress, always with a smile, despite a number of very difficult and cranky patients.

The staff is from all over, Thailand, South Africa, Burma [Myanmar], etc. and plenty of my favorite people, competent Filipino nurses. For my rehab, I received four hours daily of therapy, one hour physical therapy walking and knee exercises, one hour in a lively room with lively occupational therapists from Bangladesh, Egypt, Russia and the USA; then two hours on a special machine to exercise my knee.

The food took some getting used to, but even there the meals were varied, not the repetitious same old, same old. I remember some delicious red cabbage. At the end of one month, I was ready to come home. By that time, it seemed that the entire staff knew me by name. This kind of psychological therapy is as good as the physical therapy.

The nursing home has an extensive program for old and infirm people who basically do not want to be there. But they do their best to keep the residents occupied. Perfect it is not. I am sure other people have their complaints. But I loved it, I loved them, and they loved me.

I must add that the physical appearance is excellent for its 13 years, wide corridors, bright, cheerful, fresh-looking paint, no litter. Woodside is very fortunate to have the Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility.
Very truly yours,
Al Volpe