Residents at Provision Living in St. Louis Hills range in age from 59 to 104 years old
Jerome (Jerry) Bielicke is one of the youngest residents currently at Provision Living in St. Louis Hills Assisted Living Community and he is anything but typical. Next month, on Christmas Day, Jerry and his twin brother, will celebrate their 62nd birthdays.
“At first, when I came here, I thought, ‘Geez, I’m only 61 and I am hanging around with all of these 80, 90 and 100 year old people.’ I don’t think I even knew anyone who was 100 years old before I came here. There are at least a dozen people that are at least 100 years old,” said Bielicke.
Bielicke chose Provision Living after a four month stay in a rehabilitation facility, where he received therapy to regain the strength in his legs, lost, due to health issues. When it came time to leave rehab, Bielicke realized that he wasn’t quite able to completely care for himself. Assisted living was the best solution.
“I had gotten the strength in my legs back with the therapy and was able to walk with a walker, but I still needed some help with some things. I still didn’t have the strength in my legs to be confident to be on my own climbing the stairs to my apartment, driving or anything like that,” said Bielicke.
After moving to Provision Living, Bielicke has continued with physical and occupational therapy at the community. He said he is “doing great.”
Location was an important factor for Bielicke when began looking at assisted living communities. After looking at a few St. Louis assisted living options, Bielicke found Provision Living, which is conveniently located in the desirable St. Louis Hills neighborhood, close to his family and friends. One of Bielicke’s good friends lives right across the street.
“It was still in the city of St. Louis, not way out in the county, too far out where friends and relatives would have to drive a great distance to help me with anything. Just about anything you could possibly want is here, stores, banks, restaurants. The hospital and my doctor’s offices are only 15 minutes away,” said Bielicke. “It is in a great neighborhood and in a great area,” he added.
It might be a mistake to overlook the option of senior living for younger seniors. In Bielicke’s case, he enjoys not only the central location of Provision Living, but also the community’s happy hours, live entertainment every Friday and when weather permits, picnics in the park. And Bielicke confessed, one of his favorite things about living at Provision Living is the delicious food the chef and staff serve every day.
“The food is great. They have two dishes and if you like the side dish from one, instead of the one that’s supposed to come with it, they are good to adjust it. All of the cooks and servers are very, very nice,” said Bielicke.
Bielicke enjoys meeting new people and he always brings something to mealtimes, besides his appetite.
“Of course, I am known for getting people to smile. I have made it a point to get to know everyone by their first name and sometimes their last name. Some of them have just closed off to everybody; I have gotten them to say hi back,” said Bielicke. “I always bring something to the table for breakfast, lunch or dinner, like trivia questions or we will play hangman without the hangman guy. I have a little dry erase board I pop out. I pass the board around and they try to guess the letters,” he said.
When Bielicke was younger, he earned a journalism degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He worked in radio for 28 years. He was the program director for the Radio Information Service, a radio station that broadcast to visually impaired people.
“It was a daily reading service that read newspapers, books and magazines. We had special talk shows and special guests that would help listeners,” said Bielicke.
As a non-profit organization, funding was tight. In 2005, Bielicke was informed his position was cut from the budget. He was 55 years old and out of work.
“I thought, ‘What am I going to do now’? I ended up going to work for Kinko’s. It was like starting at square one. I went back down to 8 bucks an hour,” said Bielicke. “That took a lot of adjustment. I worked for Kinko’s for five years, but like I said, I enjoyed it thoroughly, but there was no money in it,” he said.
When Bielicke first moved to Provision Living, he hoped he could return home once he was fully recovered. Now, his focus has changed from finding a way to go back home to finding a way to stay at Provision Living.
“I love it here. I wish I could live here from here on out. It’s got everything I could possibly want,” said Bielicke. “I don’t know how long I will be here. I guess until my money runs out. I am not a wealthy person and I have to dip into my retirement funds just to pay for my monthly rent each month. So, it might be another 5 or 6 months or longer depending on how my stock or whatever stuff goes up or down,” he said.
Bielicke enjoys writing articles for the Provision Living community monthly newsletter, compiling Christmas CDs for friends and family, conducting video interviews with other residents and shooting photos when he is not starting a new club for residents or offering suggestions that make things better at the community.
(Image courtesy of hollywoodhollows on Flickr)