Blue Ridge Manor Apartments

Dr. King, as you all may know, was someone who was very selfless and giving by nature. His admirable efforts along with countless others helped shape our country into a better place today.
On this important national holiday, we encourage you to follow in the noble footsteps of Dr. King. Consider using this day to give back to your own community or simply a cause that is important to you.

HELP END ALZHEIMER’S! Millennia Housing Management, Ltd. is asking our staff, friends, family, and residents to fight the horrible disease of Alzheimer’s and other dementia by raising awareness, donating funds online at any time https://bit.ly/millenniaalz My name is Mark Zimmerman, I am the manager of Blue Ridge Manor Apartments and my mother had Alzheimer’s. I had a loving mother who raised me, my sister, and my brother on her own. She believed in two things; you work for what you have and having a strong family. My mother lived at Blue Ridge Manor for 30 years and I have worked here for 40 years. I would visit my mother each morning before work and we would have breakfast and each evening as I left the property, she would be standing at her balcony door waving as I went by. Then came Alzheimer’s. I would still visit each day but noticed changes, at the time I had no idea of how much she would change and that it couldn’t be stopped. No more waving goodbye as I left the property each day, confusion about the TV remote with the telephone, confusion about her medication, and forgetting where her children lived. These are only a few examples of the changes but as time progressed, her memories of our family events and her children faded which led to eventual silence, a confused stare, and an occasional tear that would run down her face. My mother passed away at 1:00 am on December 26, 2017. Following is a poem that was given to me when my mother began to decline that really hit home and remains hanging by my desk to this day. Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease, and it doesn’t discriminate. The odds are that almost everyone will experience the effects of this disease through one or more of their family members or friends if a cure is not found. The only hope to find a cure is through donations to fund research. Time is not on our side.

For All of those living with Alzheimer’s…
A Poem by Theresa Taplin

When You Look At Me
When you Look at me I wonder if you are SEEING ME!
When you look at me I hear you say, “She doesn’t know me anymore.”
When you look at me I hear you say, “She doesn’t understand me anymore.”
When you look at me I hear you say, “She doesn’t know that I’ve come to visit or I haven’t, so it doesn’t matter.”
When you look at me I hear you say, “Isn’t she pitiful, she can’t even feed herself anymore.”
When you look at me I hear you say, “This is no way for her to live”…..but I am still here LIVING!!!
All I ask is that when you look at me that you SEE ME!! Don’t feel sorry for me because I am STILL ME!!!
Instead, when you look at me, SEE ME and come sit down next to me as if we are old friends, the kind of friends that don’t have to say a word yet understand each other, the kind of friends that would be there and do anything for each other, because when you look at me and SEE ME, you will realize that I am not pitiful and it does matter if you visit me, my heart will know that you were here….
Love ME and SEE ME!! I am not what the doctors say I have….
ALZHEIMERS!!! I am ME!!! Please see me and love me as I am today…for who I was yesterday, I still am today, yes a little changed and a little tired…but I am still here.
Theresa A. Taplin, LPN, LALA, Charlottesville, VA.

We will be closed on Friday, April 15th in observance of Good Friday. We hope you and your family have a blessed Easter.