Horsham Lions Club: Sunrise Assisted Living

Pictured seated is Amber DeBonza. Pictured standing (L to R) is Christen Egan, Sharon Damsker, and Ed Corbeil We were contacted very recently by Sharon Damsker, director of community relations for Sunrise Assisted Living in Dresher. Their new facility has opened recently, and is starting to accept new residents.

The Sunrise home in Dresher is pioneering a new program, named Bradford View. These assisted living apartments are customized for seniors with low vision. Great detail has been given to the choice of fabrics, colors, layout, and design of these apartments, so that residents with low vision can enjoy a better quality of life. Staff and care managers are specially trained to assist residents with low vision. Activities are also tailored to meet these residents’ special needs. Vision specialists were consulted to make this program unique and beneficial.

Sharon and her team would like to make this new program known to the community, and chose to help spread the message by contacting the Horsham Lions club. In addition, being an organization which strives to encourage and support service organizations such as the Lions, Sunrise has several partnership ideas which we are going to be working on together.

(1) Sunrise is going to be placing eyeglass collection boxes in all of their facilities in this region. There are currently 14 of these homes, and more are on the way. The eyeglasses will be collected and donated to the Lions Club in each home’s region. We will help put them in contact with the proper clubs.

(2) Sunrise of Dresher held a fundraiser for the Lions Club on August 24th at the Garden Golf center on Upper State Road in North Wales. Sunrise did this to increase exposure for the Lions, as well as increasing awareness of their new low-vision apartments. We got to meet and speak with Sharon and other Sunrise staff, and learned quite a bit about the Bradford View program. In addition, Sunrise donated 50 pair of eyeglasses to our club.

(3) Sunrise will be hosting one of our meetings in the near future. We will get to meet the staff and tour the facility. Look for information in upcoming newsletters.

(4) Sunrise of Dresher has expressed interest in starting a new branch club of the Horsham Lions in their location. As you may know, branch clubs are an excellent way to increase membership and keep Lionism strong.

In the photo, Sharon, Christen, and Amber are all members of Sunrise's community relations team. Ed is the executive director of Sunrise at Dresher.