Barney Honored With Fannie Frank Distinguished Employee Award

CANTON – When you oversee maintenance for four different buildings, people are used to seeing you when something is wrong. Keshia Barney, this year’s Fannie Frank Distinguished Employee Award Winner, makes sure those aren’t the only times that people see her.

“In Keshia’s role, when things go wrong, she is often the first one to be called. She also fields any complaints that have to do with cleaning, laundry, temperatures, floors, supplies, or anything else related to environmental services,” said United Helpers Vice President of Operations Timothy Parsons. “She is always quick to respond and solve whatever problems she can, often by taking care of them herself.”

Although Ms. Barney doesn’t technically work as a caregiver, Mr. Parsons said it is her goal to take care of others.

“She can be observed wrapping gifts for residents during the holidays, working on the float for the Dairy Festival Parade and even scrubbing floors, sometimes on her hands and knees.” he said. “She is an unspoken example of a true team player who will do anything for anyone and we are honored to be able to recognize her in this manner.

While United Helpers has many different employee honors, most of those awards are for people working in direct care. The Fannie Frank Distinguished Employee Award gives Mr. Parsons an opportunity to recognize an outstanding employee even if they do not work in direct care.

The Fannie Frank Award was established in 2019 by Dr. Edward Gordon and his wife, Barbara, who are both former United Helpers volunteers and board members.

Dr. Gordon grew up in New York City in close proximity to his grandmother and credits her with instilling in him a love of animals that would eventually lead to his career as a veterinarian.

“We were like clones of each other,” Dr. Gordon said. “Everything she liked I liked.”

Mrs. Frank would spend the final two-and-a-half years of her life in a skilled nursing facility and it’s that time that inspired Dr. Gordon to create this award.

“Unfortunately, the home she was in was so unlike United Helpers. When I saw the quality of care received by people at United Helpers, I was impressed and I wanted to create this award as a way to thank people like you for doing all that you do.” Dr. Gordon said to Ms. Barney when presenting the award.

The award includes a cash bonus and is awarded based on the following criteria:

• A remarkably caring demeanor
• Currently employed at United Helpers Rehabilitation and Senior Care
• Continuous employment with United Helpers for two or more years

Holding a picture of his beloved grandmother, Dr. Edward Gordon calls the Fannie Frank Distinguished Employee Award presentation “one of my favorite things each year.” This year, Dr. Gordon presented the award to United Helpers Rehabilitation and Senior Care Maintenance Coordinator Keshia Barney, of Hermon. Front row, from left, United Helpers Vice President of Operations Timothy Parsons, Rehabilitation and Senior Care Assistant Administrator Alysha Troiano; second row, Dr Gordon, Ms. Barney and Barbara Gordon.

Retired Teacher Settling Down at ISL After Living All Over

CANTON – William Eustis was born in Chicago, grew up in Hammond and is now residing at United Helpers Independent Senior Living in Canton.

In between Chicago and Canton though there were plenty of other stops along the way including “downstate,” where he began his teaching career and four other states, where he and his wife, Frances spent time during retirement.

“We spent time in Colorado, Montana, Washington and Arizona,” he said, adding that his wife passed away in 2018.

A few years after she passed, Mr. Eustis returned home to Northern New York, where he has spent the past several years living along the St. Lawrence between Ogdensburg and Morristown.

“I started losing all of my friends and I don’t really have any family around here,” he said. “All I’ve got left is two children and neither of them live in the area.” His daughter resides in Cape Cod, while his son lives in Waterloo, Ill.   

William Eustis enjoys a book in the library.

Mr. Eustis then began looking for a place where he could settle down, make some new friends and enjoy the remaining years of his retirement without having to worry about maintaining a home and its surrounding property.

When asked if he knew anyone who lived in the building prior to moving to Independent Senior Living in September, he said the answer that is not as simple as it may seem.

Community Housing Manager Jennifer Dean invited him to the building’s annual summer picnic and it was there that he discovered Janet Stitt also lived there.

“She used to babysit our children,” he said. “It’s just one of those crazy things. I didn’t know she lived here until I saw her at the picnic this past summer.”

Mr. Eustis has lived in the building for nearly six months now, moving in shortly after the picnic, and he said he is very much enjoying everything Independent Senior Living has to offer.

“The people are all very friendly, including the staff and other members and the food is fantastic,” he said. “That’s just what I needed.”

Mr. Eustis also enjoys many of the building’s scheduled activities, which earlier this year included a visit from Ogdensburg-native, turned Hollywood actor Mark Valley.

“I didn’t know Mark personally, but his dad and I taught together at Ogdensburg Free Academy,” he said.

He is also a regular visitor to the in-house library, where he enjoys searching for his next read.

If you would like to schedule a tour of United Helpers Independent Senior Living, please reach out to Mrs. Dean at (315) 379-1428 or via email at jadean@unitedhelpers.org. A virtual tour is also available at www.unitedhelpers.org.