Sharon Able is grateful to be at New Community Extended Care. She credits the facility and its staff with saving her life.
Able, 64, first came to Extended Care after suffering a stroke. She couldn’t walk and said she was also on drugs at the time.
“If it wasn’t for Extended Care, I know I would’ve been dead by now. God has given me another chance,” she said.
She participated in physical therapy at the facility and still does exercises. While she has some lasting effects from the stroke, including shaky handwriting, she’s now able to walk with a walker.
She was able to move out of Extended Care for a time, but came back due to diabetes. She has lived at the facility for a total of a few years.
“Extended Care has been a big help. Nobody likes to be confined in one place, but if I hadn’t been here, I could be dead,” she said.
Able is involved in Extended Care activities and is a social person.
“She’s very helpful and caring with older residents,” said Avril Cunningham, director of social services for Extended Care.
That includes her roommate, who Able said is like her grandmother.
“I get along with everybody,” she said. “I talk with everybody.”
Cunningham said Able is realistic and understood the need to give up her apartment to move to Extended Care. She also said Able worked hard on her recovery. “She kept going,” Cunningham said.
Through it all, Able said she has made an effort to continue to dress nicely, which she said makes her feel good.
Able is from Roselle and has lived in Elizabeth and Orange. She did clerical work for a pharmaceutical company in Union and did phone work for a taxi firm in Roselle.
She is divorced with two sons, two grandchildren and five great grandchildren, all of whom live in Elizabeth.
While Able hopes to get strong enough to move back out on her own, she appreciates Extended Care and all it’s done for her.
“You roll with the punches. You never know how life is going to go,” she said.