With the great need of finding people equipped to give Christ-centered care, there’s all the more reason to thank God for Mindy Cable.

Many readers of the RP Witness generously support the Reformed Presbyterian Home through faithful prayer and giving. The needs are many, but the Lord has provided throughout the 124 years of the RP Home’s history.

One constant and fundamental need is for skilled and dedicated personnel. The Home’s Philosophy of Care states: We believe that God has given value to each person’s life that does not diminish with age or changes in mental and physical condition.…Our goal is to provide an environment that will help each person we serve achieve his/her maximum level of physical, spiritual, mental, and social well being.

Who can truly fulfill that calling apart from the grace of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment? So, please pray that the Lord would fill open positions with people who know His grace and power. Please pray for those who already serve at the Home in so many ways, that, by God’s grace, each day they may do “their work heartily as unto the Lord” (Col. 3:23). Pray also that they might find joy and satisfaction in their work.

This article is about how the Lord did answer prayers, nearly 39 years ago, for a person to fill an open position.

On Valentine’s Day 1983, Mindy Cable began her first day of work as the part-time activity director at the Reformed Presbyterian Home. As her co-workers busily packed up their offices for the next day’s move into the new building, she found a table on which to cut out red paper hearts for a valentine party for the residents later that day.

On Dec. 31, 2021, Mindy Cable will retire. Her part-time work became full-time, with others working under her. Mindy has served the residents of the Home with joy and purpose for nearly four decades as activity director, ever since Bill Weir offered her the job. I sat down with her to hear her story.

Recalling those red hearts, Mindy smiled. Valentine’s celebrations continue, but there has been so much more. Mindy listed a sampling of her favorite memories: annual talent shows, a staff choir, country fairs, Pittsburgh Pirate games, symphony concerts, leaf-viewing trips in the fall, Christmas light tours, the Home’s own Olympic games, intergenerational events, and even overnight trips on chartered buses. Residents missing their own pets were delighted by various activities involving animals, like pet therapy visits. The McKee Dinner and Walker Christmas Dinner were festive celebrations, both funded by the generosity of their namesakes.

One category of activities deserves special mention. Over the years, numerous musicians performed at the Home, from classical pianists to banjo duets. They’ve included the Genevans and New Song, their annual concerts at the Home being fixtures in their performance calendars. Mindy herself would often play the piano, organ, or flute for various activities.

Anyone who knows Mindy will tell you that bringing music to the Home was inevitable. After all, music has always been a part of who Mindy Cable is.

As a child, Mindy dreamed of becoming a music teacher. She participated in bands, orchestras, and choirs throughout her schooling, and she enrolled at Westminster College as a music education major. Her heart was drawn, however, to helping people though music, rather than teaching. Working with autistic children as part of her academic experience strengthened that desire.

After graduation, as the Lord closed doors to teaching jobs, Mindy entered the music therapy program at Slippery Rock University. It included a six-month internship in Tallahassee, Fla., working with profoundly disabled people. The degree qualified Mindy to use music as a therapeutic tool in hospitals, prisons, special schools, or nursing homes. When the position at the Home was offered to her, Mindy believed it was the place the Lord had for her to use her love of music and her training to enrich the lives of the elderly.

As she explained, “Music has a powerful effect on people, including those living with dementia. There is a wealth of research showing music’s therapeutic value, as rhythm and melody help with things like recalling memories, increasing attention span, decreasing anxiety, promoting movement, and providing meaningful interactions.”

Mindy can tell stories of seeing this fulfilled during her years at the Home. She told of a resident who had been unresponsive for weeks. Knowing the lady’s love for the hymns she had grown up with, Mindy leaned over and sang the familiar chorus softly in her ear, “Jesus loves me, this I know,…” A tear rolled down the lady’s cheek as the familiar music reached her.

I asked Mindy about changes she witnessed over the years. She mentioned the general trend in people waiting longer to enter senior care facilities and how that affected her work. Mindy recalled that, in 1983, many residents came to the Home while still very active and able to be quite independent. With people waiting longer, the kinds of activities she plans have needed to be adjusted accordingly.

The changes at the Home are part of nationwide changes in senior residential and nursing facilities. The Home has had to keep up with increased regulation and financial pressures. This has included changes in regulations regarding activities management. Now, person-centered care is a guiding concept, so Mindy and her staff are careful to learn as much as they can about new residents’ hobbies when they first enter the Home, in order to support the individual’s interests.

A great desire of Mindy is for a person to oversee spiritual care at the Home. Except for a brief time when Ed Verbeke served as chaplain, there has not been an official position dedicated to serving the spiritual needs of this community. Mindy feels a particular burden for the spiritual needs of residents nearing death, which is part of the reality of life in a senior care facility.

Drawing on the comfort she received when her own parents passed away at another facility, Mindy asked Chaplain Verbeke to initiate a short bedside service in the moments after the death of a resident, for the comfort of the family and the staff members who had cared for the person. Mindy created a memorial board for the chapel to acknowledge those who pass away. Another project was preparing bereavement bags for families, with Nola Youngman and Jim Carson’s help.

In the absence of a chaplain, Mindy took responsibility for organizing and providing activities to encourage the spiritual life of residents and staff. During her tenure, weekly devotions were added for the nursing care residents and Bible studies on the personal care floor, besides the weekly worship services and the Wednesday evening prayer meeting. A special program is held on the National Day of Prayer. The Genevans, New Song, and other church choirs have brought sacred music to the Home.

In 2017, Mindy was instrumental in forming spiritual care teams offering one-on-one visits with residents. Then the COVID pandemic came. Mindy and her team struggled to find ways to encourage the residents during the difficult time of isolation and fear in the pandemic. As Mindy recalled:

“The pandemic affected us in so many ways, creating an environment of social isolation and loneliness as residents were required to stay in their rooms. All family and volunteer visits suddenly stopped. It was a daily challenge to not only meet their physical needs, but their emotional, mental, and spiritual needs. Keeping our beloved residents away from the virus was important, but social isolation was a high price to pay.”

Mindy and her activities staff learned how to use technology for virtual devotions, visits with loved ones, and online worship services and entertainment over the in-house TV channel, which residents could watch in their rooms. They organized efforts by volunteers and the City High interns to provide visits and programs through technology. Mindy expressed gratitude for the courtyard and deck at the Home, which allowed performers to entertain from the deck as nursing residents listened from the third-floor foyer and personal care residents from the Garden of Faith.

Mindy Cable will be truly missed when she retires, by co-workers, residents, and the families of those she served with love.

As Activity Director, she has sought to provide meaningful, enjoyable activities to foster physical, spiritual, mental, and social well-being for the residents of the RP Home, implementing the Philosophy of Care.

Mindy’s own words summarize her service so well:

“If there’s anything our beloved residents deserve, it’s to be respected and honored, to be able to keep their dignity. Each resident has a story to tell, a life to be remembered. It’s indeed been my humble God-given honor to serve the residents of the RP Home for the past 39 years. My deepest passions have been music therapy and spiritual ministry. Whatever I’ve done at the RP Home to make a difference, it’s only by God’s beautiful and loving grace. To God be the glory!”

We thank God for sending Mindy Cable to serve Him at the Reformed Presbyterian Home for nearly four decades.