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10 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2023 By Andrea Henderson What does a person do in retirement after spending a lifetime helping others? A. J. Reilly, RN and Four Seasons resident, decided that she needed to keep on doing what she has done her whole life — helping others and creating opportunities for others to do the same. "I believe that if God has given you a talent, you need to share that knowledge with others in some way," A.J. (Alva Jane) said. She is not tending to the sick any more as a critical care nurse, but is assisting the residents of this community in such a way that when and if we need medical care, it is available quickly and expertly. "Usually, I don't tell people I am a nurse because, just like doctors, it elicits a litany of illness symptoms and medical history. And then one New Year's Eve, after we'd been here a while, I got a call from my sister-in-law that my brother was at home with chest pain and refused to go to the hospital. I talked with him, and he was having heart issues that finally required a stint," she said. After two other incidents nearby, one resulting in a heart attack death, made her think that something was telling her that she needed to be more proactive. As a result, she is teaching Hands-Only CPR and AED classes the fourth Sunday of each month from 12 to 1 pm and 1 to 2 pm. Sign-ups are in The Lodge. The classes will include an explanation of the AED devices' locations and a demonstration of how to use them. A.J. will be using the manikins that she was instrumental in getting for the community. She came up with the idea for a contest to bring further awareness to the CPR classes. A Name-the-Manikin contest was held with the winner announced in the June issue of the Breeze. "We had a lot of clever and funny entries, but the winning one has meaning for us as well as a creative name," she said. In addition to her work with CPR, A.J. is a part of a team of three Neighborhood Watch block captains, and has organized her block into an aware, friendly group of people. Her team has organized several block meetings to help residents get to know each other. She has even presented new residents with a box of lighted candy canes because she was instrumental in encouraging people to decorate their homes for the holidays with candy canes and other lights. They have won the best-lit street award for three years. Not being kept busy enough, A.J. is on the newly-combined Safety and EPC committee, while outside the community, she's a member of ChildHelp, an organization that works with foster children. A five-year resident on Songbird Lane, she and her husband, Steve, moved here to be near children and grandchildren. She feels that they live in paradise and is certainly keeping busy here. She sums up her time here trying to "live a life with no regrets." A.J. Reilly: A Purpose-Driven Retirement RESIDENT BUSY BEES FEATURE A. J. Reilly, RN and CPR instructor