Talented Amsterdam Nursing Home Residents Thank Leadership and More

When you see, speak, and listen to 94-year-old Rhoda Rosen from Howard Beach, you question yourself, "Is she really 94 years old?" Rhoda is the pure definition of wisdom, wit with a dynamic personality. She is extremely talented when she plays the piano in the Amsterdam Nursing Home lobby lounge, tells stories with great pleasure, and is a loving mother of her two sons and she also praises her daughter-in-law. She describes her as being "full of knowledge," chose Amsterdam due to the high ratings and because it was close to her and her husband. At this 409-bed skilled nursing facility on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Rhoda is at ease these days due to the overall personal care she continues to receive at this five-star nursing facility. Ms. Rosen, who was first admitted to Amsterdam in March 2021 after a fall, tells stories about how Administrator Moshe Blackstein and his team responded instantly when she needed her quilt dry cleaned and her shower head fixed. She's amazed because, for such a large and thriving facility, Moshe and his team took the time out because all they wanted to do was keep Rhoda smiling.

“I have to tell you that the administration in this place, Moshe, is the most human person, with the way he treats everybody, and you can approach him," said Ms. Rosen. "He is very approachable, you can ask him anything and tell him things. There’s something about his personality....he truly cares.”

In 2021, Ms. Rosen, who suffers from congestive heart failure, fell in her Howard Beach home and broke her hip. She was taken to and operated on the next day at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in Flushing. Luckily and happily, the surgery went well, even though she needed the help of a wheelchair. Later, she was sent to rehab at Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home and then returned home with an aide. Rhoda was not out of the woods.

Not long after, she developed a Urinary Track Infection (UTI), where she found that her thinking was a bit off and, according to her, she was "practically unconscious." Ms. Rosen's youngest son, who lives in Manhattan, got her to go to New York Presbyterian Hospital, was put on an antibiotic, and following that stay, she needed rehabilitation. In May of that same year, Rhoda returned to Amsterdam Nursing Home. Rhoda doesn't remember much of being admitted saying that she was brought in unconscious. She later praised the nursing staff, “they got me back to life; before that, I couldn’t sit up in a chair, I would pass out, I couldn’t do anything.” This was all because of the UTI where she had a tube in her back, describing her situation as "a mess." In addition to nursing, therapy also jumped in.

“With the tube in my back, you wouldn’t even know it was me," Rosen remembers. "Little by little, these people on the floor where I am, they brought me back to life, they made me sit up. They have PTs (physical therapists), two of them, I passed out."

Therapy started kicking in, and the more she became conscious, the more active she became, getting involved more with different activities. Rhoda was very thankful and, as she says, laughing, "became very friendly with everybody."

Sadly and understandably, Ms. Rosen had to sell her house due to her life changes. She's concerned about one of her sons who is dealing with a medical condition, but she perks up when mentioning that her 97-year-old brother, who also plays the piano, visits her. All in all, where Rhoda is now has been a saving grace to her.

“I’m very lucky to have been in a place like this, and even though I can mostly do everything myself these days, they (staffers) are here for you, and that's reassuring every day."

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Born in 1948, 76-year-old Amsterdam Nursing Home resident Andrei Kulyk was a fixture in the world of New York City ballet for decades. Originally from Ukraine, Mr. Kulyk has been happily married to his wife Stephanie for 44 years since 1980, and she is also a big part of New York's ballet scene. They lived in the East Village on 7th Street before Andrei's health changed.

In 2021, paramedics took him to NYU Langone after he had suffered a stroke that left him with aphasia. Although not paralyzed, he needed to use crutches to get around. Even at that time, Andrei was still an excellent reader and writer, but he needed to get speech therapy due to that stroke. Later, but gradually, dementia started setting in. Stephanie began to notice that her husband started to wander, doing funny things, walking where he shouldn’t, and putting the cat food in the teapot. They hired an at-home aide in the house to help out, but last year, Andrei he fell backward at home and was taken to Mount Sinai Beth Israel. By early March of 2023, he was transferred to Amsterdam Nursing Home, where he had his speech therapy. His dementia had gotten the better of him, and he became disinterested in speech therapy, and he understandably doesn't embrace it.

Stephanie, who visits Andrei every day, does so much with him. Even though he receives physical therapy, she walks and talks with him and shares what's happening these days, but again, his mind wanders due to dementia. Like Rhoda, Andrei also plays the piano, but very little these days. What's important, though, according to Stephanie, is that Andrei gets so much psychological stimulation at Amsterdam Nursing, and it is perfect for his condition.

"Recreation is best here, and at 2:30, there’s always something," said Stephanie Kulyk. "They all know him here. He’s very sociable, and the recreation is great for him, very stimulating."

Following his time as a ballet dancer, Mr. Kulyk taught ballet dancing at the Joffrey Ballet School - American Ballet Center on 6th Avenue in Manhattan. He also taught some dance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts at 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. In addition to ballet, Andrei is also a character dancer and, according to Stephanie, he used to make theatrical footwear in a shop on 7th Street, mostly for folk dance companies because they needed a soft sole. Andrei supplied his footwear for Broadway, "The Will Rogers Follies," and the Charles Blackwell musical "The Tap Dance Kid." All in all, Stephanie praises her husband.

"Andrei is a brilliant man, and he was also a historian who received a full scholarship from NYU," she says. "He spoke four languages with a beautiful accent: English, Russian, Ukrainian, and some Polish."

Stephanie, who also teaches dance at Joffrey and other schools, did her dancing at the city opera and at the Met, and more than 44 years ago, they had met through dancing. Today, Andrei and Stephanie are still together, and Amsterdam Nursing Home doesn't come between them, instead it has welcomed both of them. One can easily notice the love and the world they still share.