The holidays are a time of family togetherness. Regardless of political, cultural, or religious ideology, caring people put aside their differences to spend time with their family and loved ones.
One of the biggest concerns people have before holiday parties is making conversation with family members. If you have a relative who aggresively brings politics into every conversation, for example, you might feel uncomfortable talking with them. But since this isn't a politics blog, that's not what we're going to talk about today.
If you'll be spending some time with an elderly loved one in the next few weeks, you may be feeling some anxiety about it. Many elderly people become less communicative then they've been in the past, or maybe they've never been chatty. They may have the beginnings of dementia, or advanced hearing loss, making it hard to hold a conversation with them.
Assuming your loved one is intellectually aware and able to talk, here are some great conversation starters to enhance your holidays—or any day:
Asking these questions, listening to the responses, and thoughtfully responding is the greatest gift you can give to your elderly loved one. In addition, it will take care of those holiday worries about long awkward silences between you and your elderly loved one.
Aging in place is a long-term care trend increasing in popularity. And for good reason, too. It’s an enticing prospect to grow old in the comforts of your own home, surrounded by your loved ones and prized possession.
It’s just this picture that the various aging-in-place organizations paint for seniors. They say seniors can have it all: superior healthcare, familiar environment, and the freedom to make their own choices. And many seniors do start off their retirement that way.
At a certain point, though, it becomes clear that moving to a long-term care community is the best choice seniors can make for themselves. Nursing homes today are increasingly home-like and comfortable—but they offer several distinct advantages over aging-in-place arrangements.
Here are four things we at Regency Nursing Centers can guarantee:
Seniors living at home are vulnerable to many dangers. Falls, fires, accidental overdose, malnutrition, burglaries, and scams are just some of the hazards seniors face, especially when they live alone. There are many technological innovations to help you monitor your loved one’s home and health from far, and if your parent isn’t ready to leave their home just yet, you should certainly make use of them.
However, many family members of elderly individuals confess that they never really relax when they know their loved one is home alone. When your loved one moves to Regency Nursing, you know they’re in the safest environment they could possibly be in. When we renovate a unit or build a new one, our entire architectural focus is safety. All our public areas are clutter-free and wheelchair accessible and our walkways are equipped with handrails for extra support.
Nobody can ever eliminate all accidents, but when your loved one comes to Regency Nursing, you can finally rest easy at night.
Activities of daily living (ADLs) are the basics of daily function. They include personal hygiene, grooming, dressing, and eating. Our ability to perform these activities decreases with age, and many illnesses or disabilities can make it even harder to accomplish these basics.
Home health aides are trained assistants who come to your home to help you bathe, dress, eat, and do some light housekeeping. You can even have a visiting nurse or therapist come to provide daily skilled care. But when you need reliable, round-the-clock assistance, a nursing home provides the best options.
We’re proud of Regency Nursing’s compassionate and committed Certified Nursing Assistants who are always there to provide care with a smile.
Our staff doctors are all leaders in geriatric medical care, and they make regular rounds to examine our residents and follow up on previous visits. Each unit has nurses on staff to dispense medications safely and provide any necessary treatments and care.
We’re also proud innovators in the nursing home field, as our facilities partner with MD Live Care to provide virtual medical appointments in the evening, on weekends, and over the holidays. Having their team of leading doctors on-hand for our nurses to consult with when a resident takes ill over the weekend saves unnecessary hospital and admissions, and thousands of dollars for our residents.
When seniors live alone, especially when they have limited mobility, they are at risk for social isolation. Loneliness and lack of socializing are known risk factors for depression, dementia, and even physical illness. Lack of activity can also cause cognitive and mental decline.
To combat this, we provide a range of interesting and engaging activities to keep our residents’ minds and hearts sharp and young. Between entertainment and music events, celebrations, religious services, and outings, our residents always have something to do and people to do it with.
And if someone wants some quiet time, or privacy with their visitors, they can always retreat to one of the many quiet and peaceful corners scattered throughout our buildings and gardens.
Choosing to move to a nursing home or other senior living arrangement is a big decision. It should be made with the input of family members, friends, and doctors. But when you’re ready to explore your option in New Jersey, we’re here to answer your questions and hold your hand through the process.
Special thanks to our Guest Writer, Hazel Bridges of Aging Wellness, for contributing this exclusive article for our Regency readers
As a society, we’re living longer, healthier lives than ever before. There are many ways we can maximize our potential to stay well and improve how we feel. Thankfully, with the aid of technology, things that used to be timely and difficult are now more accessible.
Make Exercise Fun and Safe
The best way to stick to an exercise regimen is to enjoy it. However, we want to be sure that the workout we choose is safe for us. One way to avoid injury is to make sure your activities are low-impact. Some areas you may want to focus on are strength, flexibility and balance. If you need to protect your joints, as many of us do, consider yoga or swimming. Both use just about every muscle in the body and swimming can strengthen the heart. If you’re looking for something a bit more active, you could take dancing lessons designed specifically for seniors. You could engage in golf, one of the country’s more popular pastimes. Or you can simply go for walks in the park, an indoor mall or around the neighborhood. Walking is good exercise for the muscles and the heart and less impacting than jogging.
Keep Sharp
While one of the best ways to keep our brains healthy is to keep up with exercise, there are plenty of entertaining methods to add to it. Hobbies and games are a fun way to pass time and keep your mind sharp. You could try classic card or board games, but don’t overlook the games available on your smartphone or tablet. Reading regularly can reduce your chance of dementia by up to fifty percent. Just 30 minutes of relaxing reading daily can lead to great improvement in cognitive function, but you can also try taking adult education classes to keep your mind fresh. You may even be able to get reduced tuition thanks to scholarships specifically created for seniors. You might be surprised to see how many other retirees are at your local university. Writing is another fun hobby you can pick up to keep your brain healthy, but not just any writing. Try handwriting in a journal or notebook for maximum benefit.
Eat for Health
Nutrition plays an important role in health throughout our lives, but is especially important as we age. If you struggle to eat a balanced diet, never fear. There are plenty of ways to improve your dietary habits. Cooking from home is a good way to ensure you know exactly what you eat, and being adventurous can also be advantageous. Branch out and try new fruits and vegetables, or even cook ones you may not be thrilled with in new ways. This can be a fun way to broaden your diet and improve health. If you don’t like cooking, have difficulty leaving the home, or find yourself with too little time on your hands, you may want to look at meal delivery services. They can help you to have nutritious meals with no effort on your part and technology makes it easier. Smartphone apps can help you create healthy shopping lists, or have groceries and meals delivered right to your front door.
Stay Connected
It may be surprising, but our emotional connections play a large role not only in quality of life, but also in our health. If you lead a busy life, finding time for such things can seem difficult, but it doesn’t take much. You can plan your shopping trips with a friend and catch up together as you browse. It could be taking a class at a community center, or grabbing a cup of tea every other week with a loved one. These small actions add up and greatly improve how we feel -- and may even affect how long we live.
Staying well may seem daunting, but it can be fun. Find things you enjoy doing, bring a friend, and invest in eating nutritious foods. You might be surprised how much better you feel each and every day following a healthy routine.
