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5 Tips for Selecting the Perfect Senior Living Community

  1. Get Educated on The Various Types of Senior Living Communities-Complete an internet search for communities near you.  Gather as much information on those communities as you can by requesting information directly from community or online.  Know the different types of communities and the difference in services offered.  Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care and which one would be the best fit for you.
  2. Consider Your Budget- Determine what sort of monthly budget you are able to afford and narrow down your search accordingly. Consider financial resources such as VA Aid & Attendance for Veterans, Long Term Care insurance, home equity, personal income and savings or financial support from family. 
  3. Tour Communities - once you have narrowed down your research schedule a tour. Talk to current residents, staff and families to get a good feel of the community’s culture.  Dive into the services and amenities offered and see if those align with what you are looking for. Discuss rates and care cost and make sure to ask for additional or hidden fees not disclosed on rate sheet.  Re-tour unannounced, visit during a meal or enjoy a meal to experience a meal.  Invite your family to tour and request feedback. Gather as much information as you can when you visit the community to assist you with making your decision.
  4. Select a Community -Once you have narrowed down your search, select a community that feels right to you. Decide on a move in date.  Determine what furniture you will bring with you.  Obtain measurements of the apartment you chose. Determine what pieces of furniture and decor you will bring with you.  Have fun decorating and create a space that brings you joy and comfortable for you.
  5. Getting Settled In- Transitioning from home to a community is a major life change. As you or your loved one settles into their new space it is important to get connected with other residents and staff, participate in activities and get acquainted with the lifestyle.  Enjoy all the services and amenities the community has to offer; chef prepared meals, housekeeping and personal laundry services, compassionate staff, enjoy coffee on the patio or gazebo, get familiar with the layout of the community and go for a walk.  Life begins again when moving into a senior living community.  There are many opportunities to make new friendships, regain independence and continue to live a thriving lifestyle.

If you are interested in learning more about senior living communities such as New Haven, please call 512-667-0077 today to visit with one of our team members.

www.newhavenassistedliving.com

Is Senior Living Right for you?

Is Senior Living right for you?  Listen to what some of our residents are saying after making the decision to move into New Haven.

“If I would have known what life was like living in an assisted living, I would have made the decision to move sooner.  I have met new friends while attending the daily activities offered.  My health has improved overall, I am exercising often and eating well-balanced meals.  I love having privacy when I want and can be as social as I want”            - Betty

“I enjoy the fellowship with some of the other residents.  It was important to me that I had someone available to assist me on the days I didn’t feel well. I came to New Haven after an injury and was limited to a wheelchair.  With physical therapy and help from the staff I am now walking with a walker and feeling better” – Jim

 

Web banner panoramic image of happy senior man and woman couple sitting together at home smiling and happy with perfect teethSeniors who transition into assisted living have a better chance at saying physically, emotionally and mentally connected as they age, compared to those Seniors who choose to stay at home.

New Haven recognizes the importance to keeping the body and mind active through the various Life Enrichment programs that contribute to our resident’s overall health and wellbeing.  Staying active, eating healthy, sleeping well and taking care of oneself can slow the risk of mortality for seniors as they age.  Seniors that live on their own succumb to bad habits when no one is around to encourage an active lifestyle.  New Haven understands the importance of our residents sustaining a healthy diet, one that is rich in nutrients can help with cognition function as well as nutrition intake.  New Haven offers a dining program where our residents enjoy three nutritious Chef prepared meals a day.

Statistics show that both personal and environmental resources are important to aging well, senior living communities offer a unique combination of personal competence and environment that determines an optimal level of function.  Senior Living residents report lower level of stress with being able to handle situations knowing they are surrounded by a support system day and night.

There are many benefits New Haven Assisted Living & Memory Care have to offer.  New Haven provides very individualized care, robust activity programs and specially designed communities that help seniors continue to thrive with all the comforts of home.   Visit us today to determine if senior living is right for you.

What is Respite Care?

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Many seniors who are not ready for full-time assisted living may still benefit from respite care. But what is respite care? Often, seniors and their families or caregivers don’t really understand what senior respite care is and miss out on taking advantage of this wonderful option.

what-is-respite-care

Unlike assisted living, memory care, or other kinds of residential living options, respite care is short-term. A respite stay can be as short as a day or as long as several months, or anywhere in between. Seniors enjoying respite enjoy the same perks as long-term residents, including delicious food, socialization and activities, and 24/7 access to help and support. 

Benefits of Respite Care for Seniors

Many families learn about respite care after a senior family member develops a medical need. Recovery from an illness, injury, or surgery can take longer for seniors, and self-care may be more difficult. 

Respite care in an assisted living residence is a good way to get short-term help with activities of daily living (ADLs) including bathing, dressing, medication management, and handling mobility challenges. Once a senior has recuperated enough to manage these things without help again, they return home. There’s no long-term commitment; just the confidence and security of having an extra helping hand while it’s needed.

For other seniors, these challenges with ADLs are usually met by a family caregiver. When that caregiver needs to travel or take a break, respite provides a worry-free, safe place to go.

Benefits of Respite Care for Caregivers

Sometimes, a senior isn’t the one who needs respite. Respite is a resource for family caregivers. Sadly, many families aren’t aware that respite is available to them. 

Home caregiving is often like a full-time job that you take on in addition to all the other responsibilities of life. No matter how willing you are, how much you love your parent, and how sure you are that it’s the right thing to do, the extra stress is real. 

One of the most important things that family members can do to make sure that they are able to continue to provide top-level care for their parents is to care for themselves. While it may seem that you should never take a break, keeping your own stress and fatigue under control is key. Senior caregiving is a marathon, not a race, and it’s important to pace yourself. 

Family caregivers may use respite to:

  • Complete home or work projects that require unbroken focus or attention
  • Rest and rejuvenate with extra sleep, spa time, exercise classes, or a night out
  • Travel for business
  • Take a relaxing vacation
  • Spend time with friends

Taking the time to enjoy these kinds of activities helps maintain energy, motivation, and a sense of identity while caregiving. Good mental health care, rest, and regular breaks help prevent caregiver burnout, which is a serious problem for family caregivers to be aware of.

Are you interested in learning more about respite or scheduling a respite stay at New Haven? Click here now to get started.

Why the Flu Shot is Extra Important for Seniors This Year

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With all the talk about Coronavirus, sometimes you can almost forget that other diseases still exist. However, flu season is still on its way just like every year. And in fact, it’s more important than ever for seniors to have their flu shot this 2020 season. 

why-seniors-need-the-flu-shot-in-2020

What is the Flu?

A lot of people think of the flu as a stomach bug, or maybe a bad cold. Actually, the flu (short for influenza) is a specific virus that affects the lungs. Flu usually hits hard and fast, coming on quickly and making most people feel quite ill with symptoms like fever, cough, fatigue, and body aches. 

Even a mild case of the flu can last for a few days to a couple of weeks of sickness. In severe cases, flu can last longer and hit harder and can cause serious complications such as pneumonia and even death. Seniors are especially at risk from the flu due to age-related changes in the body’s ability to fight off disease.

Although the flu is a single disease caused by a single type of virus, the flu virus changes and mutates every year. This is why the flu can make you sick over and over instead of being an illness that you get once and never get again. Even if you had flu once, by the next season it will have changed so much that your body doesn’t recognize that it’s the same disease and won’t protect you.

What is the Flu Shot?

The flu shot is a vaccine that protects against the flu. It does this by exposing your immune system to a small amount of dead flu virus in order to teach your body how to fight it off. 

Because the flu virus changes so much from year to year, the vaccine needs to change as well. This is why getting a new flu shot every year is so important. Last year’s flu shot cannot protect you from the kind of flu going around this year. Doctors and scientists work throughout the year to analyze the newest strains of flu and create a vaccine that will protect against those they think are most likely to be a problem during each flu season.

It’s important to know that the flu shot does not have live virus in it. It cannot make you sick or give you the flu. You may feel unwell for a day or two after getting the shot because your immune system is learning how to fight off the flu virus. This is not the same as having the flu.

Why is the Flu Shot Extra Important in 2020?

Many symptoms of the flu are similar to symptoms of COVID-19. Often, the only way to tell the difference between flu and COVID-19 is through medical testing at a doctor’s office. 

It is possible to get sick with the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. This is an extremely dangerous situation, especially for seniors who are already at higher risk from both diseases. There is evidence that having flu and COVID-19 together can make you sicker than either virus alone.

Many seniors who get the flu need hospital treatment. In fact, most flu-related hospitalizations are patients over the age of 65. Right now, because of COVID-19, the doctors and nurses who treat respiratory disease are already under a heavy caseload. One way to help reduce the burden of caring for COVID-19 patients is to help reduce the number of flu patients coming into the hospital. Getting a vaccine is the best way to do this.

Who Should Get the Flu Shot?

All people over the age of 65 should have a flu vaccine, as should caregivers and family members who see them regularly. Remember that it is easy for friends or family to catch the flu somewhere else and pass it on to a senior during a visit before they even realize they are sick.

No vaccine is 100% effective. Because of this, some people feel that it is not worthwhile to get the vaccine at all. However, the more people who are vaccinated, the fewer people will get sick at all. In addition, if you get the flu after having the vaccine, you are likely to be much less sick.

Want more information about senior health and wellness? Check out these other recent posts from our blog:

  • Recognizing UTIs in the Elderly and Why It’s Important
  • Understanding Remote Health Care

Dealing With Grief About Dementia

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The days after a dementia diagnosis are a blur of doctor visits, assessments, questions, planning, and processing. For many seniors and their families, the first and most powerful experience after a dementia diagnosis is grief. Understanding this grief better can help you cope while moving forward with caring for your loved one.

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Understanding Different Kinds of Grief

A dementia diagnosis represents a huge loss. However, the feelings about it are complicated because it is a loss that will happen in the future. This type of grief is called anticipatory grief. The anticipation of a future loss can be harder to bear than the actual moment when it comes. In part, this may be because anticipatory grief is a way of preparing yourself for what will happen. 

Another common type of grief is ambiguous grief. This happens when a loss feels incomplete or undefined. Because your loved one is still alive, there is not a clear, single moment of loss to point to. Ambiguous grief feels complicated and messy. You may even feel guilty for grieving because your loved one is still with you.

These complex types of grief are very real and very normal. You may experience them intermittently throughout the experience of living with or caring for dementia. Recognizing and making room for your grief is one of the best ways to cope and move through it.

Dementia and the Stages of Grief

You’ve likely heard of the stages of grief before. Being informed about these helps you better recognize your feelings, step back, and take space to engage in self-care.

While we speak of grief as having stages, the reality is not always clear-cut or predictable. You may revisit certain ideas again and again, or in an unexpected order. It’s also impossible to know how long each individual may take to work through their grief. What one person may process in weeks could take another person months or even years.

The stages of grief include denial, anger, bargaining, guilt, sadness, and acceptance. It’s particularly important for caregiving family members to be aware of denial, anger, and guilt.

Grief Pitfalls for Caregivers

Denial is a way in which you may distance yourself from painful feelings of loss. While it is a normal, important part of the grieving process, caregivers must pay close attention to avoid clouding of their judgement. Denial about new or worsening symptoms of dementia can lead to costly and sometimes tragic delays in treatment. 

Many carers also struggle with anger. Often, anger is triggered by frustration when a parent or spouse can’t meet expectations based on their past abilities. Or you may feel angry at friends or family members whose grief does not mirror yours, or who aren’t directly involved in caregiving. 

When you become angry, give yourself space to breathe, rest, and safely express your feelings, such as journaling, speaking with a counselor, or physical exercise. Remember that your anger is a normal part of grieving. This helps prevent outbursts that could be harmful to relationships or caregiving goals.

Finally, when caring for an ailing family member, guilt can be treacherous. Many carers, especially those caring for a spouse or parent, feel guilt about the idea of taking a break or using respite. Any tiny mistake or lapse in caregiving can open the door to painful guilt.

You may also feel guilt as dementia progresses beyond your ability to manage. You may feel a responsibility to provide care that does not match your level of training or availability. Or, you may worry that seeking professional help means that you have failed your parent in some way.

Remember that dementia is a serious disease. There comes a point for most families when the reality of dementia demands more than their personal ability to provide care. In the same way that you would not expect to provide all care for other serious illness, such as cancer, there is no shame or failure in seeking professional nursing care for dementia.

Cycles of Grieving

Often, families revisit the same kinds of grief repeatedly as dementia progresses. With each new stage of cognitive decline, there are also new losses to deal with.  As memories, physical ability, and independence dwindle, families often feel that they have to say goodbye to their loved one more than once. Each new loss triggers the grief process in a new way.

If you find that you are revisiting the different stages of grief more than once, remind yourself that this is okay. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, and each stage of dementia may feel like it brings you back to where you started. Allowing yourself the space to feel and express these emotions can help. 

Are you coping with a new dementia diagnosis in a loved one, or providing care at home for a senior with dementia? Click here now to learn about our senior care support groups and other resources for families and caregivers like you.

 

Senior Care at Home: Dealing With Mobility Issues

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Are you providing senior care at home? At some point, you will find that it’s time to adapt your house to be safer for a parent with mobility issues. 

Depending on your home and its layout, there may be major adaptations or modifications to make. However, if you start with simple changes, you can have a big impact right away while you plan for the bigger things.

dealing-with-mobility-issues-senior-caregiving 

Changes You Can Make Today 

There are some easy things you can do today to make home safer for mom or dad. These require little to no structural modification of your home. Small, common-sense changes can make a big impact on how safe your home is for a senior with mobility challenges or balance problems.

Take a walk through your home. Pay close attention to your feet and note any tripping risks. Are there items on the floor that might endanger a person with balance issues, poor night vision, or who uses a cane or walker? Look for and address trip hazards immediately in order to reduce the risk of falls.

Examples of Trip Hazards

Power cords on the floor: Rather than leaving power cords on the floor, tack them to baseboards. Or, move lights and appliances next to outlets so cords are away from high-traffic areas. 

Loose area rugs or runners: Area rugs or runners on a hardwood or tile floor can easily slip or hit a cane the wrong way, causing a fall. Remove rugs from areas where your parent or loved one may need to walk at night, such as the route from their bedroom to the bathroom. Anchor rugs or runners that do stay to a sturdy non-slip pad. 

Scattered toys or other items: Often, parents get used to stepping over toys, books, clothes, and other items left on the floor. But while it may be second nature to you to roll your eyes at your teenager’s dirty socks and keep going, a senior may not notice them. Never leave loose items like laundry or toys on the floor where a cane or a foot could get tangled in them.

Provide Adequate Lighting: Night vision often begins to fail with age. Plug light-activated nightlights in at regular intervals along walls or baseboards. These can illuminate stairs, trip hazards, and routes to bathrooms or water sources. 

Bathroom assistance: Elevating your toilet seat and buying a shower stool are both quick ways to make the bathroom a safer spot for mom and dad without breaking out the power tools. Simple devices like these make it easier and safer to care for personal hygiene alone.

Adaptive Changes for the Future

Some other changes require more planning and forethought. Adapting a home to be safe for a senior with mobility challenges often means changes beyond rearranging and tidying up. It’s important to factor these modifications into your plan for long-term home care of your loved one.

Safety on the stairs: Navigating up and down stairs is a major challenge for many seniors. You may begin with simple additions like anti-slip strips on each step. However, eventually many seniors with mobility issues may require a chair lift or similar device to be able to get up and down stairs. 

Access to the outdoors: A senior in a wheelchair or struggling with stairs will need ramp or chair lift access. Check that sidewalks and paths are free of cracks, uneven surfaces, or weeds that may form a trip hazard.

Bathroom safety: Bathroom safety is an especially important concern as mobility and balance decline. Begin with installing simple aids like grab bars to reduce the risk of falling. If your parent needs help with bathing or showering, consider a specialized tub or shower door for easier access.

Home Caregiving Skills: Learn How to Lift Safely

If you’re planning to care for an adult with mobility issues, it’s important to learn how to safely lift them. Whether you’re helping your mom get more comfortable in bed or helping lift your dad from a wheelchair to a car, safe lifting helps protect both you and them from injury.

This helpful guide from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons explains not only why safe lifting techniques can help spare you from back injuries or muscle strains but also the step-by-step techniques for safe lifting and movement of an adult in various scenarios and positions. 

Are you considering senior assisted living for a parent with mobility issues or other physical health concerns? Click here to learn more about our assisted living residences or schedule a virtual tour today.

 

Activities for Seniors With Dementia

activities-for-seniors-with-dementia

As dementia progresses, many activities and hobbies may become too difficult or frustrating for a person to continue. But that doesn’t mean that seniors with dementia should be left to sit and do nothing. Providing regular access to enjoyable pastimes is an important part of successful dementia care. 

If you are a caregiver for someone with dementia, you should know that enrichment tasks not only help prevent boredom but provide therapeutic value as well. Engagement with something that feels satisfying helps reduce anxiety, depression, anger, and agitation. In some cases it can even reduce confusion and sundowning. Even though activities for seniors with dementia may look different, they are invaluable.

Look for activities that provide interest without a high risk of failure or frustration. This may mean different things for different people, but we’ve selected a list of ideas to start with.

activities-for-seniors-with-dementia

Helping Around the House

Research suggests that seniors who feel they are making a contribution to their environment have higher quality of life than those who don’t. Performing simple household tasks can help a person with dementia feel that they are contributing, or allow them to relive memories of caring for their families. 

Don’t focus on doing things the “right” way. Rather, provide opportunities to go through a process that feels meaningful to your loved one. These activities often provide a range of textures that are therapeutic to explore as well. Examples may include:

  • Folding laundry like dish cloths or t-shirts
  • Sorting mixed ribbons, fabric scraps, or buttons
  • Screwing and unscrewing hardware from a board
  • Caring for houseplants (watering, dusting, wiping, trimming dead foliage, etc.)
  • Arranging live or silk flowers
  • Measuring ingredients for baking
  • Polishing and sorting silverware
  • Washing windows
  • Dusting
  • Cutting out or organizing coupons

Playing Games

Games are an enjoyable pastime for everyone. Many games are still fun for seniors with dementia. Avoid games that require a lot of math or strategic reasoning that may cause stress. 

Not only do games provide social stimulation, many board games offer therapeutic benefits. These benefits include practice with sorting, matching, short-term memory activities, pattern recognition, sequencing, and more. Games like these are satisfying and stimulating, and can help slow the pace of cognitive decline when played regularly. 

  • Simple board games like Chutes and Ladders, Life, or checkers
  • Matching card games, such as solitaire or go fish
  • Jigsaw puzzles or photo puzzles
  • Exploring with pattern blocks such as tangrams 
  • Word games such as word search or large print crossword puzzles

Creative Expression

Even if your loved one was not previously interested in arts or crafts, creative expression is incredibly important for brain health. Arts and crafts activities for seniors with dementia should not be too structured or goal-oriented, as this can cause stress and anxiety. Instead, focus on the process more than the outcome. Non-verbal forms of self-expression take on a new dimension and importance as spoken communication grows more difficult.

Exploring with colors, textures, and even smells also provides mental stimulation that can stir up old memories and increase cognitive function. Try many different varieties of creative expression and look for those that elicit a positive response.

  • Writing or drawing in a journal
  • Cutting and pasting pictures or words from magazines
  • Modeling with clay or play-dough
  • Painting with watercolor or acrylic paints
  • Drawing with markers or colored pencils
  • Coloring books

Try New Things Regularly

As dementia progresses, it can cause changes not only in memory but in mental processing, communication, and even personality. Sometimes, families are surprised to find that their loved one enjoys activities now that they never used to. 

Don’t be afraid to try new things, or to revisit activities that previously didn’t “click.” Memory often relies on cues and triggers. A color, a smell, a texture, a song, or even a muscle memory can all stimulate recollections and bring back ideas and memories that may have seemed lost. 

Are you caring for a loved one with dementia and looking for additional help and support? Click here to read about our support groups and other resources for families dealing with a dementia diagnosis.

The Top 3 Fears About Assisted Living

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Just like any other big life change, a move to senior living can be scary and hard to imagine. Stepping out into the unknown is hard for all of us. Aging, with all its challenges, makes it especially difficult. It’s not surprising if you’re having some fears about assisted living. We’d like to help dispel some of the worry by talking about the top three fears that we hear about most often from seniors considering assisted living.

3-fears-about-assisted-living

Fear #1: Will I Lose My Independence?

The “assisted” in assisted living feels like a loaded word for many seniors. A little assistance is good; in fact, it’s great. Giving up the stress and hassle of home maintenance or cooking, having someone there to help you get to the bathroom at night without falling down, or an extra set of eyes on your daily pills to make sure you keep them straight–it all sounds just fine. But some seniors worry it won’t stop there. Does assisted living really mean that you’re giving up control over your life?

On the contrary, assisted living is about restoring independence, not taking it away. Seniors who go without the help that they need often end up trapped and limited. Mobility problems, driving issues, and the rest make it hard to live like you used to. In assisted living, you get as much help as you want or need, not more. And, when the difficult things are handled for you, you can focus on friends, family, hobbies, or anything else that has been getting harder.

Fear #2: Will Assisted Living be Depressing?

Isolation is another great fear for all of us as we age. In previous generations, nursing homes had a bad reputation and often seemed like places where the elderly went to be forgotten and ignored.  

Fortunately, assisted living is not the same as a nursing home. Many seniors who move into assisted living find that rather than being lonely, they are more socially engaged than they have been in years. How could you not be? With the option to share meals every day, take classes together, and visit without even having to go outside unless you want to, keeping your social calendar full has never been easier. 

With opportunities for entertainment and enrichment available throughout each day, there’s no worry about being bored or left to yourself. In fact, many seniors find their mental well-being improves after a move to assisted living.

Fear #3: Is It More Expense Than it’s Worth?

It’s true that assisted living has a price tag that can make some folks nervous. But remember that the cost of assisted living represents nearly 100% of all your living expenses, including professional caregivers. Add up the costs of owning or renting a home, groceries, utilities, car maintenance and so on. When you combine these with the cost of full-time home health care, you may find that assisted living may actually cost less than staying home.

This doesn’t even take into account the price of the additional amenities available in assisted living, from hair salons to health and fitness and more. 

Still feeling like there are too many unknowns to make a decision? Why not come visit? Click here to schedule a virtual tour today and see for yourself.

 

Staying Fit in Your Senior Years

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Senior living doesn’t look like it used to. Gone are the days when retirees were faced with day after day of wheelchairs and television reruns. Today, even in assisted living, age doesn’t need to be a barrier to staying active and healthy. Staying fit in your senior years may not look like it did when you were in your prime, but there are more options out there than you think.

We’ve gathered some of the simplest and easiest ways for you to stay in good physical health as you age. It’s never too late to improve your fitness levels. Regular exercise can help improve your mood, reduce muscle and joint pain, slow down osteoporosis, and even boost your memory.

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Always Talk to Your Doctor First

Remember to check with your doctor before you start any new diet or exercise program. If you have a chronic condition such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or pulmonary disease, you may need to take extra precautions to exercise safely.

Your doctor can also likely recommend specific local resources such as physical therapists or personal trainers who specialize in working with senior citizens.

Low-Impact Exercise for Seniors

When you’re choosing an exercise program to try, the key phrase to look for is “low impact.” Low-impact exercise is still healthy but puts less strain on your heart, joints, and muscles. Because low-impact exercise typically involves having at least one foot on the ground at all times, it is also a better choice for those with balance or mobility problems.

Even low-impact exercise can get your heart pumping enough to make a big difference. Just taking a simple walk every day benefits your heart, lung, and joint health. Evidence suggests that even brain health and memory improve with regular low-impact exercise.

Other forms of fun, low-impact, senior-appropriate exercise that you may want to explore include:

  • Water aerobics or synchronized swimming
  • Dance lessons
  • Cycling on a stationary bike
  • Swimming laps
  • Gardening
  • Resistance training (weight lifting or resistance bands)
  • Golf
  • Tai Chi (shadow boxing)

Remember that if any of these are new to you, it’s important to start by getting help from an experienced teacher. Even with low-impact exercise, it’s possible to injure yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Mobility Considerations

If you use a cane or walker, or even if you’re in a wheelchair, staying fit is still for you! While mobility limitations do put some forms of exercise beyond your reach, you may be very surprised by what is still feasible.

Often, seniors with mobility issues enjoy what is called chair exercise. Chair exercise means an exercise routine that you do while seated.

Many assisted living residences and senior centers offer chair-based exercise classes including aerobics, yoga, pilates, and sometimes even weight lifting or dance. No matter what your level of fitness, you can find a way to get moving and start reaping the benefits today.

Exercise for Mental Health

In senior living, our watchword is always to promote the greatest level of independence possible. Strengthening your muscles, bones, and joints through a regular fitness program helps extend your years of mobility and overall health.

But on top of all the physical benefits, exercise has major mental health advantages. Seniors with a fitness routine have lower rates of depression, better brain health, and fewer feelings of isolation. Even some dementia symptoms improve with appropriate exercise.

Are you interested in learning more about how assisted living could help you improve your physical health and fitness? Contact us today to chat about physical enrichment at New Haven Assisted Living.

How to Talk to Your Family About Memory Care

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After a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in a loved one, families sometimes resist the idea of memory care. In the beginning, dementia can feel manageable at home. But eventually, in most cases, the time will come for professional help. Learning how to talk to your family about memory care and plan for the future is the first step of a good dementia treatment plan.

how-to-talk-about-memory-care

What is Memory Care?

Memory care is the name for a type of assisted living especially for seniors with dementia. Like all assisted living, memory care aims to provide the greatest possible independence and safety. However, we recognize that as dementia progresses, safety requires supervision and intervention.

A memory care residence should feel like home; one structured specially to support brain health and cognitive function. The result is a living space in which every item can have therapeutic value.

We staff this carefully prepared environment with aides and nurses specially trained in dementia care. This means that no matter what happens throughout the day, each resident always has access to caregivers who understand their unique needs.

We’ve even re-imagined simple  daily activities and meals in therapeutic ways, like adjusting recipes to reduce choking risks and improve nutrition. Residents participate in a schedule of exercise and activities that stimulate the brain and strengthen cognitive function.

Memory care also has different security than other senior living options. This way residents may freely walk and explore their environment without risk of getting lost or hurt.

How to Talk to Your Family About Memory Care

Once you understand what memory care does, you can easily see why it’s so important. In its early stages, dementia care can happen at home. But as the condition progresses, the time, skill, and attention required of caregivers grows. In most cases, dementia will eventually require full-time residential care.

It’s wise for families to work together and plan ahead about dementia care as soon as there is a diagnosis. You can lead the way by helping to break any stigma or taboo that your family members might be feeling. Talking about dementia and memory care as normal things can help make it easier to discuss and plan together.

Ask questions that will help your family think about the future and what they hope for. Be realistic about what you can expect from yourself and each family member. Know what you can do and commit to no more that. Many families begin with wonderful and loving good intentions but can end up frustrated, exhausted, or trying to provide more than their training or ability allows.

Why to Talk to Your Family About Memory Care Now

You may feel like these are questions that can be answered later, or that it’s better to plan as you go. Many families do take this approach. Unfortunately, because dementia is unpredictable, lack of planning often leads to serious problems.

Families that are unprepared for the realities of memory care get overwhelmed more easily. They are more likely to experience burnout, a condition that causes caregivers to experience depression, anger, anxiety, and withdrawal.  And their loved ones are more likely to suffer complications that result from inexperience, such as infections.

When families don’t plan ahead, they are also more likely to put their loved one through a rushed or last-minute move. This is painful for any elderly person, who can struggle to adjust to sudden changes. This is especially damaging and difficult when dementia is involved.

Planning ahead can help prevent these problems. Know what to expect for the specific diagnosis your loved one has received. Learn what symptoms will tell you that it is time to begin transitioning to memory care. The best way to provide what your loved one needs in a timely way is to have a plan before they need it.

Does your mom or dad need memory care? Are you looking for caregiver support or respite services? We can help. Click here to contact us today and speak with an expert about where to go from here.

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