Assisted Living Offers Seniors Many Benefits

As people grow older, their needs change and many require help with daily personal care activities.  This can present a dilemma in families as some elderly seniors firmly state that they do not want to move into assisted living.  However when the pressure to assume caretaking responsibilities continues to grow for family members and even safety is a concern, they may have to look into alternatives.  

It is important to know that research shows assisted living can be a healthier lifestyle for seniors than living alone.  They have access to 24/7 care as well as the benefits that come from socializing with others.  In addition keep in mind that your parent’s home may need costly modifications to make it safe for them to continue to live there while assisted living communities are designed to address those needs.  Moreover along with the assistance they need with daily personal care, communities such as MorningStar of Rio Rancho provide a range of wellness programs and activities that support residents’ mental, physical, spiritual, and social connections.

In addition, wholesome, nutritional daily meals as well as housekeeping and laundry services mean your parent will have their basic needs met seamlessly.  Lastly something often overlooked regarding assisted living is that with the proper assistance, rather than your parent’s fear of losing their independence becoming true, they will actually get it back.  Also by getting the needed assistance from the staff, it allows families to just enjoy spending time together without the added responsibility of being caregivers.

MorningStar of Rio Rancho will offer 51 assisted living private suites in a variety of configurations including studio, and one and two-bedroom floor plans.  In our Reflections Neighborhood, devoted to caring for seniors suffering from memory loss due to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, we will offer 26 secure suites.

While our community is new, MorningStar Senior Living has assisted living facilities across the country, including MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care of Albuquerque and MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care of Santa Fe.  Please visit our website to learn more about MorningStar of Rio Rancho or come out and visit us at our onsite Information Center at the northwest corner of Westside Boulevard and Golf Course Road.

At MorningStar of Rio Rancho, we are proud to offer the best senior living with our distinct mission statement - “to honor, to value, to invest.”  With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we create a true home for residents in a beautiful setting.  We invite you to visit our Information Center and to speak to our team about unsurpassed senior housing in Rio Rancho, NM.

Worried About Your Parent’s Safety & Wellbeing?

Have you started to suspect that your parent is not doing so well living on their own?  Experts say there are several things you should look for that will help you determine if it is time to make a change in their living situation.

One of the biggest concerns for families is safety as they begin to see their parents struggle with health issues that can make them more vulnerable to accidents and medical crises.   Things to be on the lookout for include poor balance or failing eyesight that increases their risk for a fall; or the worry that comes from knowing they have already fallen.  Maybe you have noticed bruises or cuts they are reluctant to talk. In addition if your parent is still driving, have they recently had a fender bender or another mishap while driving?

Are you worried your loved one’s forgetfulness is putting their safety in jeopardy?  Do you have reason to believe that they are prone to wander or that their forgetfulness is leading to behaviors such as leaving the stove-top or oven on?

Other signs that your parent needs more help is if you have noticed a change in their hygiene such as wearing the same clothes day after day and having difficulty with personal bathing and toileting.  Do they look as if they have lost weight recently? Is the refrigerator empty or filled with spoiled food? Also look around their home. Has there been a change in their housekeeping such as dirty dishes in the sink, mail stacking up and unread, and a general neglectful look to the home.  

MorningStar of Happy Valley will provide area seniors with compassionate, inclusive assisted living and memory care.   Our community is designed from the ground up to be a true home for our residents and will offer all of the services needed for their comfort, wellbeing and safety.  Located between Sunnyside Road and SE Princeton Village Way, we invite interested families to visit our onsite Information Center, open seven days a week, with model suites opening in June.  

MorningStar of Happy Valley represents the finest in senior living with our distinct mission statement: “to honor, to serve, to invest.”  With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we are honored to create a true “home” for residents.  As one of the best senior living communities in the area, we encourage you to contact us to learn more.

Exploring Our Creative Side Can be Beneficial to Our Wellbeing

The arts enrich the lives of the artist as well as the viewer.  While some of us may not feel creative, it is probably just more of a result of not having the opportunity to explore your creative side.  Expressing ourselves in the creative arts has been proven to be beneficial to every age group including the elderly. As artist Norman Rockwell explains, “The secret to so many artists living so long is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they're always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.”

Over the last several decades studies in the “fields of art therapy, music therapy, and other creative modalities confirm that art can affect individuals in positive ways by inducing both psychological and physiological healing.”  The first major study to look at the effects the arts have on our health and illness as we age was done by the George Washington University in Washington, DC.  The national longitudinal study was led by Gene Cohen, MD, PhD, director of the University’s Center on Aging, Health & Humanities, who found the arts positively affect the quality of seniors’ lives.  Some of the benefits included helping seniors relax, reducing depression and anxiety, assisting in socialization, improving cognition, reducing boredom, nurturing spirituality and increasing self-esteem.  

Researchers explain that taking part in art expression classes should not be looked at as simply a way to fill time but rather as a way to find meaning and purpose in life regardless of your age.  Moreover it is important that as we grow older, we do things that keep us engaged and give us a reason to look forward to each day. Expressive arts include visual arts, music, dance, writing, and poetry.

As one of the newest senior living communities in the greater Portland area, MorningStar of Happy Valley will offer 61 assisted living suites and 27 secure suites for memory care.  As a resident, you will have a wide array of care services, resort-style amenities and meaningful wellness programs to engage your mental, physical, spiritual and social connections.   We look forward to meeting future residents and their families at our onsite Information Center. Our model suites will open in June.  Please visit our website for details.

MorningStar of Happy Valley represents the finest in senior living with our distinct mission statement: “to honor, to serve, to invest.”  With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we are honored to create a true “home” for residents.  Opening at the end of the year, we will be one of the area’s top senior living communities.
Source: todaysgeriatricmedicine.com/news/ex_082809_03.shtml

Research Proves Smiling Can Make You Feel Happier

Research has proved what many of us already knew, that smiling makes you feel happy.  A 30-year study from the University of California, Berkeley reports that smiling has many health benefits including helping you celebrate more birthdays.  Smiling is even easier to do than frowning as it only takes 17 facial muscles to smile and 49 muscles to frown.

The study led by psychologists Dacher Keltner, PhD and Lee Anne Harker, PhD, found that smiling generates our “feel good” endorphins that are associated with exercise.  Smiling can help us look younger as those who smiled more appeared to be three years younger than their less smiley counterparts. Psychiatrists also report that patients naturally smile more as they start to recover from depression.

In addition smiling causes a morphine-like action that helps to relieve stress and reduce the perception of pain in the brain.  A 1980s study even showed smiling makes us more approachable and friendly. The study examined the way men approach women at a bar.  The women who smiled more were 60% more likely to be approached by a man.

Smiling may even help a person earn more money or to be promoted in the workplace, as studies show that people who smile a lot are considered more trustworthy and generous.  Researchers say smiling is instinctive as they now have evidence of babies in the womb smiling. Also don’t forget we have all had the experience of smiling at someone and having them smile back at us.  Scientists explain that the act of smiling is contagious as we have a subconscious tendency to match others’ emotions.

A smile is an international language that is universally understood and one that is easy to use over and over again.  Next time you are feeling sad, try and think of something that makes you smile as you are sure to start feeling better!   

MorningStar of Happy Valley represents the finest in senior living with our distinct mission statement: “to honor, to serve, to invest.”  With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we are honored to create a true “home” for residents.  As one of the area’s newest senior living communities, we invite you to visit our website or our onsite Information Center for more details on compassionate assisted living.

Source: telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7584633/Smiling-could-help-you-live-longer.html

Finding a Memory Care Community

It is typically with mixed emotions that a family comes to the realization that their loved one needs more care than they can get at home.  When this happens, there are several things to consider as you search for the best memory care. 

One of the first things you need to know is that “memory care” is committed to caring for those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.  Assisted living is intended for those that require some extra care with their daily living activities in order to retain their independence and live their lives safely and comfortably.    

Many assisted living communities have a separate wing devoted to memory care residents and some like MorningStar at Englefield Green is entirely memory care.  Memory care staff members should have gone through specialized training in order to understand the disease as well as to effectively care for those with dementia.

At Englefield Green all of our team members are extensively trained to care for our tender residents and our community is uniquely designed to encourage and support a resident’s right to choice and independence to the fullest extent possible.  You also will want to know the level of care the community is equipped to handle.  At Englefield Green, we care for those from the onset of the disease through to the most advanced stages. 

Other questions should include how secure is the community and what is the staff/resident ratio during the day as well as at night.   In addition, do residents receive regular health monitoring, is there a nurse on staff, and will there be a thorough intake process before your loved one joins the community?  Ask how meals are handled, and when will you be contacted if there is a problem. 

We encourage you to visit MorningStar at Englefield Green’s website to learn more about our loving, unique dementia care community.  Also, we recommend you set up a tour to see the home-like atmosphere of Englefield Green. 

The unique mission statement of MorningStar at Englefield Green, “to honor, to serve, to invest,” sets us apart from other assisted living communities.  Our foundation is built upon honoring God, valuing all seniors, and investing in staff with a felt calling to serve.  We are dedicated to creating a true home for residents within an ideal setting and invite you to schedule a tour to see firsthand the best dementia care in Boise.

Source: aplaceformom.com/senior-care-resources/articles/memory-care-checklist

Make Your Visits with a Loved One in Assisted Living Meaningful

Experts say that one of the most important things you can do for a parent or another loved one in an assisted living community is to commit to visiting on a regular basis.  We are not suggesting every day or even every other day, in fact you need to give your loved one time to bond with those in their community, but rather to be consistent with your visits.

If you worry about what you will talk about or do during your visits, A Place for Mom, the largest assisted living referral service, has some tips to help you spend meaningful time together.  One of their suggestions is to do a craft project together. You will find all kinds of ideas on the Internet and can use upcoming holidays for appropriately themed projects. Scrapbooking is another idea and will give your parent the chance to reminisce about the past and to share old family stories. Pick up scrapbooking supplies at your local craft store and bring along plenty of photos (be sure to get some of your newer digital photos printed out) to use in the book.

Visits to your loved one can be as simply as scheduling the time to coincide with a favorite TV show both you and your parent love to watch.  Not only can you enjoy the show together but then discuss the twists and turns that the program is taking afterward. The same can be said for starting a book club, and if your parent’s eyesight makes reading difficult, you can read a chapter or two and then talk about the story.   If family members live far away, you could help them set up a video chat as many seniors are not comfortable with the technology to do it themselves. Other suggestions include playing cards or board games, having a picnic on the grounds of the assisted living community, and creating a playlist of favorite tunes and then listen to it together.  

The MorningStar of Rio Rancho team is excited as we are busy getting our beautiful new community ready to welcome our first residents.  As one of the area’s premier assisted living facilities, we are set on 5.5 acres at the northwest corner of Westside Boulevard and Golf Course Road.  We encourage you to visit our website or to stop by our onsite Information Center to learn more. Our community will offer 51 private assisted living suites and 26 secure suites devoted the care of those with Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases.  

At MorningStar of Rio Rancho, we are proud to offer the best senior living with our distinct mission statement - “to honor, to value, to invest.”  With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we create a true home for residents in a beautiful setting.  Opening shortly, we invite you to visit our Information Center to learn more about the finest senior housing in Rio Rancho, NM.

Source: .aplaceformom.com/blog/assisted-living-activities-for-your-next-visit/

Cancers with the Highest Survival Rate

While it is never good to receive a diagnosis of cancer, today there are several types of cancer that are very treatable.  Research shows that, “The cancers with the highest 5-year relative survival rates include melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and breast, prostate, testicular, cervical, and thyroid cancer.”  However keep in mind that although these cancers are now relatively “curable,” success rates still depends on detection and treatment in the early stages.

Although hesitant to call a patient cured, doctors say with the proper treatment in many of these cases all signs of the disease can be removed and the patient is considered to be in remission.  Survival rates for cancer are based on a 5-year period where the patient remains free of the cancer.

One of the common cancers for men is prostate cancer.  Doctors now say if the disease is caught in stage 1 or stage 2, the man has a 99% relative 5-year survival rate.  Prostate cancer can grow very slowly or not at all, so in some cases doctors just monitor the disease.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second most common serious disease in women right after heart disease.  Today survival rates for stage 0 and 1 breast cancer are 99-100%. At stage 1, the cancerous tumors are typically less than 2 cm. in size and have not spread to other parts of the body.  

Another of the cancers on the list is Melanoma, a cancer of the skin.  When caught at stages 1A and 1B respectively, the 5-year survival rate is between 92 to 97%.   To detect problems early, doctors recommend regular checkups and screenings to find skin cancers and other diseases.  If you have any questions or concerns, please schedule an appointment with your healthcare provider as soon as possible.   

MorningStar of Happy Valley is the area’s newest assisted living and memory care community.  We will provide the support services and physical environment to help older adults live as comfortably and as safely as possible.  In addition to 24/7 Care Managers, licensed nurses and medication management by Certified Med Care Managers, we do scheduled Health & Wellness Evaluations and Care Plan reviews.  Please visit our website or our onsite Information Center.  MorningStar of Happy Valley is scheduled to open late 2019.  

MorningStar of Happy Valley represents the finest in senior living with our distinct mission statement: “to honor, to serve, to invest.”  With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we are honored to create a true “home” for residents.  Contact us for more information about one of the area’s best senior living communities.

Source:  medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322700.php