Best Senior Living: Options for Living Well With Dementia

Posted by Katharine on May 14th, 2012

By Lisa Clark, MS, OTR/L, Program Coordinator for Living Well with Dementia

At The Sam L. Cohen Rehabilitation Center at The Cedars, we are focused on helping people to continue living at home as long as possible. Occupational Therapists are particularly helpful in offering suggestions for positive “aging in place” for seniors who want to stay at home for as long as safely possible.  These professionals understand how changes to the older adult’s living environment can make a significant difference in how well and happily they are able to participate in the activities that are important to them.

The New York Times recently published an article in the Health section about alternate living environments for elders who want to be closer to family, titled “In the Backyard, Grandma’s New Apartment.”  Here is the link:  http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/in-the-backyard-grandmas-new-apartment/#?emc=lm&m=680838&l=4&v=2727807

As described in the article, one option for customizing the home is the “MEDCottage” – a small, pre-fabricated cottage consisting of a bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette, which some families have erected in their back yards.  This innovative concept apparently started in Australia.

Some of the safety features include padded, rubber floors to help prevent injuries with falls, well placed grab bars for safety, and of course everything on one level.  There is
an option for a lighted pathway from the bed to the bathroom – which lights up when the person steps onto it. Monitoring devices can be attached to medication boxes that indicate if medication was taken or not.  Tracks in the ceiling can be installed to accommodate lifts, allowing for easier transfers and moves when limited mobility takes its toll. Another company, P.A.L.S. – Practical Assisted Living Alternatives, manufactures pre-fabricated additions to an existing home. The P.A.L.S. comes with many of the same safety options that the separate pre-fabricated homes have.

Certainly this option has a significant cost associated with it, and some of these adaptations and installations have been available for several years.  Occupational Therapy
practitioners can assist families, caregivers and clients in figuring out what activities are important to the elder, where there may be safety issues, and what some potential solutions might be. 
Sometimes Assisted Living is the best solution – offering assistance where needed, and availability of desired social participation in a supportive environment.  For further information about living options for older adults – please contact Lisa Clark at The
Cedars, 207-221-7000.

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Retirement Living Community: Health and Wellness

Posted by Katharine on May 9th, 2012

Wellness Tips from Sharon: May is National Arthritis Month

By Sharon Leddy-Smart, Lifestyle Coordinator at The Atrium, Independent Living at The Cedars 

Arthritis is the leading cause of disability among seniors and includes at least 100 different medical conditions affecting the joints.  Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid are two of the most common forms, typically resulting in pain, stiffness and fatigue.  Although the physiology of the diseases varies, many individuals have found a definite link between the kinds of food they eat and their arthritic symptoms.

Dr. Rod Danoff, D.O. of The Arthritis Foundation explains that an increased intake of highly refined simple carbohydrates, fatty foods, alcohol and sugary drinks have resulted in flares of arthritic pain and accompanying body symptoms in arthritis sufferers. In
addition, some patients have noticed an actual improvement in their symptoms, or a decline in their flare-ups, when consuming a more nutritious and well-balanced diet, including

  • Oily fish such as salmon that contain omega 3 fatty acids
  • Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
  • Beverages such as water or other non-alcoholic, low-sugar or sugar-free drinks 

Dr. Danoff goes on to say that a combination of medication, exercise and lifestyle changes, including better nutrition provide a greater relief of symptoms. Healthy diet helps to
ensure your body is getting the needed amount of vitamins and minerals to help in its’ battle against your arthritis. For more information, he suggests meeting with a registered dietician to get the most up to date nutritional advice on the road to healthier living.

For more information on healthy eating and exercise, contact Sharon at 207-221-7100.

 

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Best Senior Living Community: Celebrating Volunteers at The Cedars

Posted by Beth on April 27th, 2012

2012 Volunteer of the Year

Volunteer Coordinator Janine Fifield, Lifestyle Coordinator Sharon Leddy-Smart, Volunteer Nancy Goddard, and Executive Director Angela Hunt

Ken Murray, Director of Volunteer Services at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, gave the keynote address at the 2012 Volunteer Recognition Dinner at The Cedars. About 50 volunteers attended, including a group from The Atrium, The Cedars’ independent living facility.

According to Murray, success after retirement depends on staying healthy, which includes healthy eating habits, exercise, lifelong learning, a social network, and a sense of purpose.

Volunteering, he noted, can help provide that sense of purpose for seniors. “Serving others helps them, it helps us, and it helps our community – and it is a very American value,” he said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 26% of U.S. citizens do volunteer work each year, at an average of 51 hours per year. (Those 65 and older often provide as much as 96 hours per year!) This adds up to a whopping 8.1 billion hours of service provided each year. It would cost $173 billion to pay for the same number of services.

Nancy Goddard, who has served as the volunteer coordinator for movies shown throughout The Cedars community since 2003, was named Volunteer of the Year.

Volunteers at The Cedars help in so many ways: the Auxiliary provides programming and raises monies to purchase special equipment for our residents; others make one-on-one visits with residents or bring their pets or children in for friendly visits. Still other volunteers provide recitals and other musical programs, help keep our various libraries in order (including staffing the popular book cart), help residents with meals, and share their expertise by lecturing, reading the daily newspaper, or facilitating book groups.

If you would like to learn more about how you could volunteer at The Cedars, contact Volunteer Coordinator Janine Fifield at 221-7000.

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Retirement Living in Portland Maine: Senior Health and Wellness

Posted by Katharine on April 24th, 2012

Spring Into Fitness and Start Walking

Now that spring is officially here, it’s a great time to get outside and get active and healthy.  There are plenty of ways to get our heart pumping outside, but one of the easiest ways is to walk or hike.  Walking is a low-impact aerobic exercise which helps strengthen our cardiovascular system, keeping our weight at a healthy level and protecting us against diseases such as diabetes and some forms of cancer. 

Research has shown that the benefits of walking 5 times per week for 30 minutes can help
you:

  • Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease
  • Improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels
  • Improve blood lipid profile
  • Maintain body weight
  • Enhance mental well being
  • Reduce the risk of osteoporosis
  • Reduce the risk of breast and colon cancer
  • Reduce the risk of diabetes 

For more information on starting a springtime exercise program, contact Sharon Leddy-Smart, Lifestyle Coordinator at The Atrium, independent living at The Cedars.  207-221-7100

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Best Retirement Community: Dining at The Atrium at The Cedars

Posted by Katharine on April 17th, 2012

Simon Thorpe, Chef at The Atrium

We enthusiastically welcome our new chef, Simon Thorpe, to The Atrium at The Cedars.

Simon is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and was an apprentice and chef at several five star restaurants from Chicago to Daytona Beach. He grew up in Liverpool, England and Ontario, Canada, moving to Maine in 1988 where he continued his culinary career with Unum Provident’s Business Catering Services and with another senior living community in New England.  

Simon joined The Cedars last month but has already made a significant impression.  The members are thrilled with Simon’s creativity to date, as he compliments the menu with an assortment of personal specialties, such as his signature Yorkshire pudding, and various seasonal delights.  Simon explains that he enjoys talking with the members in the dining room as the evening winds down, “meeting with the members and getting feedback is one of my favorite parts of the job.”   

We’re thrilled to have Simon on-board, and look forward to his future culinary
creations.

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Best Retirement Community: Living Well With Dementia

Posted by Katharine on April 11th, 2012

Lisa Clark, Program Coordinator

by Lisa L. Clark, MS, OTR/L, Program Coordinator of Living Well with Dementia

“Living Well with Dementia” is a new program being offered
at The Cedars, for people with memory issues.

Lisa is an occupational therapist who is the Program Coordinator for Living Well with Dementia. She has thirty years of experience working with people who are over 65.  In the course of her career she has also provided services to people with dementia, to help them participate in activities that are meaningful for them.

Lisa graduated from the University of New Hampshire with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Occupational Therapy.  She has worked in many healthcare settings such as acute rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, dementia care and consultation in Assisted Living, home health services, and acute hospital settings. 

Lisa has also taught at the University of Southern Maine for over 15 years, in their Occupational Therapy program at the Lewiston-Auburn campus.  She enjoys seeing students become excited about facilitating people’s engagement with activities that are
important to them.  Some students also discover that the world of working with people with dementia is very exciting and rewarding, as well.

Too often people assume that a diagnosis of dementia is an ‘end’.  The philosophy of the “Living Well with Dementia” is just as the title implies – people can live well with dementia.  More and more research is showing that people can continue to contribute, be active and keep living life well, even after a diagnosis of dementia.  Occupational therapists help people participate in meaningful activities for health and wellness. An occupational therapist can break activities down into separate pieces or steps, and then use people’s remaining skills to continue to do parts of activities, or the whole activity, just in a different way. Keeping brain and body active is important for health  –  including people with memory issues.

The “Living Well with Dementia” program is an exciting next step for Lisa, in keeping people well and engaged in life, despite memory issues.

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Best Retirement Community: Make ‘Em Laugh

Posted by Katharine on April 5th, 2012

Make ‘Em Laugh: The Cedars Auxiliary Comedy Night

By Paige Roth, Development Assistant at The Cedars 

The Cedars Auxiliary is always on the lookout for new members.  And what better way to bring people together than stand-up comedy? On March 29, The Cedars Auxiliary Comedy Night featured performances by comedians Johnny Ater, Kate Ghiloni and Karen Morgan, who kept the audience in stiches.   

Comedy Night Registration

While anticipating the start of the show, the crowd mingled over snacks provided by The Cedars dining services and libations donated by Shipyard Brewing Company and USA Wine West. The lights flickered and the audience took their seats.  

Auxiliary President Suzie Berzinis welcomed her guests, thanked Event Chair Marjorie Ferris and introduced the first act, Johnny Ater. In his thick Maine accent, Johnny’s self-depreciating humor put the crowd at ease. His teasing of a group of Italian audience members in the front row engaged the audience and ramped up the energy in the room. 

Johnny Ater, Comedian

Next up was young, confident Kate Ghiloni with her hip take on the pressures of being a single woman. Droll and sarcastic, Kate’s style was an excellent transition from roly-poly Johnny to sharp southern wit Karen Morgan. 

Kate Ghiloni, Comedian

The event headliner, Karen Morgan, is well known to Mainers for her performances at The Comedy Connection in Portland. Impressions of her chain-smoking mother in Georgia, her children’s bi-regional vernacular – a combination of her southern drawl and her husband’s east coast slang – were wacky yet relatable. 

At the end of the evening the crown filed out, elated, repeating jokes and rubbing their cheeks, sore from smiling. The Auxiliary made many new friends and signed up new members. They are energized for spring and ready to tackle their mission to support the residents of The Cedars in 2012. 

The Audience at Comedy Night

For more information on Auxiliary membership, click here or call the development office at 207-221-7007. 

Thanks to our wonderful
sponsors:

Shipyard Brewing Company

USA Wine West, LLC

 A special thanks to our
comedians:

Johnny Ater, Kate Ghiloni, Karen Morgan

And thanks to our
great volunteers:

Event Chair Marjorie Ferris, Suzie Berzinis, and Candy Henriksson

 

 

 

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Best Retirement Community: The Value of an Elder Teacher

Posted by Diane on April 2nd, 2012

Elder teachers at The Osher InnThe Value of an Elder Teacher:  Priceless

By Diane Vigue, RN, Resident Wellness Manager, The Osher Inn assisted living at The Cedars, southern Maine’s premier retirement community.

Many colleges and universities training health professionals use an integrative approach that incorporates classroom learning, labs for skill development and hands-on training. The Cedars retirement community has always opened its doors to provide clinical education and training to future health care providers.  Today we affiliate with several schools to teach various health care disciplines such (physician’s assistants, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech and language pathologists, social service workers, registered dieticians and dietary technicians).

The staff and our residents at The Cedars have played an important role as teachers. Osher Inn residents, in collaboration with the University of New England,  recently participated in a unique training program.

This past semester,  several Osher Inn residents volunteered to be “elder teachers” to a group of students from the UNE physician’s assistant. Residents were interviewed and provided their input on areas of improved medical treatment and care. The goal of the visits was to refine the students’ assessment and patient interviewing skills and learn about a resident’s perspective on health care.

According to Joseph Wolfberg, MS-OMOC, UNE faculty, “We are trying to influence tomorrow’s health care providers to develop resident/patient-centered care, where the patient is seen as a person – not merely an illness.  These ‘elder-teachers’ are vital to teaching our physician’s assistants what a patient values in the practitioner-patient relationship.” 

The residents had nothing but great things to say about the students and their attention to detail.  They were reported to show genuine concern for the resident’s well-being and had great ideas on what to do to improve their health. 

The physician’s assistants in training will also do a clinical rotation at the Hoffman Center at The Sam L. Cohen Rehabilitation Center and Skilled Care Center later this year. 

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Retirement Living: Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

Posted by Katharine on March 28th, 2012

Best Retirement Living: Sleep Study at The Osher Inn Assisted Living

by Katie Druan, Life Enrichment Coordinator at The Osher Inn

A good night’s sleep will cure most anything that ails you. It is a common experience that the way a person feels during the day is in direct relationship to the amount and quality of sleep that they had the night prior. To explore the topic further, The Osher Inn Assisted Living at The Cedars hosted Occupational Therapy students from the University of New England for a four session program that involved residents keeping a simple sleep log and having interactive discussions with the students about what can be done to improve the quality of sleep. The program is optional and open to all Osher Inn residents.

After recording in their log, residents will have a better idea of their individual sleep patterns as well as learn tips and advice for waking up refreshed. By recording the number of times and the hour that you awoke during the number of night and what the reason was for being awake, a picture of your sleep habits become clearer. The students look at how much time you spend in bed during the day while you’re not asleep, your activity level, the time you go to bed, how long it takes to fall asleep and how many/how long of naps you take.

Once the log is completed, life styles can be adapted to promote a better night sleep. Some of the adjustments that residents will likely find that they need to make after the completion of this course is to adjust the timing of their medicine, look at their night time snacking, adjust the timing of their daily nap, increase daily activity level and use their bed only for sleeping to help train the body. When all is said and done, The Osher Inn at The Cedars will be sleeping much more soundly thanks to this partnership with UNE.  For more information on The Cedars call Kelly Prucnal at 207-221-7100.

 

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Best Senior Care: Intergenerational Programs

Posted by Katharine on March 22nd, 2012

Partnering with the Friends School of Portland

by Kimberly Doyon, Life Enrichment Coordinator at The Cedars

The Life Enrichment Department at The Cedars is partnering with the Friends School of Portland to offer an exciting new, intergenerational program for the residents at the Skilled Care Center at The Cedars.  On the first Wednesday of every month, 15 first and second grade students from Friends have been visiting with our nursing home residents to share the lessons they are learning in school.  Examples include reading one on one, singing, drama skits and puppet shows, and games.  Our goal has been to assure the same students
meet with the same residents each month so a therapeutic relationship can be
made and fostered.  

These friendly visits started in January, with each student arriving with a story that they had written about their lives which they then read to a resident.  Over the past few months, the children have been developing some wonderful relationships with the residents.  The interactions are a joy for everyone to see, and seem to benefit both the young and young at heart, in some surprising and unexpected ways.  We look forward to
seeing the children and residents alike grow and blossom through this school year
from this wonderful program!

The Friends School is located on MacWorth Island in Falmouth and offers education from pre-school through grade eight.  They pride themselves on emphasizing high
standards for independent thinking and personal integrity.  The school’s values focus on simplicity, peace, community, equality, stewardship and truth. 

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