RetirementHomes.com - older people

3 Ways to Optimize Your Senior Living Community's Social Media

aadmin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 03:44:36 +0000

This 4th of July weekend, me and my girlfriend saw some fireworks. The town nearby was having an event Saturday night at the high school.

The school was surrounded by giant overhanging oak trees. They must have been 175 years old. Once we went under these massive oaks, a hill opened up to a beautiful valley and at the bottom was a stage an instrumental band. They were playing Frank Sinatra and classical music from American composers. It really felt like the 4th of July, and it was an exciting time.

Just before dusk something happened that I haven’t seen done on the 4th. While we were waiting for the fireworks, people were lighting lanterns that would float up into the sky. They were fascinating to me because some had neat patriotic designs, and they went up, and up, and up really fast!

These people were lighting 4,5, 6 at a time, and they would fly till you couldn’t see them anymore. We were really fascinated by this, and so were a lot of people around us. The little kids were shouting, “Mommy, mommy, look at the lan-tuns”!

Now there was another group with lanterns, and these must have been homemade because they were terrible. These things would go up about 50 feet, float maybe 50 yards away and come back down. They didn’t have any flashy designs and nobody paid attention to them.

Just as some of these lanterns were attention-grabbing and caught people’s attention, the content you post to your social media needs to have a similar effect.

Here's your three ways that you can increase the attention grabbing effects of your social media efforts.

1. Use Attention Grabbing Images In Your Post

Just like the patriotic designs on the lanterns were fascinating, images on social media connect with people. Try posting images of smiling or laughing residents, people enjoying the activities going on, or even the new flowers blooming outside your community. They're all ways to help increase interaction from people. Social media posts that contain images are a 120-180% more attention getting than ordinary text posts according to Social Media Examiner.

2. Use Social Media Call To Actions

This is a very common sense approach to increase response and interaction. Give people some social instructions. Tell them to like or share your post, to like your page, etc. If you post a picture of a smiling resident say, “like if you think she's happy,” or something along those lines. The reason this works is because it increases interactions, and is more likely to go viral. The more likes and shares it gets, the more the message gets shown to people’s social spheres by being displayed in their news feeds.

3. Always Give Something Away For Free

Give away something for free as a lead generation piece, or as an incentive to get someone to follow you on social media. Give away a free report titled, “10 things you must know before moving into a senior living community.” Make sure it’s valuable information that people can use. This is a great way to get people more engaged and to collect their email address. Once you have their email, you can follow up with them afterwards.

Just like the lanterns I mentioned in the beginning of the article, some social media posts are going to fly sky high and get a lot of interaction while others are going to be duds like a homemade Lanterns. The ultimate goal is to capture their information so you can follow up with them afterwards by email or phone.

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Management

Marketing

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Senior Living Professionals

Older Adults Transcend Loneliness through Meditation

aadmin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 06:20:50 +0000

Meditation is gaining ground as an accepted health practice for older adults.

Professor Jeff Menzise, a clinical psychology professor and a mindfulness meditation expert at Morgan State University, emphasizes that relaxation is a positive effect for all forms of meditation.

"A lot of elders have stress because of life concerns and anxieties about failing to meet life goals," said Menzise. "Family situations can be aggravating."

Dependency issues and fears of aging can distract older people. Menzise said – "Meditation puts their minds at ease, helps them gain a stronger outlook on life, and acquire an optimistic perspective."

"The positive effects of meditation result from detaching the mind from troubling thoughts though breathing techniques, movement or posture," said Menzise.

Meditation can alleviate stress-related diseases where long-term body tension is retained, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Menzise spoke of the overproduction of the stress hormone – cortisol. "Older people often live in a state of constant stress. Their bodies never get a chance to return to a relaxed state where they repair stress damage."

A Breakthrough Study in Meditation for the Aging

In June, 2012, the benefits of mindfulness meditation received a boost when a Carnegie Mellon University study showed a decline in loneliness in older adults who meditated.

Decreased inflammation – a contributor to the growth of numerous diseases – was a major outcome of meditation training for the aging, according to the CMU study.

A Personal Story – Yoga and Meditation in Action

Jerrie Gathe, a Dahn Yoga Foundation volunteer, specializes in teaching yoga and meditation to seniors. The mind-body practice, founded in South Korea over three decades ago, combines stretching, deep breathing exercises and meditation.

Gathe worked most of her life as a registered nurse until health issues forced her into retirement. She found Dahn Yoga to be revitalizing and became a dedicated teacher.

"The form of yoga I teach includes stretching, moving meditation, and a focus on deep breathing," said Gathe.

She became an active volunteer in retirement communities where she observed older adults who encounter a loss of independence.

The techniques she employs help older adults regain control of their bodies and emotions.

"The stretching and moving meditation helps with strengthening the body," Gathe said. "It stimulates circulation and leads to clearer thinking in my older students. The deep meditation component reduces worry and anxiety."

Other Forms of Meditative Practices for Older People

• Zazen – a Buddhist meditation that focuses on posture
• Transcendental Meditation (TM) which invokes a calming mantra
• Qi Gong and popular offshoot, Tai Chi, combines gentle movements and breathing
• Guided Visualization

North American seniors can complement recent breakthroughs in meditation and movement with their traditional religious practices.

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The Secrets of Gardening for Older Adults

aadmin — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:26:48 +0000

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece” – Claude Monet

Sydney Eddison, an 81-year-old gardener extraordinaire from Newtown, CT, embodies the outlook of the beloved French impressionist.

Eddison began her adventures in gardening over 50 years ago in 1961. Her path has led to seven books, including Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older, published by Timber Press.

Eddison's journey into the joys of gardening has been well-documented. She has been profiled as a die-hard horticultural perfectionist who has returned to simplicity. "Being realistic has been hard. I was not graceful about it.”

The green-thumbed octogenarian has created a 5-point guide to help aging gardeners pursue their pastime.

Five Steps to an Easier Garden:

1. Simplify Perennial Borders as the First Step to an Easier Garden.

Remove or limit the number of perennials that are too enthusiastic and either spread too much or too fast. Eliminate or limit the number that demand frequent division and those that need constant grooming—staking, deadheading, cutting back, etc.

2. Substitute Shrubs for Some of the Perennials.

Shrubs are usually much less demanding than perennials and often offer season-long beauty.

3. Develop a New Attitude Toward the Lawn.

Perfect lawns in our climate demand more water than nature provides, toxic chemicals to kill grubs and weeds, fertilizers to push new growth, and frequent mowing to reduce the height of that growth. Learn to live with longer grass and to tolerate a few weeds. Reduce lawn area with mass plantings of ground covers, shrubs, or ornamental grasses.

4. If You Have Shade, Learn to Love It. It Ensures Easier Gardening.

Shade-tolerant plants tend to be easier to grow. As many are foliage plants, and pretty foliage looks attractive all season, they also require less care. They need no obsessive deadheading. And they don’t lean toward the light because they don’t need that much in the first place. Therefore, they rarely have to be staked.

5. Discover Container Gardening.

A container garden is fun and relatively little work. Tall plants in containers form moveable walls that can be used to enclose a patio and vines can be planted in pots on either side of an archway as an entrance. Container gardening can be a wonderful, creative outlet for gardeners with limited time, space, or energy - Sydney Eddison

After her husband death, Eddison needed to downsize. A hip replacement created mobility issues, another wake-up call. The call of simplification beckoned.

The fun of perennial gardening was manipulating the blooming rotation, to always have waves of blossomed plants. She opted for a back-to-basics approach. Her mindset changed. “Nothing is perfect but a lot of it is beautiful,” she says.

Gardening has earned Eddison a philosophy degree in life and aging. “With old age, it’s not the things around you that need changing. It’s changing your point of view.”

Sydney Eddison lectures widely and is a frequent contributor to Fine Gardening magazine and other publications.

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Entertainment and Hobbies

Hobbies

Toronto Nuns Go Green in Retirement

aadmin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:21:48 +0000

For 58 elderly nuns in Toronto, Canada, a fitting retirement is at hand. They have selflessly cared for the poor, sick and disadvantaged for a lifetime, now they are receiving a well-deserved thanks in retirement.

Even after a working life the sisters can contribute with a prayer partner, contact new immigrants to offer advice or assist staff and visitors.

The retirement building where they live is deemed by the Toronto Star to be "a marvel of modernity, built to the highest standards of environmental sensitivity: solar panels, rain-collection barrels, geothermal heating and cooling, a green roof and even permeable pavers in the parking lot to reduce water runoff."

The Sisters of St. Joseph wanted a building with proximity to nature to enliven their work and prayer lives. The views from the rooms are expansive and accessible to the smells and sounds of nature.

“We wanted simplicity,” Sister Margaret Myatt told The Star. “We wanted it to be as green a building as possible, to respect nature, and to be efficient and sustainable.”

The 4-story building has a ground floor area with a lobby. The second and third floors are utilized as a care center for residents. The top floor is an assisted-living area for the nuns.

In 1891, the Sisters of St. Joseph of founded St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto which has become an internationally-renowned health care facility. As well, they founded Toronto's St. Joseph's Hospital.

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Family and Personal Care

Who is Britain's Most Powerful Woman?

aadmin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:47:29 +0000

A first ever power list compiled by the BBC Radio 4 show Woman’s Hour voted her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, as Britain's most powerful woman. The runner-up is Home Secretary Theresa May.

The judging panel includes former newspaper editor Eve Pollard, politicians Priti Patel and Oona King, and crime novelist Val McDermid.

Ms Pollard said told Express: “Most women on our list have power because they have reached a place where they have control – of policy, of direction, of influence, of staff."

The panel included women with 'soft power' those with a transformative capacity to change how Britons think about themselves.

The purpose of the list was to show the inadequate number of women at the top of power fields like politics, corporations, the military and journalism.

Woman’s Hour editor Alice Feinstein commented that the radio show wanted to initiate a conversation on women and power. “We will use this list as a springboard to discuss the contribution all women make to society," Feinstein said "and ask why there isn’t greater diversity in the list.”

Many saw the ommision of Princess Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge as an oversight. Panelists deemed her to be influential but not powerful, yet.

Britain's top 10 women with power

1. Her Majesty The Queen
2. Rt Hon Theresa May MP (Home Secretary)
3. Ana Botin (CEO, Santander UK)
4. Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond (Supreme Court Judge)
5. Elisabeth Murdoch (Chairman, Shine Group)
6. Professor Dame Sally Davies (Chief Medical Officer)
7. Justine Roberts & Carrie Longton (Co-founders, Mumsnet)
8. Lady Justice Hallett (Appeal Court Judge)
9. Angela Ahrendts (CEO, Burberry)
10. Dame Gail Rebuck (CEO, The Random House Group)

It would be an excellent exercise to find out who is the most power woman in the USA.

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Politics and Government

Senior Celebrities

Snowstorm bears down on Elderly

aadmin — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:00:04 +0000

The massive snowstorm that is creating havoc throughout Northeastern USA is a special threat to the most vulnerable members of society, the elderly.

Erie, Pennsylvania, is doing something about it, distributing emergency bags to 330 local elderly and disabled residents. The aptly-called "blizzard bags" consist of groceries to help recipients get through this major weather wrecker. The bags will be packed with nonperishable food and drinks - juice, soup, crackers, pudding, applesauce, cereal and dried milk.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania is partnering with Metro-Erie Meals on Wheels to send out about 15 volunteers to distribute the "blizzard bags".

The food drive is in response to a storm that hit Erie on January 21 and is a lesson learned for the blizzard hitting the Northwest USA.

"This is an important need in our community for seniors during these frigid winter months," executive director of Second Harvest Karen Seggi told GoErie.com. "The partnership between Second Harvest and Meals on Wheels seems like a natural one. Second Harvest distributes food supplies to Erie County. Meals on Wheels volunteers deliver daily meals to more than 300 homebound, disabled or elderly who cannot shop or cook.

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Family and Personal Care

Lack of Sleep Harms Memory in Seniors

aadmin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:49:43 +0000

Studies about older people show that memory diminishes with age. The Louisville, Courier-Journal reported that older people experience difficultly in learning new tasks or remembering simple routines, like where they left their keys.

A new study from the University of California at Berkeley illustrates that lighter sleep can have a big effect on the memory process. Older people get less deep sleep than younger people, a possible direct link to memory disruption.

The study's author, Matthew Walker, a neuroscience and psychology professor at Berkeley's University of California told the Louisville Courier-Journal:"In young adults, sleep was doing an excellent job at not letting those memories dissolve." He continued: "Sleep wasn't as effective in the elderly. Consequentially, they have far more severe problems with forgetting. A significant reason was because of the quality of their deep sleep."

The researchers said the older adults scored 55% less on the memory test after sleeping. This difference becomes noticeable in situations that demand consistently high performance

Good sleep is important before and after learning to create new memories for long-term application. A psychology professor at Northwestern University who specializes in sleep, said sleep disruption in older adults can be due to aches, pains, and bladder problems, becoming an issue in daily memory function.

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Elderly Couple Stumbles into All-Night Rave

aadmin — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:12:25 +0000

All-night raves are great for fun-loving millennials but hazardous for the elderly who tend to go to bed before 9:00 pm. Dick and Lil Dickens - 80 and 79 - are a good example, an older couple who stumbled into a Cambridgeshire, England warehouse, 70 miles north of London.

According to the nation's daily tabloid, The Sun, the older couple noticed dozens of cars parked outside a warehouse and headed inside looking for bargains. Instead of discounts, the Dickens faced 1,000 party goers happily engaged in an all-night rave.

In their confusion, the couple agreed to pose for pictures with the partiers before leaving for their car. Dick told The Sun, "We’re in our 80's so we don’t want to get mixed up in anything like that." He continued, “Some girl just popped up with a camera and took our picture. She said ’right, you’ll be on Facebook now!”

The couple were stunned when they discovered in media reports that the party ended in £50,000 of damage to the warehouse - nearly $80,000 USD.

The Cambridgeshire Constabulary has launched a major campaign to prosecute those who organised the bash and have made one arrest. In response to community anger, North East Cambridgeshire Member of Parliament Steve Barclay raised objections during a meeting with English Home Secretary Theresa May.

“It’s essential that those responsible are brought to justice," May was quoted, from her Parliamentary office in London.

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Political Issues

Politics and Government

Flu Season Hits Charlotte North Carolina Hard

aadmin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:05:36 +0000

All across the USA flu season has grown to the worst level in a decade. North Carolina is a prime example of the rise of influenza this year, reports The Charlotte Observer. 17 people have died in the state.

Elderly are Hit the Hardest

Most cases have been influenza Type A H3N2, which often affects the elderly the hardest, according to Dr. Zack Moore, medical epidemiologist with Carolina's health division. “As we would expect with an H3N2-predominant season, there have been a lot of long-term care outbreaks and reports of severe illnesses and deaths in the elderly," he told The Charlotte Observer.

Post-vaccination Period - Two Weeks

The recommendation is to get a flu shot. Flu season will peak in late January or early February, enough time to use the two week post-vaccination period needed for antibodies to kick in and fight off the flu.

People 65 years and older are highly-recommended to receive the flu shot. There is no shortage of flu vaccine in the Charlotte area or the state. A physician from Carolinas Medical Center’s Arboretum Urgent Care said the injectable vaccine cannot cause flu. At worst it can create achiness in the arm. The influenza vaccine isn't perfect, but it’s the best tool to prevent the flu.

Other Recommendations

Wash your hands often with soap and hot water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Sneeze or cough into your elbow. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with your hands
Stay home if you’re sick. Stay away from your other family members at home to try to decrease their risk of getting flu

Doctors in Charlotte are cautiously optimistic that the flu might have hit a peak during the last week of December, but continue to issue a public health warning.

Medical practitioners attend to the flu in Assisted Living and Continuing Care residences.

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Study shows fruits'nutritional value may be higher than previously thought

aadmin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:04:11 +0000

While older people have been found to be skimping on fruits and vegetables by some scientific surveys, new research suggests they may be missing out on more nutrients than originally believed.

A Spanish researcher working at the University of Norwich has been analyzing polyphenols, the chemicals in fruits that are thought to limit some of the effects of aging and inflammatory conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Dr Sara Arranz found that current measuring techniques have been inadequate in describing the levels of polyphenols in food, since the compounds that can be extracted are outnumbered five to one by those that remain within the skins of apples, nectarines and peaches.

While they have not previously been examined by scientists, Arranz and her team say that they can be used by the colons of older people to produce antioxidants within the body.

"These polyphenols are major constituents of the human diet with important health properties," notes co-researcher Dr Fulgencio Saura-Calixto.

"To consider them in nutritional and epidemiological research may be useful for a better understanding of the effects of plant foods in health."

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