Marketing Representative at The Cedars, Kelly Prucnal is being interviewed about senior living options and retirement planning
Saturday May 26th at 1PM
Home With Tom Landry on WLOB 1310 AM
Be sure to tune in!
A Day in the Life at The Atrium
Please join us for a sampling of a day’s activities
at The Atrium, Independent Living at The Cedars
Tuesday May 22, 2012 at 11AM
RSVP to 207-221-7100
Retirement Living Community: Health and Wellness
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.
Best Senior Living Community: Celebrating Volunteers at The Cedars
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.
Retirement Living in Portland Maine: Senior Health and Wellness
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
Best Retirement Community: Dining at The Atrium at The Cedars
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.
Best Retirement Community: Living Well With Dementia
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.
Greetings From Munjoy Hill
Please join us on Thursday April 19 at 11AM for a peek into the past with renowned
Maine State Historian Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr.
Kindly RSVP to 221-7100 if you would like to attend
Happy Passover
The Cedars wishes you a happy and joyous Passover
Seder Dinners April 6 and April 7 at 5:30PM at The Cedars
Please call for reservations 207-221-7000
Best Retirement Community: The Value of an Elder Teacher
The 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.