The Cedars is pleased to be the recipient of The Age friendly Health Systems award. Recognized as a leader in the rapidly growing movement committed to care for older adults that is: · Guided by an essential set of age friendly evidence-based practices across the 4 M’s (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility). · Causes no harm and is consistent with What Matters to the older adult and their family. The Cedars continues its 93- year commitment and legacy of providing outstanding care for older adults. We are excited to be part of a nationwide movement to improve health care for older adults. Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United...
When you think of senior living communities, do you imagine playing bingo all day? Think again! From day trips to exciting destinations around southern Maine to sensory gardening, reiki massage, and wine and cheese parties, The Cedars finds fresh ways to keep older adults active, engaged, and connected to each other and the world. Yes, you can join a rollicking bingo game at The Cedars, (Free Money Monday Bingo is cutthroat competitive, so bring your game face!) But activities for seniors at The Cedars go far beyond bingo. Our life enrichment team fills our assisted living activities calendar with vibrant, diverse, and lively opportunities to socialize with others, learn new skills and find new passions, improve health and cognitive functioning, experience the natural world, and make meaningful contributions to the wider community. Here are just some of the unexpected and innovative ways our residents make the most of this...
Posted in our blog on by Janine Fifield& filed under Latest News.
The Cedars was selected out of many long-term care communities to participate in the Maine Dementia Care Partnership (MDCP) free, virtual education program, Addressing Root Causes of Cognitive Decline: A Guide to Preventing and Reducing Antipsychotics and How a New Maine Dementia Care Toolkit Can Help. Held on February 8 & 15, 2022, the program introduced the Partnership’s new resident-centered dementia care toolkit entitled “Is it for me, or for you?” Resident-Centered Dementia Care Toolkit . The toolkit is the result of grant-funded work by Partnership members and clinicians, over the course of several months. It provides a conceptual framework, roadmap, and step-by-step guide to help nursing homes successfully reduce off-label antipsychotic drug use within their settings. It includes strategies for educating and collaborating with various constituencies, fostering community wide commitment to reducing A/P utilization, using data to inform decision making, developing dementia care competencies for staff, and identifying...
Strategies to Help Your Parents Feel at Home in a Retirement Community Moving your parent(s) into a retirement community can be a very difficult process. We’ve met with hundreds of families and have put together some of the best tips we’ve seen for children to make the transition easier. Your family worked together to help your aging parents make a big decision: moving into a retirement community, like assisted living or long- term skilled nursing care. Their lives are about to become safer, simpler, and more rewarding, and the transition to a retirement community does not need to be stressful. Our quick tips guide can get you started on moving elders with ease. Yes, moving a parent to a retirement community is a big change—a change for the better. These benefits include more opportunities to socialize, make new friends and engage in meaningful activities, with caring supportive staff...
Posted in our blog on by Janine Fifield& filed under Latest News.
There are many resources on transitioning to a retirement lifestyle, but sorting through them can be overwhelming. We’ve compiled our favorite books on retirement living to make it easier for you to get important information you can trust. Retirement planning books, books on aging parents, and guides to retirement living are everywhere. How do you sort through them all to find a book that can speak to the challenges you and your loved ones are facing? Our senior living professionals here at The Cedars have compiled their favorite books on how to prepare for retirement and adjusting to assisted living so you can find retirement resources you can trust. Are your parents thinking about retirement or moving into assisted living—or avoiding thinking about these steps? Are you and your siblings struggling to start important conversations or finding you can’t agree among yourselves? These life changes are not easy, and...
Posted in our blog on by Janine Fifield& filed under Latest News.
There are so many benefits to senior learning programs, from improving memory to boosting health and fitness. Discover lifelong learning resources in our senior community. Never Stop Learning! Four Ways Seniors Can Continue to Learn Senior learning does not have to slow down. The popular belief that it becomes harder to learn new things as we grow older is not true. Recent scientific studies have shown that the human brain retains the ability to absorb new information as we age as long as we continue to challenge ourselves, mentally and physically. At The Cedars, we know there are big benefits to lifelong learning for seniors, and our senior learning programs are designed to keep our members and residents learning, growing, and thriving in their retirement. When we were infants and school-age children, the whole world was new. Our eager minds soaked up all this new information like sponges. As...
The last thing you want to worry about when adjusting to retirement living is money. Here, we will guide you to retirement planning resources and certified senior advisors to make your golden years stress free. Planning for retirement means making sure you have the resources you need to secure the care and comfort you want. Depending on your expected MaineCare benefit, financing assisted living may take advanced planning. A certified senior advisor can help you forecast your assisted living costs and find financial freedom in retirement. Understanding long term care expenses and assisted living costs in Maine can be complicated and confusing. The price of services varies greatly across the state and MaineCare Services covers very specific levels of care and services. Whether you anticipate aging in place and accessing home care or moving into assisted living or memory care assisted living at some point in the future, life...
Posted in our blog on by Janine Fifield& filed under Latest News.
Maine is a very popular place for older adults to retire, consistently ranking at the top of national lists for affordability and livability. What draws seniors to Maine retirement communities and why should you consider retiring to Maine? For many retirees, retiring in Maine means living a dream. Maybe they grew up here and moved away for work, counting down the days until they could retire and come home. Maybe they grew up vacationing in Maine, with fond memories of sleepaway camp or a family cottage or camping in the woods and promised themselves a time would come that they would never have to leave. There are as many reasons to retire to Maine as there are older adults. It is no surprise that a state as stunning and welcoming as Vacationland would attract seniors ready to live a life they love. Maine tourist attractions are...
Posted in our blog on by Janine Fifield& filed under Latest News.
It’s tough to let go of your past, but many older adults find freedom to pursue new passions in transitioning to a retirement community. Here’s our guide to moving out of your home and into a retirement community. Downsizing and Decluttering: Moving Out and Moving On For most older adults, the decision to move to a retirement community means selling the family home and making tough decisions about which possessions they wish to keep and what should be sold, stored, or given away. Take a look at our moving tips for seniors and remember that letting go of the past will make room for the future! Making the transition to a retirement community is a very big lifestyle change for most older adults. No matter how long you have lived within it, your family home is likely filled with precious memories, treasured objects and mementos, and a lot of...
Posted in our blog on by Janine Fifield& filed under Latest News.
The Best Retirement Advice (Straight from Our Residents!) If you or someone you care about is considering retirement, advice from elders can help clarify their choices.The Cedars community is filled with older adults successfully enjoying a simpler, more carefree lifestyle. See if their tips for retirement living can help you decide if you should, too! How will you know it is the right time to retire? How should you prepare for retirement? Where will you live during this incredible new chapter of your life? And what will you do with all of your newfound free time? These are big, personal questions with so many possible answers. How do you find the right answer for you? Retirement advice from retirees is a great place to start. They have lived through the decisions you are struggling with and they have found a way to enjoy a life they love. And they...
The Cedars is pleased to be the recipient of The Age friendly Health Systems award. Recognized as a leader in the rapidly growing movement committed to care for older adults that is: · Guided by an essential set of age friendly evidence-based practices across the 4 M’s (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility). · Causes no harm and is consistent with What Matters to the older adult and their family. The Cedars continues its 93- year commitment and legacy of providing outstanding care for older adults. We are excited to be part of a nationwide movement to improve health care for older adults. Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United...
When you think of senior living communities, do you imagine playing bingo all day? Think again! From day trips to exciting destinations around southern Maine to sensory gardening, reiki massage, and wine and cheese parties, The Cedars finds fresh ways to keep older adults active, engaged, and connected to each other and the world. Yes, you can join a rollicking bingo game at The Cedars, (Free Money Monday Bingo is cutthroat competitive, so bring your game face!) But activities for seniors at The Cedars go far beyond bingo. Our life enrichment team fills our assisted living activities calendar with vibrant, diverse, and lively opportunities to socialize with others, learn new skills and find new passions, improve health and cognitive functioning, experience the natural world, and make meaningful contributions to the wider community. Here are just some of the unexpected and innovative ways our residents make the most of this...
The Cedars was selected out of many long-term care communities to participate in the Maine Dementia Care Partnership (MDCP) free, virtual education program, Addressing Root Causes of Cognitive Decline: A Guide to Preventing and Reducing Antipsychotics and How a New Maine Dementia Care Toolkit Can Help. Held on February 8 & 15, 2022, the program introduced the Partnership’s new resident-centered dementia care toolkit entitled “Is it for me, or for you?” Resident-Centered Dementia Care Toolkit . The toolkit is the result of grant-funded work by Partnership members and clinicians, over the course of several months. It provides a conceptual framework, roadmap, and step-by-step guide to help nursing homes successfully reduce off-label antipsychotic drug use within their settings. It includes strategies for educating and collaborating with various constituencies, fostering community wide commitment to reducing A/P utilization, using data to inform decision making, developing dementia care competencies for staff, and identifying...
Strategies to Help Your Parents Feel at Home in a Retirement Community Moving your parent(s) into a retirement community can be a very difficult process. We’ve met with hundreds of families and have put together some of the best tips we’ve seen for children to make the transition easier. Your family worked together to help your aging parents make a big decision: moving into a retirement community, like assisted living or long- term skilled nursing care. Their lives are about to become safer, simpler, and more rewarding, and the transition to a retirement community does not need to be stressful. Our quick tips guide can get you started on moving elders with ease. Yes, moving a parent to a retirement community is a big change—a change for the better. These benefits include more opportunities to socialize, make new friends and engage in meaningful activities, with caring supportive staff...
There are many resources on transitioning to a retirement lifestyle, but sorting through them can be overwhelming. We’ve compiled our favorite books on retirement living to make it easier for you to get important information you can trust. Retirement planning books, books on aging parents, and guides to retirement living are everywhere. How do you sort through them all to find a book that can speak to the challenges you and your loved ones are facing? Our senior living professionals here at The Cedars have compiled their favorite books on how to prepare for retirement and adjusting to assisted living so you can find retirement resources you can trust. Are your parents thinking about retirement or moving into assisted living—or avoiding thinking about these steps? Are you and your siblings struggling to start important conversations or finding you can’t agree among yourselves? These life changes are not easy, and...
There are so many benefits to senior learning programs, from improving memory to boosting health and fitness. Discover lifelong learning resources in our senior community. Never Stop Learning! Four Ways Seniors Can Continue to Learn Senior learning does not have to slow down. The popular belief that it becomes harder to learn new things as we grow older is not true. Recent scientific studies have shown that the human brain retains the ability to absorb new information as we age as long as we continue to challenge ourselves, mentally and physically. At The Cedars, we know there are big benefits to lifelong learning for seniors, and our senior learning programs are designed to keep our members and residents learning, growing, and thriving in their retirement. When we were infants and school-age children, the whole world was new. Our eager minds soaked up all this new information like sponges. As...
The last thing you want to worry about when adjusting to retirement living is money. Here, we will guide you to retirement planning resources and certified senior advisors to make your golden years stress free. Planning for retirement means making sure you have the resources you need to secure the care and comfort you want. Depending on your expected MaineCare benefit, financing assisted living may take advanced planning. A certified senior advisor can help you forecast your assisted living costs and find financial freedom in retirement. Understanding long term care expenses and assisted living costs in Maine can be complicated and confusing. The price of services varies greatly across the state and MaineCare Services covers very specific levels of care and services. Whether you anticipate aging in place and accessing home care or moving into assisted living or memory care assisted living at some point in the future, life...
Maine is a very popular place for older adults to retire, consistently ranking at the top of national lists for affordability and livability. What draws seniors to Maine retirement communities and why should you consider retiring to Maine? For many retirees, retiring in Maine means living a dream. Maybe they grew up here and moved away for work, counting down the days until they could retire and come home. Maybe they grew up vacationing in Maine, with fond memories of sleepaway camp or a family cottage or camping in the woods and promised themselves a time would come that they would never have to leave. There are as many reasons to retire to Maine as there are older adults. It is no surprise that a state as stunning and welcoming as Vacationland would attract seniors ready to live a life they love. Maine tourist attractions are...
It’s tough to let go of your past, but many older adults find freedom to pursue new passions in transitioning to a retirement community. Here’s our guide to moving out of your home and into a retirement community. Downsizing and Decluttering: Moving Out and Moving On For most older adults, the decision to move to a retirement community means selling the family home and making tough decisions about which possessions they wish to keep and what should be sold, stored, or given away. Take a look at our moving tips for seniors and remember that letting go of the past will make room for the future! Making the transition to a retirement community is a very big lifestyle change for most older adults. No matter how long you have lived within it, your family home is likely filled with precious memories, treasured objects and mementos, and a lot of...