In the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many seniors are advised to stay confined to their homes or rooms. The need for a simple, well-rounded wellness program that promotes senior health and wellness has never been more important. Activity – mental and physical — is essential to keeping seniors healthy, active, and motivated. This is why many senior living providers and caregivers are looking for a fresh approach to engaging residents in wellness activities while keeping them comfortable and abiding by social distancing regulations.
Senior activity directors and life enrichment professionals often struggle with the challenges of their role. Each day, they need to deliver diverse and engaging programs that match group interests and individual preferences – often with limited resources.
Preventing falls is a top concern for seniors. Falls and related injuries can seriously impact senior lives, limiting activities and compromising the ability to live independently. Senior care providers are working hard to ensure their living environments, activity programs, and staff education initiatives help residents stay safe from falls.
Exercise is essential to keeping seniors healthy, active, and motivated. But getting them on board with a well-rounded exercise program can be a challenging task. Senior living providers are looking for fresh approaches to engage residents in fitness – with easy-to-implement group programs that still meet individual needs.
Once upon a time, activity and recreation programs in senior communities were typically low priority. Yet as the senior population surges, and seniors seek to stay active as a way of life, today’s senior living providers are rethinking their offerings to include wellness and life enrichment programs. In expanding their focus, many are finding they can’t go it alone. They’re looking for trusted partners to extend in-house resources and design an engaging, person-centered experience.
Falls can change lives – in the worst of ways. Each year, one in three seniors fall, and 20 percent sustain a serious injury, from head trauma to a broken hip. These injuries can reduce mobility and independence, and increase the risk of premature death. In fact, falls are the top cause of injuries, and death from injuries, among older Americans which makes fall prevention essential.
The good news is that falls are preventable. In the quest to reduce falls among seniors, leading senior living communities are implementing structured programs that take a long-term, unified approach to fall prevention. Read More
Health literacy is our ability to understand health information and make the best health care decisions. A seminal study of these skills has issued a troubling report card: just 12 percent of all adults – and 3 percent of seniors – have proficient health literacy.
“Low health literacy has been linked to poor health outcomes, such as higher rates of hospitalization and less frequent use of preventive services,” says Callie Whitwell, chief operating officer and founding partner at Lifetime Wellness. Her company provides person-centered wellness, life enrichment, and recreational programming to independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and rehabilitation, and memory care facilities throughout Texas and Oklahoma.