The Arbor Company Senior Living Blog

‘Tis the season for family gatherings, favorite traditions, and comforting foods that everyone at the table enjoys. If a member of your family is a senior living community resident this year, you might be wondering how that will impact your family holiday traditions. The good news is that living in a senior community will not affect your family’s plans. In fact, it might create an opportunity for new traditions you’ll look forward to each year.

Here are a few of our tips for keeping family holiday traditions alive after your loved one retires to a senior living community.

As you advance in years, you may tend to lose confidence as you experience changes in your body and face health issues. Losing your self-confidence can also result from life-altering events such as retirement and loss of people you love.

Your parents have spent a lifetime together. They’ve probably weathered storms small and large and encountered challenges you may never even know about. They have made it through a lifetime together, and that matters. So when faced with the reality that their care needs are different, you may not know what to do. You don’t have to separate your parents, and in most cases you shouldn’t. Here’s what to do if your parents need different levels of care.

Older adults often desire to “age in place,” remaining in their homes until end of life. However, many overlook the physical, medical and emotional costs of aging in place, says Brandt Ross, a resident at an Arbor Company senior living community.

The senior care industry is full of acronyms and phrases that you only learn as you begin to age. Maybe you heard the common phrase “aging in place” and became curious about what it meant. In general, aging in place means getting older in one location — typically the family home — by using resources and support services. Though this concept sounds lovely, it is not always the safest or best option for remaining as healthy as possible.

As you age, it becomes extremely important to fully consider the senior living option that works best for you. While many seniors want to believe staying in their own home is best, they often don’t examine the physical, medical and emotional costs of aging in place. 

The global coronavirus pandemic has pushed most of us into our homes, making connecting with others a bit more difficult than it was just a few months ago. For older adults who are living at home, this time can feel especially isolating. Fortunately, technology offers plenty of ways to combat loneliness. You just have to know where to look and what to download.

Dangers of Isolation and Loneliness

Right now, the safest thing for all of us to do is to practice social distancing. Some states are also encouraging residents to shelter in place, leaving their homes only for exercise and essential travel. However, even though it is the safest thing to do, isolation can get lonely awfully fast.

Older adults are especially vulnerable to the dangers of social isolation, even before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. Research from the National Institute on Aging has demonstrated that socially isolated seniors are at a higher risk for conditions like anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

The good news? Though you may be at home alone or with a partner, you don’t have to be socially isolated. You can continue to connect with your friends and loved ones via phone calls, text messages, video chats, and online games. Here are a few of our favorite online games you can use to play with friends, family, and strangers that will keep your mind sharp.

Information regarding the COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, is everywhere, and it can be easy to feel overwhelmed, anxious, or confused. However, one thing is certain: The risk of developing severe and dangerous complications due to the virus increases with age. This means that senior care and senior living professionals have been paying especially close attention to the science and research surrounding COVID-19.

If you have merely thought of turning on the news or picking up a newspaper lately, 

you have undoubtedly seen tons of stories about COVID-19, the viral disease also known as the “novel coronavirus.” If you’re like me, these stories have quickly caused you to think about your family and loved ones and how this coronavirus might impact you.