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162 College Highway
Southampton, MA 01073
Our newest community, Lunabrook Village at Torrington is schedule to open in Late Spring of 2025.
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Now Hiring! We are currently looking to
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The luck o’ the Irish is upon us, as March springs forth it's meadows of four-leaf clovers and golden daffodils. Warmer weather means more time outdoors in the New England region and a perfect opportunity for older adults to engage in fun activities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
You don’t have to be a little leprechaun to enjoy the festivities around St. Patrick’s Day. Older adults can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Mad Hatter crafts, Irish dancing, baking traditional Irish treats, playing luck-themed games, or attending parades and community events.
For those who love basketball – you can show-off your team colors in crafty ways during March Madness! And, if there are little leprechauns in your life, invite them to join you at your residence at Everbrook Senior Living.
Mad Hatter Top Hat Craft for St. Patrick’s Day
No matter your age, this craft is a big hit because there are countless ways to design and decorate a top hat. You can work with inexpensive paper craft materials or get really fancy by starting with an actual top hat (check vintage stores or online) that you transform into your own Mad Hatter Top Hat. Let these images inspire your creativity and follow the links for all manner of designs.
Glittery Leprechaun Top Hat – perfect for all ages and particularly fun to do with the grandkids!
Truly a Mad Hatter Fascinator – you won’t find the Queen wearing these fascinators, but you will have a blast designing one! From chic to funky, you determine just how “mad” you want your design to be…or tie in with March Madness and incorporate your team’s logo/colors.
Easter Mad Hatter Top Hat – incorporate the Easter season colors and patterns with this paper-craft design using cardstock.
Lucky Leprechaun Fabric Top Hat – begin with a vintage hat that you want to upcycle or use the cardboard “frame” and decorate with fabric scraps. A great way to bring together your crafty friends to reuse scrap materials!
More top hat design ideas to share with friends and family.
Not everyone has a green thumb for crafts. The activities below will keep everyone engaged in the St. Pat’s festivities.
St. Patrick's Day Parades & Special Events – Most local municipalities will “paint the town green” with parades, music or art events, and entertainment. Check with your Everbrook Senior Living concierge for activities in the local area including those at art museums, libraries, restaurants, and parks and recreation venues. (FYI: In New England, Daffodil Festivals are very popular!)
Irish Trivia Night – Whether you use index cards or PowerPoint to set up a game and see who knows the most about all-things-Irish film, books, art, or history... trivia night is a fun way to learn together. Consider adding prizes for the individual and/or team with the most points.
Gold Coin Toss Game – You might not shoot hoops anymore, but we bet you can get a gold coin in a pot that’s a few feet away. Get your teams together, line up your leprechaun pots and give each team 20-25 gold coins (the plastic kind).
The goal: get as many gold coins in the pot as possible from behind the line of demarcation. Two teams of 2-5 each compete against each other to progress to the “playoff”. (All teams should have equivalent number of players and each player gets the same number of coins). The team that has the most coins in the pot after each round moves on until only one team remains. Plan to have a great prize for the semi-finalists and finalist, too.
Irish Movie Night – we’ll just give you a few new and classic movies that revolve around Ireland, Irish themes, or Irish actors. Pop some green popcorn, serve your favorite beverages, and green-themed treats to share. The Banshees of Inisherin, The Devil’s Own, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Ondine, Calvary, Leap Year, Waking Ned Devine, The Luck of the Irish (young adult/family with basketball theme), Gangs of New York – search your favorite streaming service or Google for more film ideas.
Irish Baking Bonanza – from soda bread to clover-shaped cookies to lime-green scones and mint-chocolate chip pie (with or without the Baileys!), you can find a great variety of Irish themed recipes online. Whether you all bake together or simply come together to share your creations, there’s sure to be something for everyone to enjoy before the day is done. Check out these Irish treats from the folks at Delish!
An Intimate Irish Evening – just the two of you or an intimate group of friends? Plan an Irish luncheon or dinner with the traditional recipes from “the great island”.
Irish Jig Dance – Bring in the Irish steppers and jig dancers to teach lessons to your friends and family... then have a Jig Dance-off. For those with arthritis, a line dance or chair dancing is a great alternative.
We hope you have a lucky St. Patrick’s Day, rich with the blessings of good health, the comforts of a nurturing home, and the bonds of friendship. That’s exactly what you’ll find at Everbrook Senior Living – a community of support that suits your lifestyle and meets your unique social, emotional, and health needs. To learn more about our first-in-class amenities, residential lifestyles, and specialized services call today to schedule a tour.
Fresh air and colorful fall foliage make the autumn months ideal for spending time outdoors. An excellent way for older adults to be active outside is to become involved with a volunteer project in their local community. When senior citizens become active in doing good deeds for others, their health and well-being improve!
Someone who chooses to do volunteer work does so because they believe it makes a difference for others who are having a harder time in life. Research shows that such altruistic behavior also makes the volunteer feel good about themselves. Volunteerism helps give a person a refreshed perspective on their own life and a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.
Beyond just feeling good in that moment of doing a good deed, volunteering also has lasting effects on several aspects of an older adult’s physical and social-emotional health and well-being.
Older Adults Volunteers Experience Improved Social Well-being
The isolation that comes from not feeling a sense of belonging and having a community that one can rely on is detrimental for an older adult’s health. Seniors who spend too much time alone can become depressed and anxious, which can contribute to other health problems.
When older adults get involved with volunteer work they experience benefits for their social well-being, such as:
Older Adult Volunteers Have Enhanced Emotional Well-being
When older adults are active in their community, using their time and talent to give back to others, it reinforces a sense of urgency, brings meaning to their life, and helps them acquire perspective on how much living and giving they still have left to offer. The emotional benefits of volunteer work for older adults include:
Older Adult Volunteers Experience Positive Changes in Their Physical Health
In general, people who volunteer are more physically active; have lower rates of heart disease, depression, anxiety; and overall take better care of themselves.
A few of the many physical health effects that come from being engaged in volunteer work include:
There are many ways for older adults to become active volunteers in their local community. Everbrook community program directors are always looking for local events. You may also reach out to your local library, children’s home, or food shelter to see what type of help they need. Perhaps you have a hobby or skill from your professional experience that can benefit a local non-profit. Maybe you want to try something new; volunteering is a great way to learn a new skill! Find a cause that is meaningful for you and get involved—you’ll be helping others and helping improve your health, too!
At Everbrook, we believe that interdependence helps to preserve independence. We encourage our residents to become involved in their community, both at and outside of their immediate residence.
Our caring and dedicated team will help residents discover what is significant in their life. Residents, with as much support as is needed for their functional status, can become involved, active, and healthier through a variety of activities at Everbrook and in the community beyond Everbrook. The hub for these opportunities is our Wellness 4 Later Life™ program, which encompasses seven dimensions of wellness: physical, spiritual, emotional, social, intellectual, vocational, and environmental, as are advocated by the International Council of Active Aging.
If you are looking for a senior community where you'll experience mutual respect and support among residents, as well as a place where all residents experience belonging, and can find meaningful ways to be involved in life, then please visit an Everbrook Senior Living community today.
Resources
NationalService.gov. “The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A review of Recent Research.” Corporation of National & Community Service. Accessed 13 Oct 2018: https://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/07_0506_hbr.pdf
Thebalancesmb.com “The 15 Unexpected Benefits of Volunteering that will Inspire You.” Accessed 13 October 2018: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/unexpected-benefits-of-volunteering-4132453
CreateTheGood.org “Health Benefits of Volunteering.” Accessed 13 Oct 2014: http://createthegood.org/articles/volunteeringhealth
Carlson, Michelle C., Erickson, Kirk I., Kramer, Arthur F., et al., “ Evidence for Neurocognitive Plasticity in at-risk older adults: The Experience Corps Program.” Jls of Gerontology: Series A, (1 December 2009) 64A:12, Pages 1275–1282, https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glp117
During the holidays as we gather with family, young and old alike, we may feel concern for a senior family member who is showing signs of difficulty with memory and cognition. While there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, the leading cause of dementia, engaging your elderly loved one in “brain games” can help to protect brain function, lower the risk for, and even slow the progression of dementia. So, put on your ugly holiday sweaters and gather everyone ‘round for these festive holiday games to stimulate thinking, cognition, recall, and problem-solving.
Holiday-themed Word Search
Crossword puzzles and other types of word-search games are fantastic activity for sharpening reasoning skills and stimulating multiple areas of the brain. Word searches generally involve using clues to solve a word-puzzle. This stimulates recollection from stored knowledge and memories, uses problem-solving skills, and provides a sense of reward when finding the right word to fit the space. You can find crossword books and games (in the app stores) that cover any theme and are suitable for any level. If your loved one is already struggling with signs of dementia, consider using a crossword designed for school-age children, which will utilize simpler words and clues.
Festive Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles are a great activity to do with family members of all ages. This provides your elder family member with a sense of inclusion. Jigsaw puzzles require reasoning, problem-solving skills, and creativity. To personalize jigsaw puzzles, you can have one made of a favorite family photo or destination that is meaningful to your senior. Imagine their joy to put together a puzzle depicting a happy memory! This can spark conversation about the “time when” or the events that are associated with the photo. And don’t forget the many other types of puzzle games… from Rubik’s Cube to Sudoku!
Board Games
Plenty of board games have holiday twists to them… we’ve listed a few below. Much like jigsaw puzzles, playing board games stimulates multiple brain functions: recall, retention, formation of new memories, problem-solving, use of logic (and wit), creativity, and much more. Also, games with two or more players reinforce social skills, communication skills, and collaboration.
Here are just a few games that you can find through a quick search online:
Though this may not sound like a big deal, fun games like these can improve a senior’s cognitive function. Try them out with your loved one and see what they like best. Everyone has different preferences.
Many other board games have holiday themes, based on the beautiful range of holiday spiritual traditions from around the globe; others have a festive take on a popular game. Many games that were once only board games also have counterparts for mobile devices and are suitable for multiple players. If your elder loved one is savvy with a smart phone, they can play Monopoly, Life, Battleship, and the online platform Luminosity is a popular brain training game site.
While you are spending time with your elderly loved one, keep tabs on how they are functioning. The following are just a few of the signs that may raise concern about memory decline or dementia in seniors:
Is it Time for Memory Care for Your Elderly Loved One?
If you’ve observed your elderly family is struggling with age-related memory decline, it’s time for a thorough medical evaluation and consideration as to whether or not it is best for them to remain living on their own or in a family member’s care. The ongoing care of someone who is in cognitive decline requires a tremendous commitment of time and resources emotionally, mentally, and financially.
Have you asked yourself: Is now the time for compassionate memory care arrangements for my loved one?
At Everbrook Senior Living Communities, we provide a range of high-quality, compassionate care to support the social, emotional, and physical needs of older adults at every stage of later life. Our residents—your loved one—is considered an extended member of our own family. Through our Memory Care Program we provided enhanced support and specialized services to address memory impairment, while the caregivers need to revitalize their own lives so that the time they spend with their afflicted loved one is of high quality.
Every aspect of the Everbrook Memory Care Program is designed using evidence-based research combined with personalized care and services delivered by well-trained professional medical and attentive support staff.
If you feel that your loved one is ready for memory care, you can speak with an Everbrook community advocate right from our website. Our advocates provide compassionate guidance to help you make the best choice for your elder family member.
Ready to visit? Schedule an on-site tour of an Everbrook Community.
Sources
“3 Cognitive Games for Seniors that You Have to Try” Port St. Lucie Hospital Blog
“The Best Free and Paid Games for Seniors” Sixty&Me Blog
Brain Health Initiative Newsletters (presented by Harvard Health)
