Relax, Renew, Garden

Every spring our green-thumbed residents are itching for some outdoor horticultural therapy. They enjoy getting out in the sunshine, cultivating our gardens and filling them with beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables. Research suggests that garden therapy can help you to relax, reduce stress, alleviate depression and accelerate rehabilitation in a variety of instances. It also has physical benefits like strengthening muscles and helping with dexterity, just to mention a couple. What a beautiful therapy that brings peace and renewal to not only the gardener but also the observer.

Sweet Summertime

Gorgeous day, grass skirts, leis, juicy tropical fruit, were just some of the things residents enjoyed while celebrating the first day of summer at Juniper Village at Meadville. They also had a blast at our “photo booth,” and swinging to beach tunes by the Zocks. What a great way to kick off the sweet summertime!

July 2017 Events in Meadville, PA: Stand In Integrity

Each summer Juniper Village begins our quarterly Alive in All Seasons focus on Staying Connected. We promote staying connected to the community, the environment and each other. In July we shed light on staying connected to our community through volunteerism. Do you know that, as a company, we receive more than 10,000 hours of precious volunteer time each year? We have many volunteers, both human and animal, who contribute to our mission of nurturing the spirit of life. Elizabeth Andrew said it best, “volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” This month we honor all of the wonderful volunteers who make time to share a bit of their heart with us. We appreciate those who lead groups in our communities; those who share their unique skills and talents with our residents; those who provide friendly visits to our residents and give a reassuring hug or comforting puppy kiss; and the many, many other special people who enhance our lives.

This month as we focus on volunteerism we invite you to find a way that you can make a difference. Whether helping us at Juniper Village or another organization, volunteering has countless emotional and physical health benefits. Volunteering gives a boost not only to those receiving, but to those giving of their time as well.

Review our full calendar and make time to join us for any and all events.

This month we highlight our Ambassador Program and other volunteer opportunities for residents. In addition to volunteer opportunities, we invite you to join us during July for our summer celebrations and share our thanks as we honor those who Stand In Integrity with us.

Our fabulous July 2017 events in Meadville, PA at Juniper Village at Meadville include our:

§  AIAS Friends and Family Dinner and Birds of Prey Presentation by Tamarack Wildlife this event is always a crowd favorite as we are thrilled with an exciting wildlife presentation, so come see which animals are visiting on July 13^th at 4:30 pm. (RSVP by July 9^th to 814-333-4400.)

§  Lunch and Learn Driving and Alzheimer’s Disease presented by the Alzheimer’s Association as we discuss whether Mom should still be driving and how to set up a Power of Attorney for Dad, so if you been asking these questions or think you will be soon, come join us to get your questions answered on July 19^th at noon. (RSVP by July 16^th to 814-333-4400.)

§  Volunteerism Presentation by Kirsten from the community gardens as we learn more about the benefits of volunteering and how everyone can become involved on July 28th at 2:30 pm. (RSVP appreciated but not required.)

We look forward to sharing our July 2017 events in Meadville, PA at Juniper Village at Meadville with you as you Stand In Integrity.

June 2017 Events in Meadville, PA: Live In Wellness

“You are what you eat.” The old adage is now truer than ever. Good health is largely dependent on good nutrition, so much so that doctors trace many physical and emotional ailments back to a diet deficient in vitamins and minerals. Eating a well-balanced diet is a major part of encouraging long life, lowering the incidence of disease, and helping sick people recover. On the flip side, inadequate nutrition and poor quality foods can generally cut life span and open us up to many illnesses and disease. In effect, food is medicine per Webster's definition of medicine: "The science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease." Food acts as medicine - to maintain, prevent, and treat disease.

With this month’s Alive in All Seasons focus on food, we’d like to give you a prescription for a healthy diet: breakfast daily (do not skip); meals x3 (at least) daily; foods from each of the food groups per meal daily. The food pyramid defines the food groups as grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy and proteins. The amounts vary according to age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level. Here’s a good guideline to start you on your way. Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Make half your grains whole grains. Move to low-fat and fat-free dairy. Vary your protein routine and eat and drink the right amount for you.

Join us as we continue our focus on healthy aging by shedding light on our hydration program with healthy snacks and juices, and demonstrate how food and nutrition help us to Live in Wellness from a dietitian’s point of view.

Our fabulous June 2017 events in Meadville, PA at Juniper Village at Meadville include our:

§  Dulcimer Music and Delightful Desserts & Alive in All Seasons Dinner with Carol Myers who will perform the Dulcimer as we celebrate food month and sample delightful desserts prepared by our own Chef Erin following our meal on June 8^th at 4:30pm. (RSVP by June 4^th to 814-333-4400.)

§  Certified Dementia Practitioner Training with Liz Plozner-Chalfa, Executive Director of Juniper Village Wellspring Memory Care at Brookline, who will be presenting this training for those in our local community who wish to become certified dementia practitioners with a class fee of just $25 on June 22^nd from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm and June 23^rd from 9:00 am to noon. (RSVP by June 18^th to 814-333-4400.)

§  Friends and Family Concert featuring Concertina researcher and musician, Roger Juntunen, who will be performing on the concertina keyboard for us to enjoy including polkas, oldies, sing-alongs and more on June 24^th at 2:00 pm. (RSVPs appreciated but not required.)

We look forward to sharing our June 2017 events in Meadville, PA at Juniper Village at Meadville with you as you Live In Wellness.

Celebrating Fitness

We had many great activities centered around our theme of fitness during the month of May. Two outstanding ones were our senior Olympics and a gymnastics presentation by state champion Courtney Miller. We started our Olympics with an opening ceremony, the pledge of allegiance to the flag and then moved on to some good competitive fun. We played a multitude of active games and three lucky seniors took home either a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal. Residents were also quite impressed by our gymnast and her many trophies and ribbons. Courtney performed for the residents her routine that won her the championship as well as identifying and demonstrating many gymnastics moves. She is a perfect picture of physically fit, complete with a smile. 

Best Day Ever!

Residents at Juniper Village at Meadville were delighted by a visit from 21 first graders form Calvary Baptist Christian Academy for the annual Serve-A-Thon. The students did an array of activities including saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag, singing patriotic songs, playing piano and visiting with residents one on one. However the biggest hit of the morning was playing some intense balloon volley ball. When all was said and done some of the students left saying “it was the best day ever!” 

May 2017 Events in Meadville, PA: Grow Strong Daily

Continuing our Spring Alive In All Seasons focus on healthy again, we continue to let wellbeing thrive with a May focus on Fitness. Staying fit throughout all seasons of life is possible and at Juniper we promote fitness every day of the week! We recently shared on our Facebook page a New York Times story, authored by Gretchen Reynolds, providing results from the Mayo Clinic who recently conducted an experiment on the cells of 72 healthy but sedentary men and women who were 30 or younger or older than 64. The volunteers were randomly assigned to a particular exercise regimen. There were some unsurprising differences: The gains in muscle mass and strength were greater for those who exercised only with weights, while interval training had the strongest influence on endurance. But more unexpected results were found in the biopsied muscle cells. It seems as if the decline in the cellular health of muscles associated with aging was “corrected” with exercise, especially if it was intense, says Dr. Sreekumaran Nair, a professor of medicine and an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic and the study’s senior author. In fact, older people’s cells responded in some ways more robustly to intense exercise than the cells of the young did. So pick up those weights, get on that bike and remember it’s never too late to benefit from exercise. And if you’re not doing so already, follow us on social media so you don’t miss a thing.

We invite you to Grow Strong Daily along with us with programs such as Fitness Five and our Route 66 Walking Program. Learn more about fitness and keeping your heart healthy at our Heart Healthy Luncheon and educational presentation. Staying fit throughout all seasons of life is possible.

Our fabulous May 2017 events in Meadville, PA at Juniper Village at Meadville include our:

§  Alive in All Seasons Dinner Bluegrass Music because music provides therapeutic qualities attend our dinner with your loved ones, support our monthly theme and enjoy some bluegrass therapy as we explore ways to Grow Strong Daily on May 11^th at 4:30 pm. (RSVP by May 7^th at 814-333-4400.)

§  Lunch and Learn Importance of Movement as We Age with Genesis Rehab as they share with us the importance of staying flexible and why maintaining your range of motion is so vital as we age with a heart-healthy lunch served on May 17^th at noon. (RSVP by May 16^th at 814-333-4400.)

§  Route 66 Kick Off at Ernst Trail as we are taking this show on the road, so join us down at Ernst Trail to kick off our efforts to encourage our entire community to Grow Strong Daily; our community is welcome and no RSVP is required, and refreshments will be served on May 31^st at 9:30 am.

We look forward to sharing our May 2017 events in Meadville, PA at Juniper Village at Meadville with you as you Grow Strong Daily.