The Caregiver Wellbeing Talk

Michelle McCoy, Certified Wellness Coach from Treasured Wellness, came in to do a talk for our Caregiver/CNA team. She serves Johnston and Wake counties, has expertise with migraine and digestion issues, and is generally focussed on women's health. She's a former CNA, and her daughter is now working towards her own CNA certification.

While Michelle's talk was about overall wellbeing, she specifically discussed how the foods we eat impact our body, energy and health. She talked about the adverse effect stress has on our bodies, how to counter it, and how to care for ourselves that are uplifting for both our body and mind.

She also treated us to wonderful, healthy snacks including lemon water to help alkalize our bodies.

We had a small holiday gift (that Michelle personally put together) for each team member, to support what they learnt during her talk.

5,000 Years of History in a Tea Bag

What do safe drinking water, workers' rights, women's rights, pottery manufacturing, the American Revolution, clipper ships, taxes, smuggling, beer, and ancient Chinese legends have in common? Tea!

Sponsored by Resources for Seniors (organized by Susan M, Senior Care Coordinator) and the NC Museum of History, senior attendees of this event learnt how these small dried leaves affect our past in a story worth raising a cup to!

They also enjoyed a cup of spiced tea that Susan had given us a recipe for. One of our Caregivers, Kim P prepared the tea onsite and served it as part of this well attended program. Here are some pictures and the recipe...

Holiday Expectations

It's a perfectly decorated home and you have perfected your holiday plans for your perfectly healthy family. Even in this unlikely scenario there is the unexpected. Uncle Joe arrives with an uninvited guest. Aunt Josephine forgets to turn on the stove for dinner, Nana gets lost on the highway and misses the event altogether. Every person has a story of an unexpected turn of events on the most perfectly planned gathering.

When you have a loved one struggling with loss; of health or mobility or ability, how do you adapt your plans? Can you expect something good, even joyous, or do you just shrug away the holiday and call it a wash? Three Christmases in a row I had a close family member in the hospital or recovering from a serious illness, or both. The following three suggestions culled from my own personal experience and my years working in long-term care helped me survive and thrive in a less than perfect holiday.

Adapt expectations;
but hold onto the most precious.

No, Mother is not going out Christmas shopping with you this year, but what can she do? Perhaps she can still brainstorm ideas, view items on-line, help wrap. If time spent together was the most precious part, find a way to still do it.

Adapt expectations and allow time to grieve.

Change is hard for everyone, but especially when that change involves loss. Give yourself and your loved one permission to weep, to be alone, to express sorrow even during the holiday. Allowing these times will make the smiling times more authentic.

Adapt expectations and create something new, maybe even better.

Sometimes having to slow down and do it differently means an opportunity to change a habit or tradition that wasn't serving us anyway. Maybe a desk-top tree and fresh greens will bring just as much if not more pleasure. What foods really mean celebration and which ones just tend to after-season guilty gut? Is there a food that could replace the sweets or fats currently off-diet. I have included clementines as our traditional holiday food which everyone can eat. Other changes have included more than average phone-calls and weekly letters which a care-giver reads. It is a small but meaningful way we celebrate.

Maybe you have already made these changes, share them if you can and I hope you can experience good, something joyous this holiday season.

Apex Holiday Parade 2014

I couldn't believe how "hot" the Apex holiday parade is. There were over 80 "floats", and there were hundreds of people lining the streets. It was raining, but the number of people who had braved the elements to be there and enjoy the festivities was just phenomenal!

We were part of the Cambridge Village of Apex luxury golf cart "float"; was a ton of fun running in front of and alongside it wishing onlookers with our two joyous elves, Micah and Luke. Three Camridge Village senior residents rode in the cart, waving and welcoming the people lining the streets. One of them has a son in the local police department, who stopped by to say hello to his mom. I thoroughly enjoyed the event.

Here are a handful of pictures of what was in store for everyone.

Moving Day 2014, Triangle (Cary)

This was the 2nd Moving Day organized by National Parkinson's Foundation in the Triangle. It was windy and cold, but about 500 people turned out.

There was someone I spoke with who came all the way from Virginia to attend this event! Wow!

We had a table, and who better to man it with me than one of our wonderful, passionate Caregivers who has had experience caring for seniors with Parkinson's, FeLicia M.

Fall Colors

What has Fall colors got to do with seniors or senior care you ask? Plenty!

We all need something to look forward to, and Fall colors are something a lot of us including seniors look forward to every year, for the beauty of it, and what it implies among other things (holidays are coming up, and so we will get to see and be with family again soon).

It's also a time to start slowing down a bit after hectic and hot summer activity.

Nature works in cycles. And just like all living things in nature, our bodies need rest too. Winter is a period of slowdown/inactivity that helps our bodies rest, recuperate and regenerate, so that we can do it all over again next year. Ask the trees that shed their leaves in Fall. Those who don't heed this cycle may fall sick (forcing them to slow down and recuperate).

Fall is a transition time for the body to start that process (Spring is the opposite: it's the time to start gearing up for the most active time of the year). As we get older the more in tune with nature we are, the better it is for our well being (when we are younger our bodies bounce back tremendously quickly, but not so as we age).

Enough said; here are some pictures to celebrate Fall, and not just on trees...

NCALA 2014, Winston-Salem

Always Best Care had a table at the annual North Carolina Assisted Living Association (NCALA) conference and trade show in Winston-Salem recently. It was wonderful meeting some extremely dedicated individuals from across North Carolina, who are passionate about senior care and about their communities.

It was especially great and exciting to say hello again to some of these individuals who we interact with regularly in our local communities.

Here are three owners from North Carolina who were at the trade show.

Joanne Pizzutto from Burlington/Southern Greensboro (center), Stephanie Gregory from North Wake county (right), and me from Eastern Wake county

Some show and glamor in downtown Winston-Salem

Halloween Art at Cambridge Village of Apex

Cambridge Village of Apex is a beautiful, vibrant senior living community located in a quiet neighborhood close to downtown Apex, with REX Rehab of Apex, a state of the art skilled nursing home as its next door neighbor.

Megan P and I were helping Linda Barmann (Activities Director at Cambridge Village), a fantastic vocalist among her various artistic talents, with her Halloween painting workshop. One of the residents who had never painted, created this "personality with a slight edge", with a wee bit of help. She was thrilled with the outcome even though her original intention was to make it pretty :)

The art of breath (healthy breathing strategies) - the deep breath

How you breathe is vitally important to your wellbeing. It becomes even more important as you age or when you are under stress. Why? Breathing is how you get vital oxygen into your body and cells, while exhaling "polluted" or "used-up" air. You can use various breathing techniques to enhance your energy, calm down, and prevent the onset of colds and coughs, especially as we transition from summer to fall and winter.

Here is a deep breathing technique. Use it to calm down and become present, thus gaining more while doing less (as opposed to constant multi-tasking).

Become aware

• Sit comfortably; take off any belts
• Become aware of how you are breathing; don't change anything, just become aware of your body breathing, sensing which parts of your body are involved – maybe the chest, maybe the belly/stomach, your nose, mouth, etc.
• Take a deep breath in; however way you normally take deep breaths
• Let the breath out slowly
• Take 2 more breaths this way
• Sense how you are already calmer than you were when you started this exercise

Deep breath

• When you are ready, start a breath by focusing on and filling your belly/stomach first
• When your belly is full, continue the breath into your chest/lung/heart region
• And finally when that region is full take the last bit of air into the area under the shoulders
• These are not separate breaths or steps, just one continuous flow of breath filling 3 different areas of your body
• Let the breath out slowly
• See which feels more comfortable - exhaling through your mouth or nose; at least initially do whichever feels more comfortable; be kind to your body
• Take 3-5 of these deep breaths, then relax your breath
• If your eyes feel like closing at any time, let them; closing your eyes will deepen your focus, meaning your breath; but do whatever feels comfortable
• How do you feel? Is there a sense of peace and calm inside and around you? Enjoy whatever sensation comes up

Practice

• Tony Robbins, the Master personal and business coach says practice makes perfect
• Use this deep breathing mechanism say twice a day, just a few breaths at a time
• It will take time to help the breath flow freely both when inhaling and exhaling; take your time, do as your body allows, being kind to yourself

Carillon Knightdale Escazu outing

Have you visited a chocolate factory? Have you visited an artisan chocolate factory? Well there is one right here in Raleigh - Escazu! And when I say artisan, I mean they hand craft their chocolate from scratch, as in the cacao bean. Exotic flavors like strawberry balsamico swirl around you as you enter and peruse the delicate and intricately designed chocolates. Each one seems like an individual piece of art.

Escazu has been in Raleigh since 2006. Hallot Parson, the head chocolate maker, is a native North Carolinian who comes from a background as a Chef in Aspen, NY and Dallas. Danielle, the chocolatier in charge of confections is a Venezuelan Native and is instrumental in obtaining the best beans from that country.

We visited Escazu thanks to Alice, the Carillon Activities Director who I have written about in a prior post. She makes each trip special for her residents, and the residents reciprocate in various ways. This time residents on the trip were from Asheville, Rolesville, Wendell and Zebulon, all in North Carolina and mostly local, bar one who is originally from the town of Garrison on the Hudson River across from United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. Mrs. B and Alice exchanged ideas of how to create more fun at the community.

Escazu - Artisan Chocolates in downtown Raleigh

Ooh la la...

Choosing getting interesting!

Giving the connoisseurs plenty of room

Antique Scale

Then there was Mr A, who used to take tour groups across the country. Here's an audio snippet of how he entertained us on the bus! Listening to him was simply amazing; his wife talked about how he would draw this one bird closer to him in his backyard with his calls. Wow!

Carillon Knightdale ROMEO (Retired Men Eating Out)

It was such a pleasure to be with some wonderful retired seniors at Carillon Knightdale today for their ROMEO activity.

Alice S (Carillon's Activities Director) who grew up in Rocky Mount, NC and has lived in the Knightdale/Wendell area for the past 30 years took some of her retired residents on a joy ride around the area today. She is an amazing lady, helping all the residents with their needs, making sure they were okay and keeping them engaged, while also deftly maneuvering the "bus" along some beautiful farm roads.

We drove by a couple of lush green tobacco patches, a corn field, some horse farms, an old store called the Corner Grocery that has been running for four generations now, an old Church not used anymore but built in the 1800s, some cows, and just to add to the fun a few donkeys. One of the residents Mr R. who grew up on a farm in a nearby town, grew tobacco himself along with raising chicken, and everything you can think of. He recounted an experience from 1924 when he went with his Dad to Raleigh and saw buggies on dirt roads; there was very little pavement then, all dirt roads and people traveled on horse carriages and the like.

Tobacco patch

Corn field

Corner Grocery - 4 generations and counting!

Even in those days, they were worried about more people moving in; the population then was 28,000. As a contrast, Wake county is predicted to hit 1 million residents this Friday. I just read in the WALTER magazine how the Capital Area Greenway was designed when the population was 100,000 and they were concerned about the predicted growth to 177,000.

Alice told us how she met someone who was at the burial of Thomas Edison, the famous inventor! I happened to meet someone myself today who is 100 years old, and so very independent.

It is such a blessing to be with our seniors who have been through so much change, and have so much history to share if anyone wants to listen. Here's wishing that a few of our generation (and beyond) will document at least some of this wealth of history.

Interview: Joanne Fried, Owner of Action CPR

I recently spoke with Joanne Fried, owner of Action CPR.

She's passionate about saving lives ever since her Father passed away when he was just 48. Joanne's dedicated to doing the right thing, and is constantly looking for ways to help others. She serves the Triangle area, and for over 10 people anywhere in North Carolina! Wow!

Oh, and the blueberries in her garden are absolutely delicious!

Imagine!

Picture yourself enjoying these bright yellow hibiscus'.

A hummingbird flies in, hovers in front of each flower, takes a drink from each in turn, then zooms away.

All in the open, no cages; what a beautiful natural experience.

Imagine...

The Mango & Broccolli Walk - Every Thursday

Easy trail, old fashioned river view, a turtle seeking the sun!

Enjoy such simple pleasures; invest in yourself; stay active.

Every Thursday @ 9am.  30 minutes; feel free to walk longer…
 
Neuse River Trail Parking Lot off Old Falls of Neuse Road; email sdas@abc-seniors.com for directions.

Parking lot E in attached map (not the lot for the dam).
Neuse River Greenway Trails Parking Map