Category Archives: Independent Living

Concerned about a cleaner environment for your grandchildren and beyond?

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Its all the rage – green, environmentally friendly, low carbon footprint, sustainable, recycling, reusing. Sound familiar? Aren’t these things you have been doing forever? Like washing out plastic sandwich bags and utensils! Remember when we all dried our laundry on the line?

There is a growing trend with the young folk to get back to some of these “olden days” things. Here are a few reminders of some small things that can make an impact:

  1. Request only the catalogs you want to receive at www.catalogchoice.org
  2. Unplug cell phone and other electronic device chargers when not in use.
  3. Take your own grocery bag to the store.
  4. Use community transportation.
  5. Recycle paper, plastic, drink cans and bottles, canned food containers whenever possible.
  6. Turn off lights, computers, radios and televisions when not in use.

See, things you have been doing your whole life!

Paradise Village Retirement Community and Assisted Living has also committed to being green and sustainable by:

  • An on-site recycling program (glass, paper, bottles).  The trash chutes have recycling bins that allow the residents the option to recycle.
  • Meet or exceed the energy code for general lighting and energy usage.
  • Energy efficient appliances and lighting.  Lighting that auto shuts off or dims when not in use.
  • Economizers on all common area HVAC that mix fresh air with already conditioned air for decreased energy consumption.

Beware of Scammers Targeting Seniors

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Ever get an offer from a phone solicitor that seemed too good to be true? Did someone you know get taken advantage of by a bogus promise? Unfortunately, seniors need to have their guard up when being approached by strangers, phone solicitors, mail or internet offers and sometimes even their own family.

Scams targeting retirees range from bogus handyman contractors to lavish “free cruises” and can come to you looking very legitimate.

Here are some tips:

  1. DO NOT give out your personal information over the phone, internet or mail ESPECIALLY your social security number.
  2. Check a business out with the Better Business Bureau
  3. Ask for license numbers and cross-check contractors with your state’s licensing department (the lowest-cost bid is sometimes not always the best)
  4. Don’t click on internet links in email that come from people/places you don’t know.
  5. Don’t click on internet links that look funny or different than others you have seen before.
  6. If you use online banking, credit card services or internet shopping sites, go direct to those sites by typing them into your browser rather than clicking on email links – even if it looks legitimate.
  7. Shred documents with account numbers and other personal information.

The bottom line still is, if the offer seems overwhelmingly super great, then maybe you should take a pass.

Senior Wellness at Paradise Village

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The benefits of leading an active senior lifestyle are many and well studied throughout the world. Regular exercise promotes a healthy mind, wards off injury and illness and also just plain makes you feel better! Hitting the gym is not for everyone and retirement communities all over have developed creative programs to get you moving from low-impact exercise classes to swimming.

For most of us, just getting off the couch to get to the program or gym is the hard part but you can find inspiration in the smallest of places.

  • Ask a friend from your community to join you and keep you motivated.
  • Subscribe to a fitness magazine.
  • Watch television shows that are health-minded.
  • Subscribe to a fitness blog or YouTube channel.

Paradise Village offers an exercise room with strength training machines, staff with expertise in senior fitness, classes tailored to your individual capacity, an 18-hole putting course and a beautiful swimming pool.

As always, please discuss any exercise regimen with your personal physician before starting.

Video Calling Using Skype

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Using your computer to talk to relatives far away from San Diego may sound daunting to folks who don’t use a computer regularly. Video calls and Skype over the internet is a fun way to see the faces you love the most when travel from your retirement community home is not an option. The benefits far outweigh the effort setting up video chat using Skype.

What you need:

  1. A computer
  2. A web camera and speakers (most newer computers have these built in)
  3. Software and a free chat account like Skype
  4. Internet connection
  5. A friend or relative on the other end with the same setup

To get your free Skype account, from an internet connected computer, go to Skype.com and click on “Get Skype”. Download  and install the software and follow the instructions to set up your account.  Keep your account username and password (also known as login information) handy and if you get stuck utilize Skype’s help.

You can also ask friends and relatives for help getting you set up for a new computer adventure! Practice, practice, practice to keep it fresh in your mind. Create a cheat sheet for your login information and the steps to make a video call.

Don’t have a computer? There are also stand-alone video phones available as well.

The Paradise Village Concierge service would be happy to help you get video chat working on your personal computer, give us a call!