Water Exercises, Hydrotherapy, Swimming & Water Therapy for Arthritis

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Warm water exercises are beneficial to health and wellness of everyone but play a special roll in keeping arthritis sufferers healthy as well as the easing of some symptoms over time. Swimming, water aerobics and other water exercises are low impact, with the water’s buoyancy supporting the body’s weight to decrease pressure on joints and making it easier to perform range of motion exercises. The benefits to keeping your body in motion are to build strength, loosen stiff joints and relaxing sore muscles.

Although pain stops many arthritis patients, regular movement has been proven to relieve pain and improve joint function. Listen to your body and take advantage of the best time of day or the way you feel. Relax, feeling anxious can amplify pain and know your body – when it’s OK and when its time to stop.  Always, consult your doctor before starting any exercise routine.

Paradise Village offers gentle aquatic exercises by Arthritis Foundation accredited instructors at the pool! Ability to swim is not required.

Eat Your Veggies! Nutrition is Key to Senior Health

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Getting the right nutrients is vital to your health and wellbeing. Balance is the key – make sure you are consuming a variety of healthy foods every single day. Certain health issues require doctor and nutritionist involvement, so make sure whatever you do, you are consulting your medical professionals. The best places to start a healthy diet include:

  1. Eat nutrient packed food – fruits, vegetables, whole grains
  2. Find flavorful foods that provide nutrition
  3. Snack between meals, depending on your physician’s advice
  4. Eat with others often, to get more well rounded meals
  5. Get help with food prep, consider your situation and which options would be most practical

Senior health issues can have many individual or interrelated causes including eating too little food, taking in too few nutrients, and aging related digestive changes and problems. Symptoms might include fatigue, depression, weak immune system, anemia, weakness, digestive issues, lung, and heart problems, and skin concerns.   It’s not difficult or complicated to improve your nutritional intake and your health. Help is always available, consult your doctor before making lifestyle changes, and don’t be uncomfortable discussing issues.

At Paradise Village meals are prepared by our award-winning chef that are both healthy and packed with flavor!

Spring is Upon Us Here in San Diego!

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February brought to San Diego, one of the strangest weather events in memory. While it may have made it seem like Spring would not get here, in fact, March is upon us. March is one of the wetter months for San Diego, but the temperature continues to rise and the days grow longer. If you haven’t been able to enjoy the out-of-doors as much as you might like, consider Spring as your invitation to reconnect with San Diego’s World famous temperate climate and beautiful gardens. Whether you go to Balboa Park, or the one-of-a-kind Ocean coastline or simply open up your windows, or step outside you’ll be glad you live in this special area.

Cell Phones for Seniors

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Today’s cell phones can do so much more than just make calls. How do you decide what phone is right for your needs and then what plan will be the best value?

Technology is getting more and more complex, and navigating the myriad of choices can be overwhelming. These few simple things are all you may need:

  • Make and receive calls
  • Ability to hear callers
  • Ability to see numbers and displays
  • Simple easy-to-use menus

There are also several other things to consider:

  • Coverage area: will you have good reception for making calls?
  • Minutes: how frequently will you use your phone?
  • Support: will your provider be able to help you with questions?

Have providers go over their plans with you and what their terms like “anytime minutes” or “nights and weekend minutes” mean. Terms like roaming* and overage** are common across carriers but many terms are not.

Take a look at family plans and pre-paid plans to keep your costs down. Ask around, your friends in your retirement community may have some recommendations for you. Be realistic about how many minutes you will use and if you happen to go over your allotted minutes, call your provider to upgrade your plan. They often will retroactively update your plan and remove overage charges.

Cell phone models change frequently but a couple that were found to be a good fit for seniors:

Just5

Samsung T101G from TracFone

AT&T F160

Samsung M360 on Sprint

To read reviews on cell phone models that are good for seniors you can visit: http://cellphonesforseniorcitizens.blogspot.com/

*Roaming: when you are outside of your main coverage area and your phone roams the airwaves to find signal for you to make calls. If you are outside of your main area, there may be an additional charge depending on your cell phone plan.

**Overage: the amount of minutes over your allotted plan.

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!

Cedars Assisted Living Receives Perfect Survey!

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As you may know, assisted living facilities are guided by a whole host of federal and state regulations.  These regulations ensure that the care and services provided to seniors is delivered in a manner that promotes the six principles of assisted living.  And, while these regulations are lengthy, it is the charge of all assisted living facilities to continually meet these standards.

Further, to monitor strict adherence to these regulations, a surprise survey (inspection) takes place at the facility, whereby all operations are evaluated.  Frequently, assisted living facilities are found to require some plan of correction to improve on areas deemed not in substantial compliance with the regulations.  This is common, and can include both minor and major areas of deficiency.

The Cedars Assisted Living just wrapped up our first surprise inspection and with great pride we announce that the community was found in substantial compliance with all regulations!  Congratulations to the Cedars.  In fact, the Cedars is the latest Generations’ community to receive a perfect survey.  Earlier this year, Cherrywood Village in Portland, OR and Wheatland Village, in Walla Walla, WA both received perfect surveys as well.  We could not be more proud of our staff at each of these outstanding communities!

Congratulations to everyone at the Cedars Assisted Living!  You’re truly Enhancing Lives and Celebrating the Excitement of Living!

Happy Anniversary, Paradise Village

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Paradise Village recently celebrated it’s one-year anniversary of service to seniors, their families, and the community.  We’re delighted with the year that was and our many accomplishments.  In fact, Union Tribune readers voted Paradise Village as one of the top three retirement communities in San Diego!  Wow!  Within one year, we’re already known as a premier provider of senior residences and assisted living services.

“I could not be more pleased with the excellent work we’ve done this year!” exclaimed Norm Smith, Executive Director.  “It’s a thrill work with a team of such talented and caring people, who are truly dedicated to service!”

The upcoming year proves to be an even more exciting year for our campus.  With new residents arriving each week, additional life enrichment activities, wellness opportunities, and, of course, the world-class dining, Paradise Village is set to exceed all of our customers’ expectations.

Happy Anniversary, Paradise Village!  Here’s to your next year of five-star service to seniors!