The older you become the more likely it is that you will be diagnosed with high blood pressure (HBP). Hypertension is a blood pressure reading of over 140 (upper number or systolic pressure), and higher than 90 (lower number or diastolic pressure). Systolic pressure is the number measured when your heart beats and diastolic is the number when your heart is at rest between beats. You can have HBP for years and not experience any symptom which is why it is known as the silent killer. HBP is the blood pushing against artery walls more forcefully (higher pressure) which is how damage is caused over a period of time. People with HPB are at an added risk for heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and other serious complications. Blood pressure should be checked on several different occasions over a period of a couple of weeks. Blood pressure can be checked at home with a home blood pressure measurement device or monitor. It is important that you know how to use the monitor correctly and that the cuff fits you properly. For example, a cuff that is too small may give you a reading that is higher than it actually is. Once it is established that you have suffer from hypertension, there are a number of things you can do to improve the situation. It is recommended that you:
For informational purposes only, please consult your health care provider if you have any questions regarding your health. MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care at Jordan represents the very best in senior living with our distinct mission statement of “to honor, to value, to invest.” We are dedicated to providing a true home for residents amidst a beautiful, serene setting and a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve. Please schedule a tour to experience firsthand our comfortable, home-like atmosphere. Sources: aplaceformom.com/senior-care-resources/articles/high-blood-pressure/ nihseniorhealth.gov/highbloodpressure/symptomsanddiagnosis/01.html At MorningStar Senior Living of Billings, we offer a variety of floorplans to ensure that our residents are able to find accommodations that meet their needs. To start with, our main building has 70 assisted living suites, 36 secure suites for residents with memory impairments, and 72 bright independent living suites. We also have 32 independent living cottages that provide residents plenty of privacy as well as the added benefit of living in a community setting.
Regardless of what floorplan you have, all of our suites have wall-to-wall carpeting and are equipped with lighting, 9ft.-high ceilings, large windows, and mini blinds. Our cottages are small patio homes with a one-car garage and available in 1,215 or 1,102 sq. ft. two-bedroom, two bathroom configurations. At our main building, independent units are available in one bedroom, one bathroom; two bedrooms, one bathroom; and two bedrooms, two bath units in a variety of sizes and configurations. In addition our independent living units all have a complete kitchen with full-size appliances and a private patio at our cottages or a balcony at the main building. Each unit includes handicap-accessible bathrooms, a 24-hour Emergency Call System, and private heating and air conditioning. Your unit incudes cable TV and utilities, and we offer weekly housekeeping and laundry and linen services as well as daily trash removal and spot cleaning. Our cottages also include a fireplace and ceiling fan. Our 70 assisted living suites are available in a studio; one bedroom, one bath; and two bedroom, two bath configurations. Each unit includes a kitchenette with refrigerator and microwave and have available the same level of services and amenities as our independent units. For our memory care residents, we offer a choice of a 348 square foot studio or a 412 square foot shared unit. Please visit our website to learn more or give us a call! MorningStar Senior Living of Billings represents the finest in senior living with our unique mission statement “to honor, to serve, to invest.” Our foundation is built on honoring God, valuing our seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve in order to provide a true home for residents. Please schedule a tour to experience firsthand our comfortable, home-like atmosphere. Even though we are well into flu season, it is not too late to get a flu vaccination if you have not done so already. While the flu season is from October to May, most incidences occur in late December to early March. Doctors recommend getting the vaccination once it becomes available, which is usually sometime in September, but say if you haven’t done it yet, do it now. The vaccine takes approximately two weeks to work so you would still be protected during the worst of the season.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a yearly flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older. For this flu season, they advise you get a flu shot, not the nasal spray flu vaccine because of concerns regarding its effectiveness. Symptoms of the flu include a fever, cough, aches, and fatigue, and among those that get it, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized every year. Figures on how many people die each year from the flu varies and the CDC reports that “influenza-associated deaths in the United States ranged from a low of 12,000 (during 2011-2012) to a high of 56,000 (during 2012-2013).” We know that people are contagious for up to a day before they begin to experience any symptoms, which is why the disease is so easily spread. However at MorningStar, we take steps to protect the health of our residents. Since complete containment of the illness is next to impossible, especially in community living, we strongly urge our resident’s families to have their loved one immunized. In addition we advise that when visiting and spending time with a senior, that you practice good hygiene habits such as avoiding close contact with anyone who is sick, or if it is you, keep your distance. Also stay home if you are sick, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, wash your hands often, and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care of Boulder represents the best in senior living with a distinct mission statement - “to honor, to value, to invest.” Our foundation is built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve. We are dedicated to providing a true home for residents amidst a beautiful, serene setting and invite you to schedule a visit to experience one of the area’s finest senior living communities. Source: cdc.gov/flu/pdf/matte/nivw-vaccination.pdf The time may be right for you or your parents to move into a senior assisted living community but you are concerned about selling the house. We are all aware that the housing market has recovered from the poor market of a few years ago but finding the right buyer can often still be a challenge.
There are some things you can do to give yourself an edge over the competition. The most important thing is to set the right price as a house priced too high is just not going to sell in any market. Be sure to take condition of your home into account and sale prices of comparable houses in the area. Do not assume the price necessarily reflects the assessed value. If your house has been on the market for a while, re-evaluate what is going on and discuss with your agent any feedback he is getting from prospective buyers. It may be some repairs and upgrades are advisable and could make a difference. Ron Phipps, a principal broker with Phipps Realty and Relocation Services in Warwick, R.I., say, “If the house looks 40 years old with 40-year-old paint, 40-year-old appliances and 40-year-old carpet, that's a hard sell”. Remember that an old house can just look old, or with a few well-placed updates, you can transform it into a classic. Steps to staging your home to get ready to sell: Clean everything inside and out. Do not forget windows and steam clean the carpets. Make sure to eliminate any pet or cigarette odors. Paint walls that are dirty and replace stained or worn out carpet (consider putting in wood or tile floors). Stick to neutral colors. Fix anything that is broken or damaged. You could consider having a home inspection done as a buyer will probably do one anyway. It allows you to take care of repairs beforehand. Get rid of clutter throughout the house and do not forget countertops. Removing as much as possible will help to give the impression of more room. Take down anything that could be offensive and put away personal items and mementos. The idea is to let a prospective buyer picture living there. Open blinds and windows to give more light and let fresh air in if the weather is cooperative. Set out a vase of cut flowers. Sometimes seniors think it is better to modify their current home and postpone moving into a senior living community. Studies show that making even small modifications can negatively affect home equity down the road when someone wants to sell. People can feel disconnected to a house that looks like an “old person’s” home. MorningStar at Arrowhead represents the best in senior living with a unique mission statement “to honor, to value, to invest.” We have built our foundation on honoring God, valuing our seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve to create a true home for residents amid a beautiful, serene setting. To experience firsthand the finest senior living in the Phoenix area, contact us to schedule a tour. The MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care of Fort Collins’ community appreciates having our extraordinary leadership team. While Executive Director, Cheryl Davis is celebrating her one-year anniversary with MorningStar, she is no stranger to senior living. Her resume includes serving twenty years as an operations and sales leader in the senior living industry, specializing in hospitality, customer service, and servant leadership. Her work ethic includes embracing a standard of delivering unprecedented hospitality to each guest’s experience as well as the desire to build deep, authentic relationships with residents, their loved ones and associates. We are pleased to have Cheryl lead our community in MorningStar’s fundamental philosophy to serve with kindness, honesty, love and humility.
Our Wellness Director, Mary Coleman, understands that when we honor and care for seniors, we are serving God as well. Her first experience of loving seniors unconditionally was her grandparents who helped to teach her the meaning of faith, family and gratefulness. Working with seniors gives her the opportunity to make a difference in their lives and to perhaps change a dismal day into a bright one. Mary has an extensive background in nursing, healthcare management and patient education. Another important member of our leadership team is Melanie Davidson, our Direct of Community Relations. One of the first seniors that Melanie loved was her inspiring grandmother. Melanie felt the call to work with seniors after receiving tremendous support and compassion while helping her mother through a very devastating illness and is honored to serve MorningStar families in the same way. Visit our website to learn more about our beautiful, loving community. MorningStar of Fort Collins offers 55 private assisted living suites along with 23 suites in our Reflections Neighborhood devoted to the individualized care of those with memory impairment. MorningStar of Fort Collins provides the very best in senior living with our unique mission statement of “to honor, to serve, to invest.” With a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve, we create a true home for residents in a beautiful setting. We invite you to schedule a tour to discover one of the area’s top senior living communities. One thing that sets MorningStar apart from other senior living communities is that our entire team works together to build a true community and our signature wellness program, WellStar, exemplifies that philosophy. Each day, our Wellness and Life Enrichment team offers purposeful activities that are aimed to elevate the mood of our residents, reduce pain and to help them rely less on medications.
All of our MorningStar communities, including MorningStar at Arrowhead, provide our residents with our WellStar programs. Offering an array of creative and enriching ways to stay active and productive, our programs integrate different modalities and senses for both the body and the mind. WellStar has five wellness components – physical, spiritual, intellectual, social, and food philosophy. Our daily assortment of physical wellness activities are designed to meet a range of capabilities as well as a variety of interests. We also recognize meeting the spiritual needs of our seniors is vital to their wellbeing, and as such, our chapel is open to all faiths. MorningStar also offers non-denominational services on a regular basis along with bible study, hymn singing and group prayer. In terms of intellectual wellness, we understand that it is important for seniors to continue to stimulate their brains, and we offer a daily dose of brain calisthenics designed to introduce new ideas and practice cognitive skills. Furthermore, we do not neglect the importance of social wellness. Almost everything we do at MorningStar at Arrowhead enriches our community and advances our goal of building a family for life. Socializing comes in the form of organized events and activities or just informal gatherings discussing the day’s topics. We also do not forget the philosophy that healthy, nutritious food is the centerpiece of wellness and it becomes even more critical as we age. Our daily meals include the addition of foods that new research finds has tremendous healing power such as: berries, chocolate high in cocoa mass, Omega 3 fats, turmeric, and dark leafy greens. Visit our website or give us a call to learn more. MorningStar at Arrowhead represents the best in senior living with a unique mission statement “to honor, to value, to invest.” We have built our foundation on honoring God, valuing our seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve to create a true home for residents amid a beautiful, serene setting. To experience firsthand the finest senior living in the Phoenix area, contact us to schedule a tour. MorningStar at Jordan provides a “true home” for our residents offering 55 private assisted living suites and 29 secure suites devoted to the individualized, specialized care for residents with memory impairment. Our graciously-appointed home is in historic Centennial, CO and is conveniently located to banks, hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants and grocery stores.
As a resident of MorningStar senior living community, you will be treated to three nutritional, delicious meals prepared by our very own Certified Executive Chef. Our meals are served restaurant-style our two lovely dining rooms. You will also be able to participate in a variety of wellness programs and activities as well as have resort-style amenities such as a bistro, chapel, theatre (including Wii), library (including multiple computers and newspapers), game room, and salon available for your use. Furthermore, MorningStar at Jordan is proud to offer our residents the technology to enable those with hearing aids to receive audio directly to their instruments and eliminating reverberation or background noise. Installed in our Life Enrichment Room and Theatre, the “hearing loop” does not require a headset and works with most hearing aids. We have found this new system makes it much easier for residents to understand and participate. Another new technology we offer residents is the “It’s Never 2 Late” computer program. Combining touchscreen computers with intuitive picture-based software, iN2L has a library containing a selection of 3,000 choices for social and spiritual connections, intellectual and physical stimulations, emotional support and vocational interests. It is designed so seniors can easily navigate the web, play trivia and brain fitness games, read online newspapers, take quizzes and virtual tours, do web chats through Skype, and much more. Residents can also personalize a “My Page,” which gives them the opportunity to add their own history, preferences, email, and family photos. MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care at Jordan represents the very best in senior living with our distinct mission statement of “to honor, to value, to invest.” We are dedicated to providing a true home for residents amidst a beautiful, serene setting and a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve. Please schedule a tour to experience firsthand our comfortable, home-like atmosphere. A new study suggests that some of the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease may be detected as early as childhood. The research, published in the journal of Neurology, studied 1,187 children and young adults ages 3 to 20. All of the subjects were tested to see if they carried the APOE-E4 gene that is believed to increase one’s risk for Alzheimer’s.
In the case of the children carrying the AOPE-E4 gene, scientists discovered they tended to have a smaller hippocampus, the part of the brain critical for memory and the first area damaged by Alzheimer’s disease. In addition other changes were found in the children’s brain typical of Alzheimer’s such as the youngest participants with the gene performed the worst on tests involving thinking, memory and attention. However by the time the children were 8 to 10 years old, the deficits were no longer noticeable. The lead author of the study and the director of neuroscience at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Dr. Linda Chang, states that, “Studying these genes in young children may ultimately give us early indications of who may be at risk for dementia in the future, and possibly even help us develop ways to prevent the disease from occurring or to delay the start of the disease.” If the results of the study are true and Alzheimer’s is a developmental disorder that starts early in life, it raises the possibility that people with the gene could be treated as young children with noninvasive approaches such as diet and cognitive training. In addition researchers also stress that it is imperative we learn and understand the underlying cause of the disease as it is most effectively treated in the early stages. MorningStar at Arrowhead represents the best in senior living with a unique mission statement “to honor, to value, to invest.” We have built our foundation on honoring God, valuing our seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve to create a true home for residents amid a beautiful, serene setting. To experience firsthand the finest senior living in the Phoenix area, contact us to schedule a tour. Source:alzinfo.org/articles/diagnosis/alzheimers-brain-changes-may-start-early-in-life/ Parkinson’s Disease (PD) most often occurs in people age 50 years and older (the average age of onset is 60) and is a progressive, neurodegenerative, movement disorder. The symptoms manifest differently from one person to another and often early symptoms go unnoticed. The progression of the disease also varies with each individual.
If you suspect you have PD, you will need to see a specialist for a thorough examination as there is no specific test to diagnosis the disease and it can easily be misdiagnosed. While there is currently no cure for PD, there are several medications that can help manage your symptoms. Additionally some people undergo surgical therapies that regulate certain regions of the brain and help to ease symptoms. Parkinson’s can affect an individual’s balance, movement, breathing, and heart functions. It usually starts on one side of the body but over time it moves to other side, however, the disease is typically worse on the first side affected. The Michael J. Fox Foundation lists the common motor symptoms associated with PD known as "cardinal" symptoms. These include:
Today doctors recognize that PD also causes other symptoms known as "non-motor symptoms" or "dopamine-non-responsive." They include cognitive impairment, mood disorders, constipation and problems with swallowing and speech as well as sleeping. For informational purposes only, please consult your health care provider if you have any questions regarding your health. MorningStar at Arrowhead represents the best in senior living with a unique mission statement “to honor, to value, to invest.” We have built our foundation on honoring God, valuing our seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve to create a true home for residents amid a beautiful, serene setting. To experience firsthand the finest senior living in the Phoenix area, contact us to schedule a tour. Source:michaeljfox.org/understanding-parkinsons/living-with-pd/topic.php?symptoms&navid=symptoms An article in the USA Today reports on a study from the University of Michigan that shows a sharp decline in the rate of dementia in recent years. Dr. Kenneth Langa, a professor of internal medicine at the U of M and one of the co-authors of the study, says that the good news is we can do something to reduce the risk. He states that, “Even without a cure for Alzheimer’s disease or a new medication, there are things that we can do socially and medically and behaviorally that can significantly reduce the risk.”
Funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Health and Retirement Study extensively interviewed and tested over 21,000 people from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds and incomes throughout the country. Begun in 1992, it reports a drop in dementia rates from 11.6% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2012 in people 65 years and older (average age of participant was 75). Furthermore, these findings support other research that also indicates a decline in the rates of dementia in both the U.S. and Europe. While researchers are not entirely certain why rates have declined, they suggest the improved brain health of Americans is most likely a combination of higher levels of education and better heart health. They cite findings that show the average education level among participants in 2012 was 13 years, while in 2000 the average level of education was 12 years. Another reason may be that doctors can better control conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes that can lead to an increased risk of vascular dementia. However, while this is encouraging news, Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach, medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association, states, “Alzheimer’s is going to remain the public health crisis of our time, even with modestly reduced rates.” The full study is published in the JAMA Internal Medicine. MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care at Jordan represents the very best in senior living with our distinct mission statement of “to honor, to value, to invest.” We are dedicated to providing a true home for residents amidst a beautiful, serene setting and a foundation built on honoring God, valuing all seniors and selecting staff with a felt calling to serve. Please schedule a tour to experience firsthand our comfortable, home-like atmosphere. Source: usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/21/dementia-rates-decline/94213036/ |
AuthorMorningStar Senior Living’s distinct mission statement “to honor, to serve, to invest” sets us apart from other senior living options. Our foundation is built on honoring God, valuing our seniors and hiring staff with a felt calling to serve. Archives
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