This year, National Assisted Living Week will be celebrated during the week of September 11 to 17.
Established in 1995 by the National Center for Assisted Living, this is a weeklong celebration of senior communities and the important role they play in caring for our elderly loved ones.
This year’s theme is “Keep Connected.” In that spirit of connection, senior care center staff and family members can work together with residents toward this goal. Here are a few ideas you can use at your assisted living facility or nursing home.
Connecting with Technology in Assisted Living Centers
Many of the residents of today’s senior care and nursing home communities are internet users with strong computer skills. Most had access to the internet before moving to the community, and they expect to have it in their new home.
Providing up-to-date computers in common areas can help keep residents connected with loved ones through email and Skype. Offering wi-fi service allows seniors to use smartphones and mobile devices of their own throughout the facility.
Technology can also bring senior residents together. Multi-player consoles, like the Wii-U, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, offer a variety of games that seniors enjoy. Residents can also enjoy these game consoles with exercise-type games, as a way to keep moving their bodies. Several residents can enjoy the fun at the same time, and staff members can arrange tournaments to boost interest.
Connecting Seniors to the Community with Assisted Living Menus
When people move into a senior care center, they often feel cut off from the local community. One way to encourage a community connection is through menu planning.
Featuring foods from the regional area in assisted living menus can keep a sense of community alive among the senior care residents. Consider sourcing your apples from a local orchard, for example. You could even arrange a field trip for cider tasting. Or, head out to a nearby farm to select pumpkins and sweet potatoes to use in pies for your seniors.
Contact farms and food suppliers in your area to see what is available in your region. Some may enjoy visiting your facility to talk to residents and bring samples. Adding local ingredients to your nursing home food menus whenever possible is a great way to help your seniors stay connected with their community.
Cultivating Personal Connections with Assisted Living Residents
Senior care facilities should be more than just a place to live. Residents need to feel like they are at home. Staff members and residents’ family members can work together to build and maintain personal connections between senior residents and their community.
Routine is necessary, of course, but making time to sit and chat or watch a favorite television show together can let seniors know that someone cares. Even something as simple as using a preferred brand of peanut butter in someone’s sandwich or saving someone an extra slice of chocolate cake can make a big difference, because it means your staff cares about what is important to them.
Grove Menus works to meet the needs of seniors and care facilities alike. Our customized menu planning program improves the efficiency of all your food service activities while also cutting costs. Please call or visit us online today for a free demonstration of our assisted living food menu planning program.