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Everybody feels sad from time to time. It’s just an unfortunate but normal part of life. However, many adults getting older find themselves more anxious or depressed for longer periods of time. These people are left wondering whether this is normal. 

What Is Depression?

According to Mayo Clinic, depression is a mood disorder caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. It is characterized by extended periods of sadness or hopelessness and low self-worth. Some symptoms of depression include:

• Feelings of helplessness
• Decreased energy
• Inexplicable guilt
• Loss of interest in hobbies
• Change in appetite
• Irregular sleep patterns
• Suicidal thoughts

This is not an exhaustive list, but it starts to give you an idea of what depression can look and feel like. 

Is Depression Part of Aging?

Depression and its symptoms have a considerable impact on people’s daily lives and overall quality of life. It is a relatively common disorder, but it is not a normal part of aging and should never be dismissed as such. 

Older people are more susceptible to depression as they feel alone, dismissed, and sometimes lost in the busy world. Older people are also more likely to become depressed as they develop chronic health problems or their mobility decreases. 

The good news is depression is treatable at any age, but the first step is to get help. If you aren’t feeling like yourself, reach out to somebody in your support system, whether it be a family member or a medical professional. 

How to Prevent Depression

Depression is never 100% preventable, but there are mindful habits and healthy lifestyle changes you can utilize to benefit your mental health in the long run. 

Stay Active

Staying active and eating a healthy diet helps prevent a wide variety of diseases and health concerns that may otherwise reduce your quality of life and bring on depression. 

Maintain Close Relationships

Senior citizens need to have close relationships with friends and family. These relationships help people feel more connected to the world around them and cement their place in it.  

Enjoy Your Hobbies

Don’t forget to do what you love in life. Finding something that you enjoy doing一something that brings you happiness in a fun and productive way, fills your free time, and keeps your mind occupied. Whether your hobby is to knit, write, draw, or dance, the fulfillment it brings can help prevent depression. 

Ask for Help

The best way to prevent depression is to ask for help early. If you notice yourself falling into a rut and you can’t easily pull yourself out, it is time to ask for a hand. 

Winter Park Assisted Living 

Living in a Winter Park assisted living facility can help senior citizens at risk of developing depression. In these environments, older adults can receive individualized care and help around the clock from trained professionals. Additionally, assisted living in Winter Park, Florida, can help seniors connect and stay active, which both help prevent depression. 

Learn About Memory Care Orlando

Do you or your spouse need memory care Orlando can trust as you age? This situation can be a challenging one to plan for as you get older. As a result, it is important to follow the steps below to ensure that you get the treatment quality that you deserve in your older age.

Assess Your Care Needs 

When deciding on Winter Park assisted living, you must be honest about your needs. It is important to gauge what you can and cannot do and talk to your doctor about what care your spouse may require. Your doctor and your assisted living home can provide you with guidelines here, giving you a better understanding of the level of help you and your spouse will need.

Plan for Long-Term Care

Any memory care Orlando facility worth your time should provide long-term care that keeps you and your spouse happy. For example, if your wife has Alzheimer’s, she’ll need specialized treatment from your new home. If you or your husband have other needs (such as diabetes care), your facility must understand how to provide this care for you to ensure that you’re happy.

Understand Your Treatment Options 

When moving into a Winter Park assisted living facility, it is critical to know what kind of care you and your spouse will need. Do you need hands-on help with day-to-day tasks? Or do you need lighter and less in-depth assistance? You should find it fairly simple to find a home that will help you, depending on what kind of facilities are near you and how much you want to invest in your treatment.

Prepare for a Big Change 

When moving to a memory care Orlando facility, you and your spouse or partner need to prepare for a pretty big change in your life. You’ll be taken care of more heavily than ever and need to make sure that you understand this fact. Just as importantly, you must find a financing option for your care, which may come from your insurance or other types of simple care options.

Understanding Your Winter Park Assisted Living Help 

If you or your loved one need memory care Orlando can trust, it is important to follow these steps. It isn’t always easy to admit that you need help, and many people struggle with needing that extra assistance. Thankfully, it should be fairly easy to reach out if you feel the need, giving yourself a more enjoyable lifestyle.

Every resident of an assisted living community deserves to have the same opportunities to socialize and stay as active as they can. This is why the Westminster Winter Park assisted living facility staff has taken steps to ensure they make every reasonable accommodation so that everyone can access and use our many recreational options and participate in community activities.

In addition to that, we have five excellent suggestions for activities suited to the needs of visually impaired residents living in our skilled nursing facility in Winter Park, FL.

Activities for Visually Impaired Residents of Winter Park Assisted Living

Consider these five activities to stay active and engaged.

Play with Adaptive Cards and Games

There’s no need to sit out of game night or give up your favorite card or board games. If there is a tabletop game you enjoy playing, chances are there’s an adaptive version of it for the visually impaired.

What are adaptive cards and games? These have simply been modified for people who are visually impaired. This includes games with larger print, textured letters or numbers, or braille. Even jigsaw puzzles have been adapted for the visually impaired. 

Attend a Storytelling or Spoken Word Event

Storytelling isn’t just for children. Some wonderfully talented storytellers can keep audiences of all ages in awe as they spin amazing stories. Similarly, spoken word events involve poets who specialize in reciting poems and rhymes, often accompanied by music. 

There’s an excellent chance that you will be able to find spoken word events near you. Additionally, many spoken word artists are happy to make appearances at various facilities or community centers.

Finally, many classes and lectures are very suitable for the visually impaired. Your options are limitless if you’d like to become a lifelong learner.

Take a Descriptive Tour

There are plenty of things to see along nature trails, in museums, and at the zoo. For the visually impaired, there is also much to hear and feel. Many organizations consider accessibility extremely important and have taken steps to ensure that all can enjoy their exhibits and activities.

For example, many museums offer headsets that allow the visually impaired to listen to audio descriptions of exhibits as they walk. Nature trails often place signage along the trails, including braille, raised letters, or even buttons that play audio recordings.

Volunteer

There are so many benefits to volunteering, especially among people at increased risk of loneliness and isolation. While people with visual impairments may face some limitations, there are nearly infinite opportunities for them to volunteer.

Assisted living facilities in Winter Park, FL, have staff available who can match residents with volunteer opportunities that will allow them to feel needed, socialize, and stay active. Individuals with visual difficulties can tutor others, sit with lonely or recovering patients, help at animal rescues, even mentor people who are just beginning to struggle with their own sight.

Participate in Arts and Crafts

Vision impairment may make it challenging to paint detailed portraits or complete projects that require very accurate sight. Blindness or low vision is no barrier to knitting or crocheting, working with large beads, or doing pottery. However, there are so many other options available.

Over time, the brain may naturally start to function less effectively. It’s not uncommon for some older adults to feel symptoms such as memory loss. Thankfully, there are a variety of mental exercises you can do to prevent memory loss and keep yourself sharp. And the best part is that there are plenty of retirement communities near Winter Park, Florida that understand the importance of maintaining brain health and provide special activities for residents. Below are four activities you can add to your daily schedule to improve your brain function and memory and have some fun in the process!

Put Together a Puzzle

Puzzles make you analyze, reason, and encourage problem-solving. As you’re putting the pieces together, you’re also practicing hand-eye coordination, improving dexterity, and color identification. And of course, you feel accomplished when you see the finished product!

Socialization

Our brains crave connections. Socializing has been scientifically proven to increase gray matter in the brain, improving memory, overall function, and helping to prevent the onset of dementia.

Learn an Instrument 

Pick up a guitar, tickle the ivories, or find another instrument you want to learn and start playing! This activity does wonders for the brain, boosting memory, and increasing reaction times. 

Play a Board Game With Other Residents

Board games like chess and checkers involve lots of mental energy, which gives your brain a healthy workout. These games make you think critically, improve problem-solving skills, promote creativity by using both hemispheres of the brain, develop planning skills, and prevent memory loss.

At Westminster Communities of Florida, we are one of the few independent living facilities in Winter Park, Florida that encourages residents to boost their brainpower, offering an assortment of fun and mentally stimulating activities. Are you interested in learning more about our senior care services and memory care living options? Contact us today and take the next step towards enjoying independent living!

If you are helping to transition a loved one to an assisted living facility in Orlando, or a memory care center, one of the most common questions you may have is what types of items should you pack up and bring for your loved one. Some of that depends on the facility itself. Some facilities are furnished, while others require you to supply beds or dressers. Always talk to the facility to find out what is included in a room. Here are a few of the items that you will likely need to bring, regardless of whether the facility offers furnished or unfurnished rooms. 

Bring Storage Saving Tools 

When you are transitioning your loved one to Winter Park, Florida assisted living, you will want to find devices that can help them save space in their room. This may include shelving, closet space-saving tools, or drawer organizers. Your loved one may have a lot of items they want to bring, and may not have a lot of space, so space-saving devices come in handy. 

Comfortable Clothing is a Must

Another item to pack when moving your loved one to assisted living in Winter Park, Florida is comfortable clothing and bedding. Now is the perfect time to go through your loved one’s closet and take a look at their clothing. They are no longer going to need formal wear or office attire. Instead, they will need comfortable clothing, pajamas, and comfortable bedding. If it has been a while since your loved one went shopping, now may be the perfect time to upgrade their wardrobe for their new life. 

Always Pack Special Items and Mementos

Lastly, as you transition your loved one to Winter Park, Florida assisted living, bring special items and mementos. This may include family photographs, knick-knacks with sentimental meaning, or other items that remind your loved one of their family or of their favorite things. Having familiar items that have sentimental value can help your loved ones settle in and feel more comfortable in their new surroundings.  

When you are looking for assisted living in Orlando, finding the right facility for your loved one is important. Here at Westminster Winter Park, we are proud of the services we offer and our reputation for providing loved ones with the care they need. Call us now to discuss your loved one’s needs with us and visit our facility. 

Assisted living and skilled nursing may appear to be identical on the surface. There are, however, some significant differences in the levels of care provided, as well as the financial alternatives and community environments. Here are five key differences between skilled nursing and assisted living in Winter Park, Florida.

What a Skilled Nursing Facility Offers

• Nursing care is required 24 hours a day, seven days a week 
• Standing and walking help is necessary.
• Physical rehabilitation is required.
• Medical requirements that are more complicated
• The majority of establishments accept insurance, medicare, and medicaid.

What Assisted Living Facilities Offer:

• Utilities, meals, and activities are all included in the package.
• Some are covered by medicaid, while the majority of the communities are private pay only.
• Residents must be capable of walking and standing on their own.
• There must be no significant cognitive impairments among the residents.
• Does not cover nursing care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Understanding the Differences Between Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing

The level of medical care provided to residents is one of the most significant distinctions between these two care alternatives. Residents of assisted living facilities may require minor assistance, such as assistance with dressing or prescription administration. 

Assisted living residents often want the peace of mind that someone can assist them if they need it. Patients in skilled nursing facilities, on the other hand, require nursing care and medical monitoring 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Professional carers provide the care. Acute and severe health care illnesses that require continuous nursing care and therapy are usually treated with skilled nursing.

When Do You Need Assisted Living in Orlando, Florida?

If a person still has adequate mobility and is transitioning from an independent living environment, assisted living facilities may be the best option to help ease household management and be part of a peer society. Most assisted living facilities also provide various degrees of care and have on-site caregivers to assist with everyday activities, but not 24/7 care.

When Do You Need Nursing Care by Experts?

Following a hospitalization or a health decline that necessitates 24-hour nursing care, skilled nursing care is the best option. A skilled nursing facility, which provides physical, speech, and occupational therapy services, is a more intensive option for helping someone regain mobility or recover after a major health event while also providing a community setting where they can interact with others in a similar stage of life.

If your loved one is moving into a retirement community in Winter Park, you’ll want to make sure you keep in touch with them and friends to maintain social interaction after they’ve settled into their new home. There are numerous devices and applications, known as apps, that are available. There are options available to the novice with little tech experience, as well as the more computer-savvy people searching for new ideas.

Devices That Keep You Connected 

You’ve probably heard of “Alexa,” the voice behind Amazon’s virtual assistant who answers commands from users, like “Alexa, play music for me,” or “Alexa, what time is it in London?” The Amazon Echo Show is a simple device that uses that technology to help seniors make video calls easily. No need for a deep understanding of technology to use this smart 8″ HD screen with an integrated smart home hub that includes the built-in Alexa service on voice command. All that’s needed for any resident of assisted living facilities in Winter Park is a contact list of friends and relatives to call. The user asks Alexa to call someone and then the video call automatically is initiated with that person on the contact list.

Apps That Make Video Calls Simple

A personal cell phone also provides opportunities for Winter Park assisted living residents to make video calls to friends and relatives. For example, an iPhone includes a FaceTime feature that can be used if the person you are trying to reach also has an iPhone. If FaceTime won’t work, Skype has an app that can be downloaded on a cell phone to provide video calls with others who also have the app. Skype allows video and audio calls over the internet, and also allows audio calls to landlines.

Learn More About Helpful Technologies

Some seniors use Facebook regularly on their desktop computers, so those individuals may find that they have very little trouble getting used to Facebook Mobile for their cell phones. The app allows users to send messages, receive photos and videos, and allows audio calls through the messenger app. This app requires a little more experience using smartphone technology but may be easy to learn and a potentially fun way to stay in touch for those living in Winter Park assisted living facilities. 

When you don’t live in the same location as your loved ones, you may find the need to stay connected in other ways. Between frequent visits, technology can help keep you in touch. When moving your loved one into a new home, offer them the opportunity to use the devices and apps they’re comfortable with to keep you within reach. 

Volunteering is a great way to try new experiences and meet new people. And if you’re interested in getting involved in your community, we’ve got you covered! Here are five ways to try virtual volunteering for Winter Park assisted living facilities. 

Peer Support Virtual Volunteering

Virtual volunteers can help people by contacting WInter Park assisted living and offering mental health support services. If available, assisted living facilities can arrange for qualified volunteers to provide 24/7 peer support for residents in assisted living programs.

Thank You Notes

When people engage with a business, the business may want to send a personalized message. Writing thank-you notes can make residents feel appreciated, while letting businesses and people in the community know how important their feedback is. This volunteer opportunity would be a good way for people in the community to support others.

Volunteer Service Desks

Volunteering at service desks can help assisted living facilities in small ways that can make a big difference. Services and amenities need to be pointed out quickly so that interested clients remain excited about assisted living services. As a virtual volunteer, you can help keep processes running smoothly.

Volunteer Assistant Course Instructor

Many assisted living programs also feature courses, continued education and wellness programs for residents to take part in. These programs are taught by support staff with experience and qualifications in helping people in specified areas. For people wanting to help, opportunities to assist instructors might be available for adults with academic experience in emotional wellness or fields related to continuing education opportunities. Lifelong learning and emotional wellness are two priorities for assisted living facilities in Winter Park.

Volunteer Photographer

Many people love getting their pictures taken to have those memories to share. For people looking to share the benefits of assisted living, the friendly, beautiful campuses are filled with opportunities for eye-catching photos. A volunteer photographer could help capture memories for residents.

Volunteering in assisted living programs is a good way to make your resume look great and help local residents. After all, there are a variety of ways to get involved in our community. Get started volunteering by learning more about assisted living facilities in Winter Park.

It may appear like an enormous task initially; however, there are numerous ways to put your own personal style spin on your assisted-living space. Here are some ways to make the most of your space at a Winter Park assisted living community and let it feel like home.

Add a Fresh Coat of Paint to Your Winter Park Assisted Living Home

If allowed, a home-like feeling can be achieved by painting the walls before moving into your independent living facilities in Winter Park. On the small side, avoid dark-colored walls, but if you prefer a brighter color scheme, try painting only one wall and let the others remain neutral. If you have an established color scheme at your previous home, use it.

Take Precious Items When Moving to an Assisted Living in Winter Park

Bring a handful of large items that are dear to you and can fit comfortably inside your new home. Taking along some of your furniture and personal articles can potentially let your new place have a homey feel. 

Tinier gadgets are manageable to carry, like lamps, decorations, bedspreads, and drapes. With personal articles around you, it can have the potential of providing some familiarity. 

Add Pictures and Art to Your WInter Park FL Assisted Living Home

If you’re allowed to hang frames in your new home, go ahead and put up the artwork and photos that you hold, dearest. Still, add a splash of something new to give you the vibe of being in a new place yet still feel at home. 

Establish a Reclining Area at Your Assisted Living in Winter Park Home

Whether you have a living room or just a single room apartment, a sitting space is always important. Bring along a recliner or your favorite chair for your room if you have no living space. A small couch like a love seat with pillows would be great to accommodate your guests. Another option is a mini dining table and chairs that will seat a few visitors comfortably while still giving off a homey vibe.

Storage Solutions for Winter Park Skilled Nursing Facility

Give yourself options when moving your belongings into a new place. Choose your furniture wisely, like a storage ottoman, bed with drawers, or even a trunk coffee table. That way, everything can have a place to go and no space is wasted.

Take Your Pet to Your Assisted Living Facilities in Winter Park

Many assisted-living facilities permit pets. If you own a pet, choose a home that will allow you to take yours. Some homes even have pet parks and grooming salons. 

There is a multitude of ways to make assisted living facilities in Winter Park feel like home. It’s all about finding what works for you or your loved one best. Try some of these tips and don’t be afraid of getting creative! And when you’re ready to find the right assisted living facility in Winter Park for you or your loved one, give us a call. We will be happy to help!