How to Plan the Perfect Birthday Celebration for Loved Ones in Senior Living

There are some things in life that have no age limit, and birthday parties are one of them.

Birthday celebrations are enjoyable for people of all ages. For older adults, they’re also a great way to spend quality time with loved ones and make wonderful memories. If you have a loved one in senior living with a birthday coming up, here are a few tips for helping them make the most of their big day.

Talk to the Staff Beforehand

Not all senior living communities in Phoenix do things the same way. Before you begin planning the party, speak with a staff member to see if the facility has any rules or restrictions regarding parties. They can give you advice on how to throw the best birthday soiree possible and even offer suggestions for possible venues, activities, and more.

Pick the Perfect Spot

There are many different types of senior living communities, and the type of facility your loved one lives in will play a big part in your planning.

For example, some facilities are like apartment complexes, giving you the option to hold the party in a communal space or within your loved one’s residential unit. If they live in a community with individual homes or condos, you may also be able to hold the party in an outdoor space.

Invite Friends and Family

The guests are the most important part of any birthday celebration. Make it a point to invite your loved one’s close friends and relatives so they’ll be surrounded by people who care for them. Many residents of senior living are close with their neighbors, as well, so you can also invite fellow residents to get in on the fun.

Work With Nearby Companies

Senior living communities are often situated near restaurants, stores, and other businesses. These businesses can be the perfect places to find catered food, party decorations, and personalized confections. With their help, you can throw a party that suits your loved one’s unique personality while supporting the larger community.

Curate Fun Activities

Lastly, consider the kinds of activities you’ll offer your guests.

How will you keep everyone entertained and ensure that they have a good time? There’s no wrong answer here — your activity list might include board games, movies, karaoke, or other fun pastimes. Just remember to keep the focus on the honoree by choosing activities that interest them.

Celebrating Another Year in Senior Living

Planning a birthday get-together in senior living doesn’t have to be stressful. By working with staff members, friends, and local businesses, you can create the perfect celebration to honor your loved one on the day of their birth.

From choosing fun activities to a comfortable spot, there are many ways to have a party your family won’t soon forget!

4 Ways to Treat Your Senior with Something Special

Every year on August 21, we celebrate the lives of our loved ones on World Senior Citizens Day. The special day highlights the achievements and contributions of seniors, as well as promotes their rights. Although August 21 has passed, you can celebrate the special day by treating your senior to something special.

At our senior living facility in Phoenix, Arizona, we help residents with daily tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Meeting our mission statement “to honor, to value, to invest” also involves helping seniors feel engaged and fulfilled during their golden years. On behalf of celebrating World Senior Citizens Day regardless of the time of year, let’s take a look at four ways to treat your seniors to something special.

Ask for Help

One reason why seniors can become detached emotionally is they no longer feel wanted by their friends and family members. After years of providing primary and secondary care for family members, they lose their sense of belonging the minute they move into an assisted living facility. You can rejuvenate the sense of belonging by asking your senior loved one to teach you how to do something. Asking for help on a project is another way to treat your senior to something special. 

Just because your senior loved one needs a little help taking care of a few responsibilities does not mean you cannot complete projects together such as planting a garden or restoring an old piece of furniture.

Highlight History and Achievements

One of the goals of World Senior Citizens Day is to honor the history and achievements of older adults. You do not need the pomp and circumstance of a formally declared day to highlight the history and achievements of your senior loved one. Preserving your senior loved one’s history and achievements helps him feel appreciated. You can work together on a personalized scrapbook, as well as give her a do-it-yourself memoir journal such as The Story of My Life. Another great idea involves conducting an interview chronicling the life of your senior loved one.

Get Involved in Your Senior’s Life

Moving into an assisted living community can trigger a wide range of negative emotions, such as fear, stress, and anxiety. One of the most effective strategies to alleviate emotional distress for a senior is to get involved in her life. This can mean volunteering for the same organization, as well as donating financially to your senior’s favorite cause. You also can work together with your senior loved one, which should give him a sense of purpose and a feeling of worthiness.

Dine Together

One of the best ways to treat your seniors to something special is to enjoy meals together. At our memory care facility in Phoenix, we encourage family members to join us at mealtimes to provide emotional support for their loved ones. Dining onsite with a senior loved one helps you meet her friends, as well as catch up on what has unfolded since the two of you last interacted in person. We also encourage family members to take their senior loved ones out to their favorite restaurants, which is a clear sign that you are treating your senior loved one to something special.

The Bottom Line: Make Your Time Together Quality Time

As a family member, you might feel a sense of regret when your senior loved one moves into an assisted living facility in Phoenix, AZ. To compensate for the feeling of regret, you might try to make it up by visiting your senior loved one every day. It is not how often you treat your senior to something special. Instead, the quality of the special treat matters more than how often you treat your senior to a special event.Discover why our memory care facility receives five-star reviews by scheduling a tour today.

Reno and Sparks’ Most Trusted Choice in Senior Living

MorningStar at Sparks is a trusted choice in senior living. Families take great care in deciding on a senior living facility for their loved ones. For some, it’s hard to allow someone else to care for their elderly parent, family member, or senior loved one. At MorningStar, we make Senior Living transparent and support families during their transition. If you’re looking for trusted memory care, holistic assisted living, and modern senior living near you, MorningStar supplies all that and more to families in Reno. 

With so many senior living options available, it’s hard to know you’re making the right choice. You want to provide the very best care, safety, and community to your loved one. At MorningStar, we want to demonstrate to families our commitment to honesty and reliability through offering comprehensive services. Our resource guides available on our website and in our community have been thoughtfully developed to cover any question or concern you may have when looking for assisted living care or senior living options. 

MorningStar of Sparks offers the finest senior living Reno and Sparks, Nevada, have to offer, evidenced by its 2023 Best of Reno People’s Choice Award in the category of Assisted/Senior Living. Our entire team is engaged in finding ways to build trust within our community, one loving relationship at a time.

 If you are overwhelmed with senior living options, look over our intensive, yet easy-to-use, guides, checklists, and faq. In the end, don’t let the complexities of this decision mask the fact that your instincts are to be trusted. One place will just feel like home. And the staff will feel like family. You’ll know it straight away.

Contact us today if you want to know about the best senior living community with built-in companionship, predictable budgeting, and modern memory care Nevada has to offer. MorningStar Senior Living Retirement Homes in Sparks, Nevada takes care of the worry and stress of aging, allowing seniors more time to do the things they love. Whether it’s fulfilling a calling, finding a new opportunity through volunteerism, or spending time with friends and loved ones and relaxing, contact us to schedule a tour of our memory care community near you. 

To learn more about MorningStar’s Senior Living in Reno, contact our staff who are happy to answer any questions. Our website also provides information on our company’s history and vision and what sets us apart from other retirement facilities in Nevada. We encourage you to see the most exceptional and dependable senior living Sparks, Nevada offers.

Looking for a Senior Living Community in the Phoenix, AZ Area?

Has a loved one hit one of the most significant forks in life’s many roads? This fork in the road appears late in life and it concerns transitioning from a fully independent lifestyle to one that involves at least some form of receiving assisted living services. A senior living facility in Phoenix, Arizona is the ideal option for older adults who struggle with a few facets of daily living responsibilities, but generally do well living an independent lifestyle.

If you are looking for a senior living community in the Phoenix, AZ area, we operate the right venue that provides highly-rated caregiver services.

Let’s review a list of the factors you should consider when looking for an assisted living facility.

Location

Location represents one of the most important factors involved in choosing the right assisted living facility for a loved one. Not only does proximity matter, but the local laws governing the operation of a facility matter as well. MorningStar at Arcadia is conveniently located close to downtown Phoenix, as well as a short drive from suburbs such as Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale. Our facility also is located near the most popular social, cultural, and recreational destinations in the Phoenix metro region.

Size

Size refers to the number of beds in a senior living community. Varying greatly among facilities in the greater Phoenix area, size directly impacts the environment of an assisted living facility such as the types of services and amenities. For example, larger facilities typically offer more amenities like swimming pools and entertainment options. Larger facilities also can provide care for residents that live with some degree of memory loss. Size impacts the staff-to-resident ratio, which is a key indicator that measures the quality of care delivered at a senior living community.

Caters to All Senior Lifestyles

Transitioning to living at a senior living community in Phoenix does not have to wait until a loved one begins to show signs of requiring some form of care. At MorningStar at Arcadia, many of our residents join our fully independent living community not because they require focused healthcare or another type of service, but because they want to find new friends and/or participate in an active social calendar. We offer three broad lifestyle options, with each option allowing residents to customize the services that include memory care in Phoenix.

Activities

One of the proven strategies that prevent or delay the development of memory care issues is to participate in an active lifestyle that maintains both mental and physical skills. The best senior living communities in Phoenix offer an activities calendar that meets the needs of residents. Examples of a robust activities calendar include onsite art classes and musical performances, as well as trips to the most popular social and cultural venues located in the Valley of the Sun.

Cost

The timeless saying, “You get what you paid for,” is especially appropriate for an assisted living facility. You do not want to cut financial corners when choosing a home for a loved one. However, you do want to find an assisted living facility that does not put a substantial dent in your budget. One of the most effective ways to finance the move to an assisted living facility is to use the proceeds from selling a loved one’s home to put into an escrow account for meeting future senior housing payments.

Discover what makes MorningStar at Arcadia one of the most popular senior living communities in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area by scheduling a comprehensive tour.

Taking Care of Your Senior at Home Might Be More Expensive Than You Think

Moving a loved one into an assisted living facility is one of, if not the most difficult decision to make. After deciding that some level of assisted care is needed for a loved one, you then have to conduct research to find the best senior living community in the Phoenix area. Several factors come into play to help you decide which facility is the best option for the next phase in your loved one’s life. Factors such as types of care and the ratio of caregivers to residents point you in the right direction.

For many people, cost represents the pivotal factor for deciding which assisted living facility to choose for a senior. The average cost of a one-bedroom assisted living facility in the United States runs more than $3,700 a month, with the cost running much higher in metropolitan areas such as Phoenix. However, did you know taking care of your senior at home might be more expensive than you think?

Let’s look at the reasons why.

Healthcare

There is no getting around it: Healthcare costs soar for seniors. If you decide to take care of a senior at home, you can expect healthcare costs to consume a substantial percentage of your budget. According to a study released by AARP’s Family Caregiving and Out-of-Pocket Costs Report, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they incur some form of out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. When the time comes to consider healthcare options at a senior living community in Phoenix, determine whether your loved one qualifies for Medicare assistance to help reduce healthcare costs.

Accessibility

Providing home care for a senior frequently requires an investment in accessibility infrastructure such as an entrance ramp and/or a wheelchair lift. These types of accessibility infrastructure cost a considerable amount of money, along with accessibility equipment like a motorized shopping cart. You can make home care more accessible by moving a senior’s bedroom to the first floor or hiring a state-licensed home care professional, but you still have to pay out-of-pocket for accessibility costs.

Daily Expenses

Unlike healthcare and accessibility costs that take large chunks out of your bank account, daily expenses nibble away at your cash flow until one day you realize that you can save money on daily expenses by moving a senior loved one into an assisted living facility. Daily costs such as food, fuel, and utilities can quickly consume an entire monthly budget before you reach the middle of the month. You might be able to save money on a program such as Meals on Wheels, but in the long run, a senior living community such as MorningStar at Arcadia saves you money on daily expenses.

Time

You cannot place a dollar and cents value on it, but time might be the costliest item on your senior’s caregiving bill. The amount of time it takes to run errands for your loved one, as well as cook meals and wash clothes can make it difficult, if not impossible to meet all your personal and professional obligations. Moving your senior into a highly-rated senior living facility such as MorningStar at Arcadia frees up a significant amount of time.Find out more about how you can save money on senior care services by moving a loved one into our assisted living facility in Phoenix, AZ.

Make Sure Your Senior is Getting the Right Nutrients by Including These 4 Ingredients in His Meals

One of the most important services provided by our senior living facility in Phoenix, Arizona concerns ensuring our residents consume healthy meals. The key to achieving this goal is to serve menu items that are chock-full of the nutrients seniors need to live robust lives. This is an especially relevant goal for seniors that require memory care support in Phoenix.

As we age, it becomes more important to eat healthy foods and drink healthy beverages. Changes in the physiology of our bodies result in lower energy requirements, which translates into eating meals that contain fewer calories. Reducing portion sizes is a vital factor in decreasing caloric intake, but seniors also should pay attention to what they eat. The days of grabbing a second slice of cake or a second helping of macaroni and cheese are not gone, but the number of them has dramatically declined.

At the MorningStar at Arcadia assisted living facility, we have a team of nutritionists that help our chefs devise the healthiest meals consisting of foods that deliver the right nutrients. Not one single food group provides all the nutrients our residents need. Instead, our menus include a wide variety of nutrient sources, which include the 4 most important ingredients of fruits, vegetables, pasta, fish, and healthy oils.

What Are the Right Nutrients That Should Be a Part of a Senior’s Diet?

Seniors need to eat foods that contain certain vitamins and minerals that foster the development of a healthy lifestyle.

Calcium

Osteoarthritis is a frequent ailment for older adults, especially older adults over the age of 65 years old. The medical condition receives plenty of attention, such as commercials running throughout the day highlighting the seriousness of the medical condition, as well as strategies to delay or even prevent weakening bones. Calcium represents the most effective vitamin and mineral to reduce the risk of developing osteoarthritis. The most abundant sources of calcium come from dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. Seniors also receive ample calcium by consuming green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli.

Iron

Iron represents a mineral that the body requires for growth and development. The body absorbs iron to produce hemoglobin, which is a protein that supplies oxygen to muscles. Iron also helps the body generate hormones. The most prolific source of iron comes from red meat, but some seniors might have to leave red meat out of their diets because of heart health concerns. Other plentiful food sources of iron include peas, beans, and lentils, which seniors can consume as part of heart-healthy soups and salads. Oily fish like sardines also deliver ample amounts of iron to the bloodstream

Vitamin C and Vitamin D

Foods and beverages that are rich in vitamin C help the body absorb iron in the bloodstream. Consuming citrus fruits, as well as vegetables such as peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes, deliver the right amounts of vitamin C for the body. Vitamin D helps develop and maintain strong bones, teeth, and muscles. Exposure to sunlight helps the body produce vitamin D, but you must be careful not to be overexposed to the sun. For seniors residing at an assisted living facility in Phoenix, AZ, the team of nutritionists might recommend taking vitamin D supplements.The MorningStar mission statement of “to honor, to value, to invest” is especially relevant for the diets our residents follow. Discover how our senior living facility ensures residents consume the right nutrients by connecting with one of our resident services specialists.

The Advantages of Making Friends in a Senior Living Community

Friendships that we develop at every stage of our lives give us meaning and purpose. From the first playmates in nursery school to the college classmates that become lifetime friends, the benefits of friendship include enhanced social skills and resources to confide in both personal and professional struggles. Although developing friendships should be the cornerstone objective of our lives, many friendships tend to fade in significance as we grow older. After we retire from the workforce, we lose touch with our professional peers. Another reason for fading relationships concerns moving into a senior living facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

Just because a loved one moves into an assisted living facility does not mean your loved one should end friendships, many of which have developed over a lifetime.

What Are the Benefits of Friendships at Assisted Living Facilities?

Although it is important to maintain friendships with lifelong acquaintances, it is equally important for seniors to make new friends at the MorningStar assisted living and memory care facility in Phoenix, AZ for the following reasons.

Here’s to Your Loved One’s Health

Is developing friendships at an assisted living facility the perfect prescription for curing the blues? According to numerous studies, developing peer friendships in an assisted living and memory care facility eases mental health issues such as depression and acute anxiety. Friendships also deliver many physical health advantages like lowering blood pressure and creating a sharper memory.

Continue Learning

One of the keys to keeping your loved one’s cognitive skills high involves providing learning opportunities. MorningStar at Arcadia schedules weekly and monthly activities that provide our residents with several opportunities to learn new skills and concepts. Without friends, your loved one might not be motivated enough to participate in our full slate of learning activities. The types of learning opportunities at our senior living community in Phoenix, AZ include classes, lectures, book clubs, and cooking demonstrations.

All of our learning activities encourage group events that make it easier to develop friendships.

Receive Comfort

One of the many types of praise received by our team of caregivers concerns their unsurpassed level of compassion and empathy. Sometimes, it is much easier to confide in a friend to receive comfort for an issue that negatively impacts the senior living experience, as well as life itself. Although your loved one receives the full support of our team of caregivers, as well as friends and family members, some problems are better solved by someone who can claim “Been there, done that.”

Live With a Sense of Purpose

One of the most important elements that make for a successful living environment at a MorningStar assisted living and memory care facility involves residents that rise and shine each day with a sense of purpose. Developing a network of friends helps your loved one live with a distinct purpose every day, whether the purpose involves taking a day trip or meeting a group of friends over a game of cards. Living with a purpose means your loved one is more likely to take pride in his or her appearance, as well as develop healthy habits and behaviors.

We encourage you to schedule a tour of our senior living community in Phoenix, AZ to discover how your loved one can make new friends, as well as continue to foster the development of old friendships.

EASY HOBBIES TO PICK UP IN A SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY

One of the many reasons why seniors thrive at our senior living facility in Phoenix is the jam-packed calendar for daily, weekly, and monthly activities. MorningStar at Arcadia operates on the principle that an engaged senior is a senior who enjoys robust mental and physical health, as numerous research studies confirm the connection between an active senior and a healthy senior. Activities also improve resilience, as well as enhance memory and creativity.

The best strategy for staying mentally and physically active while living at a memory care facility in Phoenix involves picking up a hobby or two. According to Dictionary.com, a hobby is “an activity pursued in spare time for pleasure and relaxation.” The key to picking up a hobby is finding one that brings you joy, while at the same time giving you a purpose in life. You have many hobbies to choose from, with the following hobbies representing the easiest ones to pick up.

Swimming

The United States Department of Health and Human Services recommends that older adults should strive to complete at least 150 minutes each week of moderate-intensity aerobic activities. When you think of aerobic activities, you probably think of walking, hiking, and cycling. However, swimming is one of the most beneficial aerobic activities for enhancing your mental and physical health. The best part is that at an assisted living facility such as MorningStar at Arcadia, a senior has access to a swimming pool every day.

Gardening

Gardening requires physical exertion, but the most significant benefit of gardening concerns boosting mental health. This hobby has a calming, almost meditative effect that alleviates stress and anxiety. It also teaches seniors how to become more food self-sufficient, as well as eat fruits and vegetables that increase stamina and improve the functioning of the immune system. Gardening also represents a hobby that you can share with other members of our senior living facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

Genealogy

You probably have watched at least one commercial promoting the services of a genealogy research company that provides the tools to trace a family’s history that goes back as far as several centuries. Learning your family’s roots can help you connect with a long-lost relative, as well as genealogists who can help you dig deeper into your background. All you need to get started with this hobby is Internet access and a keen interest in conducting investigative research.

Birdwatching

Invest in a pair of binoculars and a book that describes the birds native to your region, and you have acquired the essential tools to launch a bird-watching hobby. Discovering when and where seasonal birds migrate helps you establish a location to watch birds leave in fall, as well as come home to roost in spring. Birdwatching also is a great hobby for interacting with your peers and members of your family. You can teach your grandchildren how to watch birds and help them learn more about each species.

Picking up one or more hobbies is an effective strategy for seniors to remain active while staying at the MorningStar Assisted Living & Memory Care at Arcadia facility in Phoenix. Established to build a foundation for honoring God, our senior living facility in Phoenix offers a warm, caring environment for a senior to call home. Learn more about our activities calendar at MorningStar at Arcadia by connecting with one of our staff members.