Articles & News

What factors should you compare when evaluating which retirement community to choose? How should you go about downsizing? Consult these articles to get answers to your most pressing questions about transitioning into a retirement community.

Memory Care Programs: Investing in Meaningful, Personalized Relationships

personalized memory care programsWhen evaluating memory care programs for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia or memory loss, it is important to ensure that the program meets your loved one where they are.

Memory challenges can be complex, and the key to navigating them is to understand the person receiving memory care as an individual, including the lives they have lived and who they are now. High-quality memory care programs invest in the time and staffing resources to develop a personalized approach to caring for residents. Their goal is to get to know the person, and then design a plan that preserves the essence of the individual and offers opportunities to enjoy familiar pleasures and pursuits in a safe, supportive environment.

Continue reading Memory Care Programs: Investing in Meaningful, Personalized Relationships →

Incorporating Creative Activities for Memory Care Patients

What is the role of creative activities for memory care patients in maintaining cognitive health?

Activities for Memory Care Patients - PaintingAs we age, our memory and cognitive abilities can start to decline, especially for those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. While many activities can help to slow this decline, creative activities for memory care patients in particular have been shown to be highly beneficial for older adults with memory loss. That’s why Pine Run Retirement Community offers creative activities for memory care patients, whether at Pine Run’s Lakeview campus or in The Garden, the memory care neighborhood in the Pine Run Health Center.

Engaging in creative activities can help to stimulate the brain, improve cognitive function, and boost overall well-being. In addition, creative activities can help to reduce anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions, which can be common in older adults with memory impairments. In assisted living, creative activities can be particularly valuable, as they can help seniors build a sense of community and create opportunities for social interaction.

Continue reading Incorporating Creative Activities for Memory Care Patients →

Assisted Living with Memory Care: Meeting the Varying Needs of Couples in Retirement

When considering whether to move to a retirement community, many couples find that they need varying levels of care.
Maybe the husband would be fine in independent living but the wife needs assistance with more activities of daily life, a level of care typically found in assisted living with memory care. The situation might cause some worry: will they be separated from one another? After sharing an entire life together, will they now need to live their lives apart?

While it’s true that moving to a retirement community can be a big change, many things about a couple’s day-to-day lifestyle can stay the same. Couples can continue to see each other every day, share meals together, undertake shared activities, and continue to be active parts of one another’s lives, even if they have varying health care needs. That is why it is important to design an individualized support plan that meets each person’s unique needs, whether physical, social, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual. This approach means that residents with spouses who require advanced care can rest assured their partners’ physical and medical needs are being met, freeing them to focus on being couples, not caretakers.

Continue reading Assisted Living with Memory Care: Meeting the Varying Needs of Couples in Retirement →

What is Memory Care?

At its core, memory care is an umbrella term used to describe the caring of those with dementia-related illnesses (such as Alzheimer’s or Lewy Body) who are no longer able to live safely on their own. A memory care facility offers 24/7 care and support for your loved one.

In this article, we will explore:

Continue reading What is Memory Care? →

Veterans Day at Pine Run Retirement Community

Starting in 2006, Pine Run’s Veterans (including Villagers, Residents, and Associates) are honored each year with an annual Veterans Day Breakfast. Ceil Krajewski, Senior Director of Villager Services, started the tradition as a way to thank Pine Run’s veterans who supported her after her son, John, was deployed to Iraq after the events on September 11th.

Honoring Our Veterans at Pine Run – on Veteran’s Day and Always

Honoring our veterans is a privilege, and one we take very much to heart on Veteran’s Day and throughout the year. Each year on November 11, our country pauses to celebrate and honor our veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. The day was chosen because it marks the cessation of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany; it went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

“With over 80 veterans living and working at Pine Run, Veteran’s Day is celebrated throughout our continuum each November 11 to honor our veterans and thank these men and women for their service to our country. Pine Run veterans have served in conflicts including World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan as well as in a wide variety of peacetime roles. With representation from every branch of service, they have contributed so much to our country. We are so grateful to them and proud that they call Pine Run home,” said Maria Santangelo, Pine Run’s Executive Director.

Continue reading Honoring Our Veterans at Pine Run – on Veteran’s Day and Always →

Fall is in Full Swing for the Pine Run Community

The leaves are changing colors, the days are crisp and cool, and sweaters start to make an appearance. These are sure signs that Fall is upon us and for many in the Pine Run Community, it is a favorite season because our campus is alive with festivals and fun.

One of the first things that visitors and Villagers alike see as they enter the Pine Run Community Center is a selection of creative scarecrows decked out in costumes that delight. The scarecrow contest has become an annual tradition open to Villagers and Associates and each is a treat to see. One features the sparkles of a mummers costume, there’s a mermaid, several witches, Fall goddesses, and “The Saturday Knight,” sporting a bathrobe, a shower curtain cape, and cucumbers over the ”eyes.”

Continue reading Fall is in Full Swing for the Pine Run Community →

Skilled Nursing Facilities vs. Nursing Homes: Understanding the Difference

No one plans a medical emergency. Or a fall. Or an illness. But when the unthinkable happens you may find yourself trying to evaluate skilled nursing facilities vs. nursing homes, without a clear understanding of the difference. The Pine Run Health Center is available for short and long-term stays to provide the nursing care, rehabilitation, therapies, and support needed to get back on your feet or to help manage chronic conditions and illnesses and improve quality of life.

“Moving to the Pine Run Health Center either for a short stay or permanently is not a choice any of us wants to make,” said Sandy Stiles, Nursing Home Administrator at the Pine Run Health Center. “But for those who require round-the-clock medical care and assistance with activities of daily living, or who have recently had a hospital stay or surgery, a skilled nursing facility provides the medical care that is needed as well as the social, emotional, and nutritional supports for those who need to be here,” continued Stiles.

If you or your loved one has experienced a medical emergency and has worked with hospital discharge planners or are experiencing challenges managing illnesses in your home, the next steps are often confusing. What are skilled nursing facilities? What is short-term care? Rehabilitation? Long-term care? Is this different than a nursing home? And who pays for these services?

Continue reading Skilled Nursing Facilities vs. Nursing Homes: Understanding the Difference →

Building Dementia Activity Boards: Woodworking With a Purpose

The Woodworkers of Pine Run Support their Fellow Residents with the Creation of Dementia Activity Boards

After training in the US Navy Seabees and a successful and fulfilling career in healthcare facilities management, Jerry Schmidt is well-versed in all things mechanical. He’s managed and maintained systems large and small, and he has the mechanical know-how to disassemble, fix, and reassemble just about anything. After experiencing significant cognitive loss due to Lewy Body Dementia, Jerry is now a resident of The Garden, Pine Run’s Secure Memory Care neighborhood, located on the top floor of the Health Center on the Ferry Road Campus.

“The environment feels very familiar to Jerry from his time working in healthcare,” said Mary Beth Baringer, Administrator at The Garden. Jerry is, in many ways, still working. “Since coming to live with us, he has taken apart furniture, doorknobs, picture frames, and other items, because in his mind, he is still at work,” continued Mary Beth.

Continue reading Building Dementia Activity Boards: Woodworking With a Purpose →

Senior Wellness: The Power of Play

Did you have fun today? Did you laugh? Did you try something new or silly just for the fun of it? Pine Run Retirement Community is always focused on the seven dimensions of senior wellness in all that we do: Physical; Emotional; Intellectual; Social; Spiritual; Environmental; and Occupational. One area of wellness that is not talked about enough, especially in senior living, touches all of these. And that is play.

You may think of play as the “work” of children. It’s common knowledge and well-accepted in our society that children learn, grow, and develop social structure through play. As we age, there is less focus on play.

Continue reading Senior Wellness: The Power of Play →