Park West Tribune March 2024

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MARCH 2024 PARK WEST Your life, your community, your news
and
in celebration
VALENTINE DONATION ABOVE & BEYOND Check out this month's Above and Beyond winner | p 10 RESIDENT RECIPES This month we feature a decadent butter tart recipe from resident Evelyn Rafuse | p 4-5 PET THERAPY Spending time with animals proven to benefit seniors and people living with dementia | p 6-7 VALENTINE’S CELEBRATIONS Check out our photos from celebrations at our homes. | p 3-5 ABOVE & BEYOND Check out which of our team members was recognized for going above and beyond this month. | p 8 ‘THERE’S NO EXPIRY DATE’ Andrews activity directors attend session on strength training for seniors. | p 6-7
Andrews of Stratford resident Wanda Ings reacts to getting a rose Valentine’s Day week. Kent Building Supplies donated flowers cards to all our P.E.I. homes of Valentine’s Day.

UPDATE FROM PARK WEST

Dear family members and friends of Andrews of Park West,

We had a fun February at our home. Residents enjoyed live music, including a second visit from Fullerton’s Marsh Likewise, we celebrated Valentine’s Day Our residents were very thankful for the lovely flowers and cards donated by Kent Building Supplies.

This month we will be celebrating St Patrick’s Day, Easter, taking part in craft tim games and more live music.

I hope you all have a great Easter and a wonderful start to spring

Sincerely,

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Team member Laura MacArthur, an LPN, and resident Anna Doucette share a laugh while walking to lunch at Andrews of Summerside

Our homes were bustling the week of Valentine’s Day with teas, special meals and lots of live music. Andrews of Charlottetown held a Valentine’s Day tea, featuring finger sandwiches, tarts, live music and dancing.

V A L E N T I N E ’ S C E L E B R A T I O N S 3

Andrews of Stratford celebrated twice during Valentine’s Day. One February 13, residents enjoyed a Valentine’s tea and then on Valentine’s Day, residents celebrated with a meal of baconwrapped beef roulade, mashed potatoes, vegetables and straweberry flan for dessert.

In addition to our home celebrations, Kent Building Supplies donated flowers and cards to our residents at all five of our P.E.I. homes.

V A L E N T I N E ’ S C E L E B R A T I O N S 4

Residents at Andrews of Summerside, Parkhill and Park West celebrated Valentine’s Day with a sweetheart lunch, live music and crafts. Residents at all three homes were also gifted flowers and cards from Kent Building Supplies.

V A L E N T I N E ’ S C E L E B R A T I O N S 5

‘There’s no expiry date’

Andrews activity directors attend information session on strength training for seniors

“You don’t use it, you lose it.”

That was the core message for Andrews’ activity directors at a recent information session on strength training for seniors hosted by Jason Mosher, owner and operator of Naturally Fit gym in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Jason, who has an extensive history in strength sports as well as working as a group trainer, personal trainer and fascial stretch therapist, spent an afternoon in early February guiding our activity directors through a series of exercises and how to incorporate them into their exercise programs for residents

He said for most seniors the goal of strength training is to maintain physical independence

“We’re not going to get hypertrophy, which is recruiting more muscle fiber,” Jason said “We’re just trying not to lose what we had With strength training, we ’ re not talking about going and deadlifting 800 lbs when you ’ re 80 years old We’re talking about being able to pull your socks up on your own ”

That loss of mobility and independence is an experience Jason understands professionally as well as personally Over the course of his career, he’s trained everyone from high-performance athletes to stroke survivors and people recovering from surgery But after a fall from a 17-foot ladder in 2022, he had to build his own body back up

“Broke both my arms, smashed my head really bad,” he said

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Naturally Fit owner Jason Mosher poses inside his Charlottetown gym. Jason recently gave a free information session on strength training for seniors to Andrews’ activity directors.
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“Torn bicep, torn shoulder, torn pec, torn abductor, both knees, both ankles, ribs I had five herniated discs in my back My neck was pretty near broken but I’ve corrected pretty much all of that. It really gave me a lot of time to dissect a lot of my training.”

For Jason, the injury reinforced the importance of having a strong physical foundation.

“You slip on some ice, strength training and mobility training will allow you to recover from that slip,” he said. “If you ’ re stiff and fragile you ’ re going down and you ’ re going to break your hip.”

Exercises he recommends for seniors starting out include chair squats, offset step-ups, weighted core twists and offset farmer carries. All of these can be done with as little weight as 1 or 2 lbs and can be modified depending on the person ’ s current mobility and strength levels.

“Heavy for you can be way too heavy for me, ” he said “You want to go very minimal at first and when that’s super easy, then you increase We’re going to start with very basic movements and see where our recovery is As we age, it’s not so much about ‘I feel strong,’ it’s that I don’t recover as well You have to keep that as a factor ”

Annelize Malan, activity director at Andrews of Summerside attended the information session and will be expanding her residents’ current exercise routine to include more strength training

“My goal is to introduce it to residents who want to do a bit more, ” she said “It’s something that they’ve never done or haven’t done in the last number of years There are some people who’ve never lifted a weight in their lives ”

While a majority of residents prefer to do exercises seated, Annelize hopes to improve their confidence over the long term

“Getting them to do a little bit more and getting the confidence in standing up and holding onto a chair or doing exercise next to their chair,” would be a realistic goal for a lot of her residents

Sharon Woods-Bryenton, activity director at Andrews of Stratford, already had strength training elements in her fitness classes but will be adding more going forward

“It’s just so important for our seniors to have good core strength and balance,” she said “The more we can do to help them build that or maintain that strength, the better ”

While many people are hesitant about starting strength training as a senior, Jason said there’s no age limit

“My oldest client was 92 years old, after a stroke,” he said “There’s no expiry date You can start at any time but you have to start with reasonable expectations There’s going to be atrophy There’s going to be weakness But you ’ re getting these things fired up Start any time You want to get out of bed? Start.”

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Jason guides activity directors through a series of strength exercises for seniors.

ABOVE & BEYOND FEBRUARY WINNER

Every month our team and residents recognize one team member for showing exceptional care

JUVEENA JULIUS : PARK WEST JOINED IN 2023

Juveena was recognized for going above and beyond

Our above and beyond winner for February is Juveena Julius Juveena a dedicated team member who is passionate about caring for seniors

Juveena started working at Andrews of Park West six months ago Prior to joining us, she worked as a staff nurse in a health centre in Dubai For her, helping seniors is the most rewarding part of her job as it reminds her of her parents

“At first it was very challenging for me, but gradually I was able to serve them just like I’d help my parents,” she said

In her spare time, Juveena enjoys cooking and recreating the Arabic and Indian dishes from her home country.

Take a look at some of our activities planned for this month!

MARCH

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N O M A D I C | 2 4
18 19 20 21 17 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY N O M A D I C | 2 4 11 12 13 14 10 6 7 8 9 15 16 22 23 25 26 24 10:30 AM - LETS DO SOME EXERCISE! 1:30 PM - MUSIC BUTCH STEWART 11:30 AM - LETS DO SOME EXERCISE! 1:30 PM - MUSIC WITH PIANIST ED MACLAREN 10:30 AM - LETS DO SOME EXERCISE! 1:30 PM - KERPLUNK/GAMES 10:30 AM - CHAIR EXERCISES 1:30 PM - SPIRITUAL HOUR 10:30 AM - EXERCISES 1:30 PM - MUSIC WITH DONNA MACDONALD AND MR LECLAIR 2 3 4 5 10:30 AM - LETS DO SOME EXERCISE! 1:30 PM - MUSIC AND GOSPELS WITH ED MACLAREN 10:30 AM - LETS DO SOME EXERCISE! 1:30 PM - BINGO TIME 10:30 AM - CATHOLIC SERVICE 1:30 PM - STORY TELLING/CONVERSATION BY SUSAN FORSYTHE 10:30 AM - LETS PLAY CARDS 130 PM - AFTERNOON MUSIC WITH BUTCH STEWART AND COMPANY 27 10:30 AM - CHAIR EXERCISES 1:30 PM - ARM CHAIR TRAVEL TO INDIA 1 10:30 AM - CATHOLIC SERVICE 130 PM - BINGO TIME 28 10:30 AM - CHAIR EXERCISES 1:30 PM - BINGO TIME ST PATRICKSDAY DAYLIGHTSAVINGS BEGINSTODAY 29 GOODFRIDAY 10:30 AM - CHAIREXERCISES 10:30 AM - EASTER CONVERSATION/CHATS 30 31 HAPPY EASTER! 10:30 AM - NEWS AND VIEWS 10:30 AM - CHAIR EXERCISES 1:30 PM - BOWLING AND FUN 10:30 AM - NEWS AND VIEWS 1:30 PM - LETS WATCH MOVIE 10:30 AM - NEWS AND VIEWS 1:30 PM - EASTER CRAFTS 10:30 AM - NEWS AND VIEWS 1:30 PM - MOVIE TIME

GAMES

Sudoku

The object of the puzzle is to fill the remaining squares, using all the numbers 1–9 exactly once in each row, column, and the nine 3 × 3 subgrids

Community Cash 50/50

Weekly 50/50 draw in support of support not for profit groups including Murphy s Pharmacies Community Centre and the Holland College Athletics Department Anyone can play for just $2/week

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F O L L O W U S O N S O C I A L M E D I A F O R T H E L A T E S T O N L I F E A T A N D R E W S !

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