

Dear family members and friends of Andrews of Parkhill,
February was a great month at our home Residents enjoyed exercise, games, music and celebrated Valentine’s Day with a special meal A special thank you to Kent Building Supplies for donating flowers and cards to our residents It made their day extra special
This month we will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, taking part in movie days and exercise programs. We are looking forward to spring and hope for some warmer days sooner than later
Wishing you all a happy Easter and a wonderful March!
Sincerely,
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.
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.
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.
“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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“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.”
Every month our team and residents recognize one team member for showing exceptional care
MAYUMI SEMILA : PARKHILL JOINED IN 2023
Mayumi was recognized for going above and beyond.
Our Above and Beyond winner for this month is Mayumi Semila
Mayumi is a great team player and has an excellent rapport with our residents We are fortunate to have her at Andrews of Parkhill Mayumi started working as a caregiver and care supervisor in July, 2023
Prior to joining Andrews, she spent 12 years as an RN in the Philippines and Dubai
For her, the most rewarding part of her day is spending time with our residents
“I get to engage more with the residents,” she said “They’re really appreciative
She added, her background as a nurse has been an asset in her current role
Outside of work, Mayumi enjoys spending time with friends and catching up on the news Her two favourite publications are The New York Times and The Charlottetown Guardian.
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
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