Maple Crest Newsletter - Winter 2019

Life

WINTER 2019

AT MAPLE CREST

Activities Keep Life Engaging at Maple Crest How Maple Crest Is Battling Against Hearing Loss Online Reviews: Your Chance to Rate and Review Maple Crest!

At Maple Crest, Activities Keep Life Engaging A

t Maple Crest, our mission of providing exceptional nursing and rehabilitation services isn’t complete without treating the whole person.

While our nursing and therapy staff focus on healing and maintaining physical ailments, our life enrichment team is busy treating the mind and spirit. Our staff is dedicated to making each day special and stimulating for residents. We understand that social activities, spiritual connections, and recreation are important part of a resident’s life and recovery.

Something for Everyone

gives us the opportunity to find out what current activities a new resident may enjoy, or what new programs we could offer to our residents.”

Creating a Sense of Purpose Activities at Maple Crest are about providing our residents days and life with purpose. As Lindsey points out, “Our residents don’t have to go to work, they no longer cook, clean or manage the household. When life no longer takes up a bulk of their day, it’s important to fill that time with something constructive and engaging.”

There is a theory that when On any given day, our residents we become depressed, we “We work with residents’families and continue to contribute to socistop doing the things we the nursing staff to figure out what ety and their community. once enjoyed, thus leading activities each individual would enjoy.”

Whether it’s by helping raise to greater depression. In – Lindsey McCoy , money for our world-wide fight order to heal, we need to Maple Crest Acitivites Director against Alzheimer’s disease, be engaged in activities working to improve their home and social settings we find enjoyable. Lindsey by joining our resident council, or creating a gift for McCoy has been the Activity Director at Maple a family in our art classes, personal satisfaction can Crest for 7 years, and she understands the imporbe found every day. tance of creating activities that are meaningful, engaging and fun.

Keeping the Mind Engaged “Everyone who comes to Maple Crest, comes from a different background,” says Lindsey. “Something that may be enjoyable to one resident may not be fun for another. That’s why we plan care to the individual needs of each resident. We work with their families and the nursing staff to figure out what activities each individual would enjoy so we can offer a more compressive program.”

This process starts at admission. Our Activity Team takes the time to sit one-on-one with all new residents and explore the recreational and social opportunities offered at Maple Crest. “Making that connection right away is important to help build trust with a new resident,” explains Lindsey. “It also

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Providing meaningful activities to our residents doesn’t stop at personal preference. We understand that all of our residents are at different places in their lives physically and cognitively. We know the importance of designing activities that are appropriate for all cognitive levels to maximize engagement.

“Some of our residents have a diagnosis of dementia, some at varying stages, and some residents have no cognitive impairments at all,” says Lindsay.

“So we structure all of our activities to meet the needs of everyone, not just a few.”

Because it’s so important to create engaging and meaningful activities for our residents dealing with

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Maple Crest offers a wide variety of activities that keep residents interested and engaged. dementia, we have an activity assistant consistently staffed within Maple Gardens, our Alzheimer’s care center.

An Active Social Life One of the greatest fears a person faces when they move into a long-term care community is a loss of social activity. Our recreational activities put residents at ease by encouraging interaction through trivia games, reminiscence or storytelling.

Bri McCarthur has been an activity assistant at Maple Crest for 4 years and she has seen many resident come out of their shells when given the opportunity. “We have had all kinds of residents come to Maple Crest who we thought were introverts,” she says. “They are very timid and quiet until we get them to a group trivia game or down for a manicure. Then they start to come out of their shell— that’s what we love!”

Nurturing the Spirit

life enrichment program. We understand how important a spiritual connection, growth, and support are to a resident’s daily life and recovery. Maple Crest offers residents the service of a full-time Chaplain to support their spiritual needs, regardless of faith. Our residents also get the chance to meet regularly with any number of visiting, volunteer pastors. No matter your personal beliefs or theology, Maple Crest will provide you with the support and opportunity to practice your faith.

Every day, Maple Crest offers a wide variety of activities for our residents: outings to movies, shopping, and local entertainment; weekly events and holiday celebrations; arts and crafts; conversational clubs, games, gardening, manicures, happy hours and luncheons—just to name a few. We know how important these activities are, and every month our activity team strives to provide new and unique opportunities for everyone who calls Maple Crest home.

Spiritual care is another major part of our resident

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MapleCrest.net

Hear Here!

How Maple Crest and other ABHM communities are leading the way to better hearing.

Hearing loss is a natural part of aging. But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Missing the details of conversations, entertainment and other activities means missing out on life. If left unaddressed, hearing loss can have other unforeseen consequences, including mental decline, social isolation and depression.

That’s why Maple Crest and parent-company ABHM have partnered with Eversound, to help residents hear better, stay engaged and live life to the fullest.

Hearing tech designed for seniors Eversound designs and develops proprietary audio technologies to help seniors hear more clearly during movies, presentations and other group activities. Their patented wireless headphone system is specifically tuned to the needs of seniors and provides an enhanced listening experience compared to conventional hearing aids.

“While hearing aids amplify all sound, Eversound focuses in on the source of what someone is listening to and amplifies that specifically,” says Leah Atz, Wellness Director at ABHM’s Thorne Crest Senior Living Community in Albert Lea, MN.

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ABHM wellness directors like Leah create and plan entertaining programs for residents of each community. Unfortunately residents may not participate simply because they struggle to hear clearly due to natural age-related hearing loss.

Eversound, which is designed specifically for older adults, improves hearing clarity by providing direct audio to users’ ears. ABHM’s communities using Eversound report significant improvements in resident participation, engagement, well-being and quality of life.

Breaking age-old sound barriers Thorne Crest was the first of ABHM’s communities to use the Eversound technology, and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.

“You really see Eversound’s impact when residents have headsets on and they just light up,” Leah says. “It’s like night and day.”

Due to its focus on age-related hearing issues, Jake Reisch, CEO and co-founder of Eversound, sees Eversound technology as a viable alternative to hearing aids, especially in community event settings. “Helpful as they are, hearing aids are often overly expensive, easy to lose and challenging to operate for users

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Berniece “Tom” Thompson from ABHM community Thorne Crest in Albert Lea, MN, uses the Eversound system while talking with Wellness Director Leah Atz. who lack manual dexterity,” he says. “We believe that beautiful, easy-to-use audio products can be the answer, and our team is excited to be delivering high fidelity sound to a larger audience for less than the cost of one premium hearing aid.”

Resident Berniece Thompson agrees: “I can hear better with the Eversound system and have enjoyed using the system to listen to guest speakers here at Thorne Crest.”

A partnership to improve lives After experiencing success at Thorne Crest, Eversound will soon go nationwide, thanks in large part to its partnership with ABHM. “We are pleased to be partnering with American Baptist Homes of the Midwest and offering their residents this new experience,” says Matt Reiners, VP of Customer Impact and co-founder

of Eversound. “Giving the gift of hearing is incredible and has a dramatic impact on both residents and staff.”

Eversound and ABHM will continue the Eversound roll out to all seven ABHM communities in 2019, enabling every resident who needs it to enjoy this transformative technology. “The mission of ABHM is to create healthy Christian communities that empower people, and Eversound is an important tool for accomplishing that mission” said Jeff Hongslo, CEO/president, of ABHM. “Eversound enables our hearing impaired residents to hear with a level of clarity they haven’t experienced in years. It has increased resident participation in our life enrichment programs and their quality of life. The response by ABHM residents and staff to Eversound has been extremely positive.”

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MapleCrest.net

Rate & Review Us! Online!

Now YOU Can

Senior living communities are finding out how important online reviews can be. Now Maple Crest residents and families can have their say, too

W

hy are online reviews important?

Think of the last time you wanted to try a new restaurant or head out with family to the movies. In the past, you might have checked the paper or talked to a neighbor for recommendations on where to go or what to see. Today, chances are the first place you go for information is online.

survey called, “Online Review Use in Assisted Living Facility Selection.” Tabulating over 2,700 responses from a random selection of U.S. respondents, the survey results revealed that: • 82% of people looking for assisted living facilities read online reviews as part of their research process.

• 73% said that positive reviews would make The fact is we rely on online reviews to make edthem feel more comfortable and trusting toucated purchase decisions all the time—which ward a community. product to buy, hotel to book or plumber to hire. But what about using online reviews to • 42% would seek out online reviews of assisted choose where to live during your retirement, seliving facilities as the first method of their relect a rehab location or long-term care commusearch and planning process. nity? When it comes to some of life’s most Those are powerful staimportant decisions are tistics. They reveal just online reviews just as “There is an established culture of respect how important the role useful? between the residents, residents and employees online reviews play in and between employees. The physical facilities A software research decision making today— and amenities are also excellent. The result is a firm, Software Advice, even in decisions as sigvery good and pleasant place to be.” set out to explore this nificant as the transition – An ABHM resident’s online review question and recently to senior living. released the results of a

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Helping families make the right choice Making the transition to senior living or to a more acute level of healthcare is a big step, and can be fraught with a host of overwhelming options and emotional decisions. At Maple Crest our goal is to help families and loved ones make decisions that are right for them. Online reviews can help do just that—especially when you consider that for 9 out of 10 online decision makers, a review is just as important as a personal recommendation.

Enhancing care and responding to needs Every ABHM community is dedicated to delivering the highest quality senior living and health care experience possible. We accomplish this by being responsive to the needs of those in our care, listening to families, and encouraging communication among staff and residents. Through this process we are able to continually customize

our services, amenities and care plans to meet the ever changing needs of residents.

Leave your online review at MapleCrest.net To ensure we meet the needs of seniors and families we have created a new online review page on our website. The new page offers residents, families and staff the ability to share what they love about their community with others as well as provide valuable feedback on programs, care, amenities, staff and more. The reviews will give online visitors the information and peace of mind they need to take the next step in their search process.

Share the Maple Crest story ABHM is proud of the lifestyle and care provided at each of our communities. Who better to share that experience than the people who live it every day? Visit maplecrest.net/review today and spread the word about our great community.

To share your thoughts on what makes Maple Crest a great community, visit www.MapleCrest.net

YOUR THOUGHTS HERE

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MapleCrest.net

Owned and operated by AMERICAN BAPTIST HOMES OF THE MIDWEST, a not-for-profit provider of senior health care since 1930.

14850 SCENIC HEIGHTS RD, STE 125, EDEN PRAIRIE MN 55344

2824 N. 66th Avenue Omaha, NE 68104 www.MapleCrest.net

AT MAPLE CREST

WINTER 2019

Maple Crest is a faith-based, not-for-profit senior living community. Our mission is to create healthy Christian communities that empower older adults. We provide choices for housing, services, and technology that enrich body, mind and spirit.

Discover Memory Care at Maple Crest

We oer residents and families the choice of private or semi-private rooms with comfortable common areas.

18 semi-private and 2 private rooms n Custom designed programs and activities n Located in the heart of the Benson community n We accept Medicaid n

Call today for more information or set up your tour!

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