The Glen at Aberdeen Heights Community Matters March 2017

Community Matters The Glen at Aberdeen Heights

What is your fitness routine?

Everyone knows fitness is important. How have you taken steps to be fit? What’s your regular fitness routine? If you’ve started a fitness routine late in life, what advice would you have for others?

How do you think you benefit from regular exercise?

If you’ve got a story to share, contact Health Care Lifestyle Coordinator Loretta Cutler, and your story could be featured in an upcoming edition of Community Matters.

March 2017

A very ‘rice’ project While cleaning resident Kathlyn Haas’s apartment one day, her housekeeper Kim noticed that Kathlyn had a homemade rice pad in her lap. The pads are heated in the microwave and placed on parts of body that may have pain, such as knees, neck, etc.

Kim knows her way around a sewing machine, and Kathlyn is also an avid sewer. So Kim asked Kathlyn if she would like to start a project with her to supply other residents with the rice pads. Kathlyn said she’d be happy to help out.

Kim and Kathlyn both will donate fabric, and the Activity Department will supply the rice. The two of them plan to involve other residents. What a great project to do for others in the community!

A proud member of Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America

Upcoming events March 8-18 – Choir students from Kirkwood School, 5 p.m.

March 12 – Clark Academy of Irish Dancing in Assisted Living, 2 p.m.

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day Party in Assisted Living and Health Center April 7 – Steve Chalmers’ “Dance Disco Dance,” 2 p.m.

April 15 – Easter Egg Hunt, 10:30 a.m.

April 18 – Volunteer Brunch, 10 a.m.

April 29 – Riga Duo in Health Center, 3:30 p.m.

Want to age better? Join a choir Julene Johnson, a professor at the Institute for Health & Aging at the University of California, San Francisco, has been studying the impact of singing in the quality of life of older adults.

The Community of Voices study

Community Matters is published monthly for residents and friends of Aberdeen Heights by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at: PresbyterianManors.org.

James “Jamie” Kneen, executive director To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact Loretta Cutler, health care lifestyle coordinator, lcutler@pmma.org.

Telephone: 314-909-6010 Address: 505 Couch Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122 Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.

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Community Matters March 2017

Johnson’s study — large, rigorous and randomized — involved 390 participants from 12 senior centers in the San Francisco Bay area and is the first to test the effects of an arts-based intervention for older adults on improving key measures of health and well-being: cognitive health, physical functioning, emotional well-being and social connectedness.

Measuring outcomes Each choir met once a week for a year, and performed three to four times in public.The average age was 71, females represented 76 percent of participants,and two-thirds were non-white. Researchers collected data about falls and the use of health care services every three months, and focused on three primary outcomes: • Cognitive function Attention and executive function were tested.

• Lower body strength Participants were given a timed sit-to-stand test.

• Emotional well-being Participants were rated on the frequency of depressive symptoms.

Participants were also tested for verbal learning and memory, social engagement, social support, loneliness, walking speed, balance and falls.

The last Community of Voices choir is soon to finish its run for the study, and the data is still being collected and tabulated. One thing is for sure, though:The choirs were a hit. Once they finished participation in the study, all the previous choirs have continued to sing.

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