Holly Creek Retirement Community Blog
After three days of intense inspection, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Health Facilities Division has given The Suites at Holly Creek Retirement Community a PERFECT state survey. The health department annually inspects skilled nursing communities, reviewing 240 different categories of care and quality of life.
The state health department issued a “deficiency free” initial report, meaning The Suites at Holly Creek met each and every stringent standard set forth by the state of Colorado and the federal government. Typically Colorado skilled nursing communities receive between 12 and 16 citations.
The 24 skilled nursing care suites are part of Holly Creek Retirement Community located in Centennial near Holly and Arapahoe. Holly Creek is a continuing care retirement community, which offers seniors a full spectrum of living options, including residential, assisted, memory support and skilled care.
By Olivia Mayer
By Roger Landry, MD, MPH
Recipe
Norman Cousins, author of Anatomy of an Illness was diagnosed with a terminal illness but decided to laugh a lot in spite of it. He did just that, and laughed himself into remission and another thirty years of life. Decades ago, when this occurred, we had no idea of why it happened. Now we know that laughter, happiness, or positive attitude…however we want to label it… turbo-charges our immune system and thereby can lower our risk for many serious threats to our health such as heart disease, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease. The New England Centenarian Study, in fact, has found that those who reach ages 100 and over most often have such positive attitudes, even in the face of significant impairment.
So why aren’t we all happy? It’s more fun, and now seems to protect us? Well, anyone who hasn’t lived in a cave all his life knows it’s not that easy. Bad things happen, we lose loved ones, the toaster won’t work, people annoy us…sometimes even those who are always happy annoy us, right? So, we’ll try to be happy, smile more, and take deep breaths when that person next to us talks too loud on his cell phone.
But, wait, there’s more we can do to be happy and positive. Here’s how. Most unhappiness and negativity is caused by stress…stress from loss, confrontation, fear. Nearly all stress is self induced….that’s right, self induced. Unless we have a tiger about to make a meal out of us, stress is caused by our mind’s judgment about whatever is happening to us. For example, take
the cell phone guy. We begin to stew about how rude he is, how the younger generation is going to the dogs, how cell phones have made us a bunch of talking heads who really are not communicating at all. You’re now angry, stressed, unhappy, and with a blood pressure and pulse a bit higher. But what if you choose to ignore him, walk away, or ask him to talk more softly? In reality, these are the only three choices you have to resolve any issue. Don’t do any of them and your smile’s upside down and so are your risks of bad things happening.
So what’s the message here? It is…WE CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY. Even though bad things WILL happen (it comes with having a pulse), how you respond is the key. Choose to judge and stew about it, and you’re unhappy, unpopular, and on your way to lower quality life. Choose to accept things as they are, or walk away, or act to change them, and you eliminate stress, and can smile in the face whatever comes your way, and in the process laugh your way to aging more successfully.
Don’t miss the final My Stress Solutions class “Creating Lasting Stress Management Strategies” on Thursday, January 26th at 1:30 p.m. Call 720-266-5611 for more information.
Let’s face it– we all have stress in our lives. Studies suggest that some stress is good for you; however, too much stress can increase your risk of other health problems. Starting this January, Holly Creek is offering My Stress Solution- a program from Masterpiece Living and the Mayo Clinic health experts to help you manage your stress and your health. This interactive program is four weeks long — enough time for you to clearly identify your current stressors and develop techniques for managing your stress. Learning new stress management strategies will not only ward off the negative effects of stress, but it can also bring positive outcomes like increased productivity, better health and more happiness in general!
For great tips on stress reduction, check out this article from the Mayo Clinic:
Stress Relievers: Top 10 picks to tame stress
Don’t let stress get you down. Manage it! Learn how at Holly Creek’s My Stress Solution series, developed by Masterpiece Living and the Mayo Clinic. And, you can take part in this four week program at absolutely no cost.
January 6th at 10:30 a.m. What Stresses You Out?
January 12th at 1:30 p.m. Coping With Stress
January 20th at 1:30 p.m. Live Healthy, Prevent Stress
January 26th at 1:30 p.m. Managing Stress Every Day
Call today to reserve your spot for this four week series. Space is limited. 720.266.5611
By Emily Warren, MA and Teresa Amaral Beshwate, MPH from Masterpiece Living
Edited by Heather Salazar
The holiday season is upon us. The days are shorter, the weather cooler, and holiday stress, excess winter weight gain and overall disruption in balance is lurking right around the corner. Yet it is never too late to devise a proactive plan to navigate the holiday frenzy. Consider the following five tips…
Tip #1: Give the gift of health. If you plan to give the gift of food, why give sugar and fat-laden fare when you can give a healthy gift instead? Consider a gift from Edible Arrangements (www.ediblearrangements.com), The Healthy Basket (www.thehealthybasket.com) or create your own basket filled with fresh, seasonal produce and a healthy cookbook. Intellectually stimulating gifts such as puzzles, games and books are also great ideas. Likewise, consider spiritual gifts such as candles and soothing bath soaps help to promote relaxation. As a resident, you can purchase a gift certificate for a Spa day at Holly Creek which includes a massage by Holly Creek’s massage therapists, getting a new hair-do at the Grand Mesa hair salon and enjoying a tasty lunch in the Heritage Grill.
Tip #2: Ditch the all or nothing mentality. If you over-indulge in a high calorie meal, balance it out with increased physical activity and get back on track the next day. Dine in the Centennial’s restaurant and enjoy Filet Mignon, garlic mash potatoes, a glass of Merlot and Crème Brule for dinner. The next day swim a few laps in the pool and challenge yourself at the Life Moves exercise class and for lunch enjoy an entrée from our Flavors 450 menu (450 calories or less).
Tip #3: Get engaged. Remember the many health benefits of social connectivity, and attend your holiday events ready to expand your social circle. Take advantage of all the opportunities to engage with friends, family and neighbors. Deepen your connections by starting new traditions with new friends. While you’re at a party, if you have the opportunity, dance like nobody is watching. At Holly Creek you can enjoy our social hour in the bistro every Friday and attend our festive New Years Eve party.
Tip #4: Find your Stress Solution. Participate in My Stress Solution being offered in January at Holly Creek and engage in other activities that help you to find your balance. Yoga, Tai Chi and massage are some examples of stress managing activities. Reduce your stress with a relaxing massage in the Clear Creek Spa or calm your mind with the Tai Chi class on Thursdays and then relax with friends over a cup of coffee in the Bistro.
Tip #5: Welcome the New Year with a plan to challenge yourself physically, socially, spiritually and intellectually. Move to Holly Creek and take advantage of all Masterpiece Living has to offer. Take the Lifestyle Review to evaluate your physical, spiritual, social and intellectual health. Receive a customized report to guide you in how you’d like to spend your time. Masterpiece offers a wide variety of educational programs as well as an individual coaching session to help you achieve your successful aging goals. Move to Holly Creek and thrive!
May 2012 be a Masterpiece, filled with growth and potential!
Back To Basics
Roger Landry, M.D., M.P.H.
The famous actor, John Barrymore, once said, “We’re old when our regrets outweigh our dreams.” So when is it too late to dream and try to improve ourselves? The answer is NEVER! The MacArthur Foundation Study on Aging and subsequent research concluded that it was indeed never too late to make a significant difference in our lives. Since most of how we age is determined by the choices we make, it only requires us to make some good choices in order to improve our lives and to age successfully.
Nola Ochs recently received her bachelor’s degree at age 95 and is now considering a master’s degree. The oldest man to climb Mount Everest was 71. Helen Green wrote her first e-mail at age 95. Frank Shearer celebrated his 100th birthday by water skiing in Mexico. Harry Bernstein began writing at 91 and published his first book at age 95. The list of inspirational accomplishments by people who refused to “act their age,” is fortunately getting longer. Your own list doesn’t have to include world records, only personal hopes and dreams.
“Acting our age” basically means we accept as true the stereotype that aging is mostly about decline. In communities with a Masterpiece Living culture, we believe that older adults can continue to grow as long as they have a pulse. This belief is manifested by our commitment to looking at our lives and using feedback from the Mayo Clinic and other sources to determine what we need to do physically, mentally, socially and spiritually to be the best we can be . . . to age successfully.
So, what is it you always wanted to do but never got around to it? Music? Another language? Travel? Maybe just a garden? Whatever it is, be confident, give it a try. What have you got to lose at this point? Besides, you have neighbors who probably have experience in whatever you want to do. Ask them. George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to become what you might have been.”
To learn more about our Masterpiece Living at Holly Creek call us at 303-713-9004.
Living It by Masterpiece Living is a 3-week campaign to inspire and challenge yourself in new ways. Try new activities, meet people, stimulate your brain! Each week focuses on the physical, intellectual or spiritual aspects of wellness.
ACTIVE MINDS: Current Events Discussion – September 12th at 3:00 p.m. Learn about Pakistan, the precarious nuclear nation. Created in 1947 from the partitioning of British Colonial territories in South Asia, Pakistan has experienced decades of conflict with India. More recently, it has endured internal conflict between its secular government and the rising tide of Taliban-led Islamic fundamentalism. As a long-time U.S. ally, Pakistan has been considered a key in the war on terror.
ACTIVE MINDS: Music Appreciation – September 14th at 1:30 p.m. Travel musically to Jolly Old England to explore the folk and courtly roots of British music. Listen, learn and discuss the progress of concert music from Handel in the Baroque era through Elgar, Vaugh-Williams and Britten; into the first decades of the 20th century. No experience necessary.
SUPER FOODS: Avocados & Tomatoes – September 22nd at 2:00 p.m. Join Chef Edis and discover the power within tomatoes and avocados, two true super foods. Learn why the fat in avocado is good for you and how the micronutrients, vitamins and antioxidants in tomatoes work together to ward off cancer, heart disease and other ailments.
FALL PREVENTION WORKSHOP: September 23rd at 9:45 p.m. One of the biggest identified fears in the senior population is falling. This hands-on informational workshop will help you recognize and avoid potential hazards and identify some of the mistakes we make that cause us to fall. You’ll also learn an easy to remember and empowering checklist of what to do if a fall occurs.
STRESS & RELAXATION TECHNIQUES: September 30th at 1:30 p.m. In this instructional workshop, you’ll learn how breathing in certain ways is one of the major stress relieving weapons we have in our arsenal. Join Hans Houtman, local psychotherapist and yoga instructor, to hear the science behind meditation and stress relief. Simple relaxation techniques such as meditation and chair yoga can improve the quality of your daily life.
Attend one or all Living It sessions – space is limited so call today!
720-266-5611
By Dr. David Gobble
Almost every week, we find out something amazing about how the brain continues to develop across the lifespan. We have known for years that the brain is most receptive to learning and change while young, and assumed that as you aged, you lost most of your ability to learn and grow in mental capacity. Over the past 10 years it has become clear that the brain does lose some of its amazing flexibility of youth, but retains significant capabilities for learning and physical modification. Both neurogenesis (nerve regeneration) and neuroplasticity (rewiring pathways) can continue until
the end of life. The key for us is to know about the basic science of how this happens, and what we can do to support it in our lives.
The basic science of brain growth indicates that two major things happen across the lifespan within the brain. First, your basic brain network – all those nerves that make up the brain – constantly change, depending on how they are stimulated. Lots of stimulation leads to nerves with lots of branches that connect to other nerves in the brain. This network of connections is made more dense or sparse, depending on how you interact with your environment. Second, you produce approximately 10,000 new brain cells (neurons) every day. These can replace lost neurons, add to the density of parts of the brain, or just be lost and reabsorbed and broken down, never to contribute to your mental ability.
How can you manage this critical part of your aging? How can you take advantage of this ever changing process of building and breaking down the brain? First, believe you do have control over a significant part of your mental ability over time. Then, begin (or continue) an exercise program. The brain needs blood and oxygen in large quantity, and the only way to increase the amount of blood and oxygen you pump to the brain is with exercise. In addition to feeding hungry brain cells, the extra blood and oxygen, offers another important benefit: stimulating the production of brain growth hormones, in particular Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF). This chemical acts like “Miracle Grow” for the brain, enabling existing neurons to branch and make more connections, and helps new brain cells become more permanent. A newly discovered protein, “Noggin” (I am not kidding) is produced when you exercise, and it directly influences stem cells in your brain to make new neurons. So, to speed up the replacement of lost brain cells, exercise is one of the most important things you can do.
The second thing you need to do to keep all those new brain cells, and to continue to make your existing cells branch more, is to do complex, novel things. Such activities can include: learning a language, learning to play an instrument, learning a new brain game, etc. When you make your brain intellectually uncomfortable, and do so for an extended time every day, you create the need for changing your brain. And, your brain does change by increasing the density of its interconnections, and plugging in new cells where needed.
The outcome of your efforts will produce the best brain that is possible for you. Continue to challenge yourself with both physical tasks that make your heart pump lots of blood, and challenge your brain to solve complex, novel things, and you will be the proud owner of a dense brain. That is the best science can tell us at this time, and it is the best you can do for yourself at all stages of life.
Join Holly Creek for a 6 week series on Neurobics starting Friday, August 5th at 1:30 p.m. Call 303-713-9004 for more details!
The Christian Living Communities Social Accountability committee put the ‘fun’ in fundraiser this past weekend as they circled the bases and racked up lots of runs in the first annual softball tournament benefiting the Parkinson Association of the Rockies. We had four teams from our communities and corporate office with wacky team names ranging from the Clermont Park Coco-Nuts to the Holly Creek Benchwarmers. Players helped raise pledges throughout the month of June in addition to Holly Creek residents voting on their favorite player to be named MVP. Combined with the snack bar full of delicious ballpark fixin’s compliments of Morrison Senior Living and volunteer bakers, we raised $2,467 for Parkinson’s! These dollars will help pay for exercise programs, provide medical equipment to families in need, sponsor in-home visits for patients and caregivers, and help to promote support groups among other deserving things. It was a great day had by all and congratulations to the Corporate Dingers for taking the prize winning trophy home to display! They beat the Johnson Center/Village team by one run in the final game. Way to go Corporate and all of CLC for your dedication and support!
Holly Creek Benchwarmers
On Wednesday, June 1st over 85 volunteers enjoyed a special luncheon celebrating their work in 2010. The theme of the luncheon was “A World of Thanks” with decorations and food coming from five countries: Mexico, Japan, Italy, France and the United States. In appreciation of all the hard work, the Holly Creek staff serenaded the crowd with a customized version of “Thanks for the Memories” that translated to “Thanks to the Volunteers” with the accompaniment of musician Jim Condor.
Holly Creek has 177 volunteers who have contributed over 10,000 hours in 2010 supporting both staff and residents. The volunteers are responsible for running Molly’s Mercantile gift shop, a secondhand store Savvy Seconds, Toys for God’s Kids (wooden toy car project), and many individual companion and support functions within the Holly Creek community and the greater south metro area community. All money raised is used to enrich the lives of our Holly Creek residents. Our volunteers are made up of residents, community volunteers, youth, families, and even family pets. We have a world of appreciation for our volunteers who make Holly Creek a wonderful community to live in.
Holly Creek volunteer opportunities:
1. One-on-one activities with seniors: visiting, reading, gardening, crafts and walking companion
2. Administrative support: mailings, filing, organizing
3. Receptionist support
If you would like to learn about other volunteer opportunities at Holly Creek, please contact: Kitty Dobbs at 720.266.5616 or kdobbs@clcmail.org
Holly Creek will be hosting Conductorcise on Wednesday, June 15th from
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Relieve stress, build aerobic stamina, and shed unwanted pounds, while imagining yourself leading a symphony orchestra.
With CONDUCTORCISE®, you can strengthen your heart and open your ears. Maestro David Dworkin leads participants as they enjoy a natural, invigorating upper body workout, learn basic conducting techniques, improve listening skills, and find out about the lives and work of the great composers.
The uniqueness of CONDUCTORCISE® is born out of natural body movement and our physical response to music. Participants are made aware of rhythm, form, color through use of instruments, and the creative process. The music ranges widely, from marches by John Philip Sousa and Johann Strauss to beloved concert, ballet, and operatic classics of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Dvorak to brilliant showpieces by Offenbach, Rimsky Korsakov and Copland.
Source: www.conductorcise.com
RSVP today at
720-266-5611 or at hsalazar@clcmail.org.
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