Welcome, Welcome, welcome, in good morning. It is time for our
community connection right here on K one, the one you dressed. We've got
our friends from Eldrick Care in today. It is always great to have an
Elder Care and today because we get kept up on all the good things happening.
And she and Abby are both with us today. Hey, it's good
to see Tom. Good to be seen. Yeah, I know, Abby
was cooking. Oh, not much. We are just here to talk about
September, which is Healthy Aging Month, and so we want to share some
of Elder Care's resources and information about healthy aging. Well, you know,
that's kind of what Eldrick Care is all about, making sure that we're still
in the game for as long as we want to be in the game,
isn't it. You know, we're in our fortieth year of doing just that.
Yeah. Yeah, we've been keeping programs going and making new friends in
the community. You know. That's brain health is one of the reasons why
we exist. In nineteen eighty three, Elder Care was formed because there was
a need for families to have an additional resource for those who had been diagnosed
with dementia and Alzheimer's, and so a group of people saw that need and
that's how elder care came to be. And forty years later we're doing just
that. But we've expanded our programs. So some of the programs that abbeys
involved with really help individuals keep their brains healthy and active and also help recover
from stroke or other illnesses and diseases. You know, on wasn't that long
ago if you had a stroke, it wasn't a whole lot of hope for
much of any kind of recovery. But now I'm seeing people really do some
amazing things. That's right. That's right. And therapy, you know,
physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, and there are other kinds
of therapy as well. But all of those things, when you go at
them with intensity and you have the motivation, you can really make some incredible
gains in your recovery. I've seen them. It's really amazing. Now We've
got a lot going on here. You deal with speech pathology, and that
many times when people have strokes, their speech is sometimes a while coming back,
yes, and so they can have speech issues, so difficulty actually producing
speech. They can have language issues, so difficulty putting their thoughts together,
or understanding what other people are saying. And they can also have thinking issues
or cognitive issues, which is things like memory and problem solving and reasoning.
And we can see those kinds of issues not only with stroke but also with
traumatic brain injury. And we also see those cognitive issues when we're just talking
about aging disease processes, things like Alzheimer's or dementia or other types of processes
like that aging rock star. Yeah but yeah, yeah, I know I'm
not there yet where I need a GPS to find the bathroom. But now
this is really something really good because it gives people a lot of hope.
And that's really what we need most is seniors, is that hope if we
can stay independent, we can stay at home, and we can communicate our
thoughts, wishes and desires with those around us, those who love us and
those who sometimes maybe want to take care of us exactly. And so there
is hope. And we do have research and evidence that shows the kinds of
things we can do to keep our brains as healthy as possible for as long
as possible. And I go through kind of four ease I call them.
But the first one is how we eat. Our diet does play a role
in our brain health, and we need those healthy nutrients. We need healthy
blood vessels, We need that oxygen and those nutrients to be in our brain
to be pumping through nice and strong so that our brain can be healthy.
Kind of a Mediterranean style diet is the thing that has the most evidence base
for helping our brains age about this. Yes, so whole suits, yes,
whole grains, fruits, vegetables, poultry and fish, those kinds of
things. And then unfortunately, we need to limit the American diet. We
need to redneeds, limiting processes, limiting dairy, all of that kind of
stuff. The American diet is not so great for our brain health. The
second thing is exercise. So that's the second e You know, regular daily
activity is good. You know, if you walk or if you garden,
those are great. But what's really best is purposeful exercise, a purposeful exercise
program. There are all sorts of options for this. Eldercare has some exercise
classes that we do and we rotate through throughout the quarters. I believe.
We also have our independent aftercare program with our physical therapy. So we have
lots of programs at Eldercare to help with that exercise component. The third E
is engagement. We need to stay socially engaged. It's really easy as we
get older, especially if you do start to experience some health issues or some
memory issues. It's easy to want to hold up at home and kind of
become a hermit. But that's one of the worst things you can do.
It's one of the worst things you can do. You want to stay engage,
stay involved with your friends, your church, your social groups, because
the more you're involved, the more your brain is stimulated, and it's stimulated
on a wider variety of levels. If you're just at home with your spouse
or with the same people every day, your conversations become very wrote. Your
brain isn't really challenged at all. But when you are talking with friends and
a variety of people in the community, your brain is getting that much more
stimulation, more types of vocabulary, more topics to discuss. And then finally
number four is expand you want to keep on learning and exercising your brain.
Be a lifelong learner. Challenge yourself, do all different types of puzzles,
read, play strategy games, learn new skills. That's one of the best
things you can do for your brain can keep on doing skills with your hands,
learn new techniques, take your hobbies. This is so flexible. It
doesn't have to be one specific thing. Whatever you are interested in, whether
that's cooking, woodworking, engineering, sewing, whatever it is. Learn a
new technique, try a different pattern, learn a new piece of music,
pick up a new instrument, whatever that looks like for you. If you
keep on challenging yourself to learn and expanding your knowledge base, be a lifelong
learner. That is one of the best things you can do to keep your
brain healthy as you age. So those four things, eat, exercise,
engage and expand you know, I mean people. You just motivated that everyone.
Everyone. Where'd you get? She was there when I came. So
he's doing great work. She's doing great work at Foundation Therapy. And I'm
excited about the Brain Gains Resource Room. You know, that was her idea.
It's open to everyone in the community. You don't have to pay any
fee to attend there, don't have to make an appointment unless you come in
a group. But we're holding an open house, a special open house on
Friday, September twenty second. Abby will be there from one to three and
she'll be telling everyone, showing everyone these games, these resources that she's talking
about, the musical instruments that are available. It's really a fun resource center
and we encourage all adults, senior adults especially, but everyone in the community,
adults in the community who want to keep their brains strong and healthy and
active to come on September twenty second, from one to three made Abby and
learn about how our resource center can help them. You know, the engagement,
it's very, very important. I'm witnessing this with my brother. He's
one year younger than I am, and he decided to retire. I had
long talk with him before, during and after, I said, you're going
to regret this. He said, well why, I said, You're not
really as old as you think you are, right, And here, in
a couple of months, every day is going to be Saturday on the calendar.
Tell you tell it differently, and you're gonna be climbing the walls.
We do. We started. There's actually a correlation that I've seen. There's
probably numbers out there somewhere, but in my own experience, what I've seen
with my patients is there does seem to be a correlation with retirement and suddenly
them starting to realize, Man, my thinking is slower. I'm not quite
remembering things as well as I was. I'm I'm not feeling as good.
I'm feeling a little depressed or things like that. And it does seem to
correlate with retirement. And it's because we're meant to be productive. We are
meant to be productive throughout our lives. And maybe that doesn't look like a
nine to five job. It should looks like something. It should look like
something. And so my number one yes, but my number one recommendation for
implementing these these aspects of cognitive health and actually stick to them is to develop
some kind of flexible but regular routine in your day. Have things that you
do on a daily basis around the same time each day. Around this time,
I play the piano for thirty minutes, Around this time, I go
to this restaurant with some friends. Around this time I read a book,
Around this time I work on a puzzle. But having just implementing those things
again based on your interests, make it something that you enjoy life, Yes,
exactly, but get up, turn off the TV, and be productive
in some way, shape or form, and your brain and your body will
thank you. For it. Oh indeed. Yeah, I think of being
purposeful and feeling purposeful and giving yourself body meaning and purpose keeps you in the
game a lot longer. Now, Angie, we've got a lot of things
going all once again. But this is the twenty second We're gonna twenty second
of this month, right, Lots of activities happening between now and the end
of the year. So far this year, five hundred and six p we
have come through our building to attend one or more of our activities that we've
held in the building. Some of them have been, you know, straight
up social activities. We had Miss Oklahoma. We had Cynthia Simmons who is
a south By Southwest jazz artist. She was there for our Valentine's party.
Some of them have been more educational, you know, focusing on Alzheimer's and
dementia. We just closed down downsizing after decades. In the month of August,
I'm here about well one hundred and six people came through to attend that
series amazings. But this month, in September, it is on the nineteenth.
Colonel Craig Flowers, who's retired Army colonel and also West Point basketball coach.
He will be there motivating us through movement. His topic is motivation.
Movement is your motivation. And then on Thursday, the twenty first, it's
father John O'Neill and he's such an amazing speaker, you know what I'm talking
about. His lego displays are so fun and he's a semi professional musician and
he's really good. He is very good, you know, and he'll be
there with his guitar. He's bringing some of his his legos in but his
talk will be lessons from legos. So that's on the nineteenth and the twenty
first Motivational Month is September for us, and then on the twenty eighth it's
Dale Lewis Hey Tales from Buffalo. Dale he was just he was just a
here today. Yeah. Still funny and engaging he is. And he'll be
bringing his documentary film to be screened at Eldercare. It's on the based on
the Mullendor murder research that he has done and he'll have a Q and A
after. So September is packed with opportunities to come and be social and if
you if you have time. Tonight, Tim Hudson is bringing his radio troup
and they're doing the Dalton Gang radio show that starts at six Johnny Sue's making
popcorn, will have cold beverages for everyone. Starts at six and it's open
to seniors and all adults. So yeah, September is going to be a
great month to get your brain engaged and to become social. Try something new
this month. Indeed, you know something, Eldercare is one of our gems
right here in our community. We got to take care of it. And
this is not a residential facility. In fact, our whole job is to
keep you in your own residence. As long as you aren't. We all
feel right, and we're trying to keep you aging as independently as you possibly
can and actually having some fun doing it. This radio play is going to
be still be fun. Yeah, it's going to be spectacular. And you
have trips and sometimes take place from time to time as well. And where
can we go to find out more about this wonderful, great facility we have
here called Eldercare, Well, they can look at our website and that's about
eldercare dot org. So that's all one word about eldercare dot org. Forwards
as events and just take a look at what event is coming up their schedule
through the month, through the end of the year, I should say.
And of course you can learn more about Abby and the work she's doing on
the Foundation's page. I don't know what she's on, but I'll take a
case of it. Because that energy and electricity is contagious. That's something I
can tell. Why this is working out for you so well when it comes
to being out there with the Foundation therapy is because everybody kind of feels more
alive, more into it, more active, more I can and I like
that, I can, yes, And it is it's about empowering the individual.
We can't really drag you along with us. We can't do the work.
It's got to come from them. But we were there to empower and
to support and to provide those resources to make it as easy as possible to
do it, to get up and get out there and be healthy. You
know what, do you know? You can kind of have a little subtitle
Eldercarehouse of Smiles because people Bernie darn happy when they're out there, absolutely and
say, we want to help you get out in your in your efforts.
Here if somebody just had like a thousand dollars or something in their pocket,
burning the whole cause they just write a check to Eldercare to keep it going.
You bet we can do that and they can just get in touch with
me and we'll make that happen for him. Bring the smile home, make
a donation to Eldercare. I like that. I like that. Anythink we
missed, why, golly, we covered a lot of ground. Well,
listen, I just want to let everyone know we're doing a drive through flu
shot clinic on the twenty third. That's from seven am to noon. That
will be at Eldercare and our HC vaccine team will be doing the flu shots
this year. So yeah, we're gonna do drive through drive there. That's
kind of fun really because you know, you don't have to worry about hanging
around in a hallway gun win my next. Now you get to kind of
enjoy nature while you're out there, take a look at the scenery and move
the car a little bit quicker, you know, and it goes fast,
Just go fast, much faster. So that is the twenty the Saturday,
September twenty three, from seven am to twelve noon. You don't have to
make an appointment, Yeah, just drive through and get your vaccine. Nice
all right, the old drive in flu shot. Now we've did We've done
it. We've done this in the rain, We've done this in the sun.
The snow yet happen. No, No, I don't think always comes
before the snow. I want to thank you all for being here today.
Thank you, thank you Tom. Alrighty folks, we've got more coming up
right here on K one.