Our memory care communities are designed to provide personalized healthcare for individuals living with Alzheimer's, Dementia, and other memory-related impairments. With Empathy & Excellence as our core mission, we hope you choose Village Green Memory Care Community for your loved one.

Village Green is dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals with memory impairments; provides relief to caregivers; offers access to specialized care and services; and, provides a safe environment for your loved ones with memory impairments. We would love to talk to you and guide you on a tour of our communities.

This Thanksgiving, give thanks for your elders.

It's a chance to relax with those who have walked a long road, and it's a time to honor the lessons they've learned. Thanksgiving Day is a time to gather with family and friends, enjoy a delicious meal, and give thanks for all that we have. But it can also be a stressful time for seniors who may not be able to get around easily or participate in the festivities as they once did.

Here are five ways you can plan your Thanksgiving Day with your elders:

  1. Plan A Fun Thanksgiving Activity at assisted living Kingwood

If your elders live with you or are staying with you for Thanksgiving, make sure there is something fun planned for them during the day. It could be an outdoor activity like going for a walk or playing bingo. Or, if they like cooking, have them help out with Thanksgiving dinner prep by chopping vegetables or rolling out pie dough.

  1. Invite Family And Friends Over

If your parent or grandparent lives in an assisted living facility or nursing home, invite family and friends over for Thanksgiving dinner at their place of residence. This will give them something to look forward to and will make them feel special. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to gather everyone together and make some new memories with the people who mean the most to you. It's not always easy to find someone who will watch your senior while you're out at work or running errands, so it makes sense to plan an event that brings people together in one place.

  1. Arrange A Potluck Meal

If your family has an elderly relative who will be joining you for dinner on Thanksgiving, it's important that they feel comfortable and at ease.

A potluck dinner can help make this possible by giving everyone their own space at the table and allowing them to contribute to the meal in their own way. This also has the added benefit of reducing stress on everyone involved as they won't have to worry about making sure everyone is served and fed properly — they'll just need to bring along whatever dish they like best!

  1. Make Accommodations For Mobility

If your loved one uses a walker or wheelchair, make sure the home where they will be spending the holiday has enough space for it. If they have trouble getting around, be sure that there are no steps in the house or any other obstacles that could trip them up.

  1. Watch a Good Movie Or A TV Series Together!

Watching a good movie or TV series together is one of the best ways to spend time with your elders during holidays. You can watch old movies or new releases with them. They will definitely enjoy it and also share their thoughts about the movie. This will help you get closer to your elders and make them feel less lonely.

Final Words

Religion, family and friends are the backbone of a Thanksgiving celebration. With activities happening in various places, young and old need to be aware of what is scheduled at what time. Coordinating it in advance saves the day and frees up your elders to enjoy the day with their family and friends.

At Village Green, we make sure our residents have a great time on Thanksgiving Day and they feel special. We understand that it can be hard to plan for this holiday, so we do all we can to make sure everyone is taken care of. If you have any questions about our services or want to learn more about the Village Green community, please contact us today!

Halloween Activities For the Elderly with Alzheimer

It's the time of year when we dress up in costumes and go door-to-door collecting candy, or just stay at home and watch horror movies. But what if you're not a young adult anymore?

What if you're a senior who wants to celebrate Halloween with your friends, but feels like you don't have the energy to go out trick-or-treating? Don't worry—there are plenty of fun ways to enjoy Halloween without going overboard on the candy (or even leaving your house).

Halloween is here!

5 Halloween Activities of Seniors

The Halloween season is upon us, and if you're a senior or are caring for one, you may be looking for fun ways to enjoy the holiday. Here's a list of Halloween-themed activities that seniors and their caregivers can enjoy together!

  1. Host a Halloween-Themed Movie Marathon

If your elderly loved one loves movies, then this is the perfect activity for them. Start off with a classic like The Wizard of Oz or Casper, then proceed to newer films like Hocus Pocus and Goosebumps. Be sure to include some spooky movies as well.

It's best to choose movies that are appropriate for all ages, so make sure there are no scary scenes or violence. If your senior loved one lives with others who aren't interested in watching movies during Halloween, don't worry! You can still find other ways to keep them entertained.

  1. Halloween Crafts

Halloween crafts are one of the best ways for seniors to enjoy the holiday. Many crafts provide an opportunity for seniors to exercise their minds while creating something beautiful and useful at the same time.

Some simple Halloween crafts include making paper ghosts, wreaths or other decorations out of construction paper; writing or drawing spooky messages on black construction paper; making pumpkin or face masks using colored construction paper; cutting out pictures from magazines and gluing them onto cardboard or poster board, or making hand puppets out of old socks.

  1. Themed Treats

Halloween isn't just about trick-or-treating anymore — it's also about making themed treats. For example, you can make mummy pizzas or mummy fondue dip by wrapping cheese around pieces of bread before baking them in the oven. Other options include making spider cupcakes or Frankenstein sandwiches on white bread with melted cheese as the filling. If your senior doesn't like eating sweets, try making rice krispie treats shaped like pumpkins or ghosts!

  1. Costumes

One of the best parts of Halloween is dressing up like someone else — even if it's just for an hour or two. Seniors who live alone often have plenty of time to prepare their costumes, but if not, it's easy enough to borrow one from one of their family members or friends. Even if your senior doesn't want to wear a costume this year, he can still decorate his home with fun decorations that match his theme!

  1. Have a Spooky Stories Contest

If your senior loved ones have been telling stories about ghosts, goblins and witches for years, gather them all together for an evening of scary tales. Set up a table with pens and paper so everyone can write their own spooky story or poem. Whoever tells the scariest tale wins!

Halloween is always fun, but it can be more enjoyable for older people if you help them prepare in advance. So this time, when you organize a Halloween party or event, be sure to consider these preparations.

We hope you enjoyed these ideas for Halloween activities for seniors. We're sure you'll agree that there are so many fun things to do when you're retired, and there are no limits to how much fun you can have. At Village Green, we want your retirement to be full of joy and laughter, so we plan great activities for our residents so they can spend their days doing what they love without having to worry about transportation or crowds. If you or someone you know is looking for a great place to live in the comfort of home, please contact us today!

Connecting with people is vital for everyone, but it is essential for seniors.

If you have watched grandparents and great-grandparents struggle with isolation and loneliness over the years, you know how powerful this issue can be. Being disconnected from the world can be devastating for seniors who live alone or have limited mobility.

Approximately 25% of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are socially isolated. Many adults in the United States report feeling lonely.

What leads to senior loneliness and isolation?

Isolation and loneliness are among the most common issues facing seniors today. As we age, many of us lose our independence, mobility and ability to live alone. Many seniors living alone have lost spouses or partners, so they have no one to spend time with. 

Others may have grown children who now live far away and don't visit often enough to compensate for the loss of companionship they once enjoyed from family members nearby. And many seniors simply don't want to burden their families by relying on them too much for help with daily activities like cooking and cleaning or taking care of transportation needs.

Village Green: Reducing Senior Loneliness and Isolation and Providing Care and Support

Village Green is an assisted living and memory care center that serves seniors who are isolated, lonely and/or in need of care and support. 

We believe in the Eden philosophy of care. It focuses on eliminating loneliness from our seniors living in assisted living communities. Our communities are designed to be inclusive and welcoming so that our elders feel like they have a place where they belong. When our elders live at Village Green Assisted Living, we make sure that thye are never alone. Our dedicated staff members are always available to help with their daily routines and activities while still giving them time to do what makes THEM happy!

We believe that the best way to keep our residents happy and healthy is to ensure they have a sense of community with other residents and the outside world. That is why we are constantly looking for ways to connect our elders with the outside world—to allow them to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Our calendar of events has something for everyone—from exercise to art classes, from comedy nights to quilling circles—and it is available to all. 

Village Green: Get Rid of Senior Loneliness and Start A New Exciting Journey

Not Knowing where to turn when feeling isolated and lonely can be challenging. Village Green is here to help. We understand that caring for your loved one can be stressful, and we have the experience and expertise to ensure that your loved one gets the care they deserve.

If you are looking for a place where your loved one will feel safe, happy, and comfortable, look no further than Village Green!

Alzheimer’s takes years to spread & show its symptoms. Having a future plan & active conversation with aging parents is an essential act of the preparation for such an adverse life event. Alzheimer's is a slow-progressing disease & can keep lingering for years & decades. Such prolonged duration can bring a strain on your financial planning when you are trying to build proper care & facility for your loved one. The loved ones fighting against the disease of Alzheimer’s & the caregivers keep fighting a continual struggle to manage a sustained long-term care mechanism. Here are some of the essential pointers, that you would find handy while taking care of your loved ones during their tough times.

Tips To Manage Your Financials While Taking Care Of An Alzheimer’s Senior Involve Family Members:

The primary caregivers for the Alzheimer’s seniors should call for a family meeting to discuss alternatives available. The care cost will have a significant dependency on the place where you live. Hence, a cohesive solution for financial planning should happen with the help of professional legal & financial advisors.

Futuristic Planning:

One should not wait for a prolonged period to create effective financial planning to combat Alzheimer’s disease. Owing to the probable duration of the diseases, it becomes imperative to reduce expenditures from the beginning itself to bring the overall care & medical cost under control.

Thorough Assessment Of Family Resources & Available Funds:

The primary caregivers in association with the rest of the family members should take stock of the family resources. Each legal & financial matter should be up to date & made aware to all responsible family members. Active vigilance should be exercised because a person with Alzheimer’s may make bad decisions & be a victim of fraud.

Explore Various Options:

It is essential to consider & assess all the available options while preparing to offer care to a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. In some instances, caregivers may need to explore the senior living community. Such alternatives give some breathing space to the caregivers, as people living with Alzheimer’s are the highest users of long-term care.

Take Support Of Law:

As soon as you figure out that a loved one has Alzheimer’s, the caregiver should consult the law attorney for seniors. This will help the caregivers to protect their collective income & assets. Doing this on a timely basis is also very crucial as, by law, one needs to have the adequate mental capacity to comprehend & approve the financial plan designed for him.

Take Help From Insurance Plan:

In case your loved one is already covered under a private health insurance plan, find out the clauses & coverage for the medical expenses related to Alzheimer’s. Discuss the same with the insurance advisor & take necessary action to avail maximum coverage for Alzheimer’s. These early essential changes will be a huge help for the forthcoming disease-related expenses.

An EndNote

As soon as you suspect the emergence of Alzheimer’s disease in your loved one, quick planning should happen. Along with the critical physical & medical safety measures, financial preparation should also take place. Such preparation will be a great help for the loved ones as well as the caregivers during the tough times. It offers sustainable mental & emotional strength for the caregivers to carry on with an appropriate care facility. We hope these tips would be of some help to you & your family for the noble cause of caring for seniors with Alzheimer’s.

Schedule a visit with us and we will gladly help you.

Researchers uncover new insights into Alzheimer's disease

A new study by Florida State University researchers may help answer some of the most perplexing questions surrounding Alzheimer's disease, an incurable and progressive illness affecting millions of families around the globe.

FSU Assistant Professor of Psychology Aaron Wilber and graduate student Sarah Danielle Benthem showed that the way two parts of the brain interact during sleep may explain symptoms experienced by Alzheimer's patients, a finding that opens up new doors in dementia research. It is believed that these interactions during sleep allow memories to form and thus failure of this normal system in the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease may explain why memory is impaired.

The study, a collaboration among the FSU Program in Neuroscience, the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, was published online in the journal Current Biology and will appear in the publication's July 6 issue.

"This research is important because it looks at possible mechanisms underlying the decline of memory in Alzheimer's disease and understanding how it causes memory decline could help identify treatments," Benthem said.

Wilber and Benthem's study, based on measuring brain waves in mouse models of the disease, gave researchers a number of new insights into Alzheimer's including how the way that two parts of the brain—the parietal cortex and the hippocampus—interact during sleep may contribute to symptoms experienced by Alzheimer's patients, such as impaired memory and cognition, and getting lost in new surroundings.

The team had examined a phenomenon known as memory replay—the playing back of activity patterns from waking experience in subsequent sleep periods—in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease as a potential cause of impaired spatial learning and memory.

During these memory replay periods, they found that the mice modeling aspects of Alzheimer's Disease in humans had impaired functional interactions between the hippocampus and the parietal cortex.

The hippocampal formation is crucial for the storage of "episodic" memories—a type of long-term memory of a past experience—and is thought to be important for assisting other parts of the brain in extracting generalized knowledge from these personal experiences.

"Surprisingly, a better predictor of performance and the first impairment to emerge was not 'memory replay' per se, but was instead the relative strength of the post-learning coupling between two brain regions known to be important for learning and memory: the hippocampus and the parietal cortex," Wilber said.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 47 million people worldwide are living with the disease , a number projected to soar to 76 million over the next decade. It is currently the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S., affecting one out of every 10 people ages 65 and older.

Visit us at Village Green Assisted Living & Memory Care home and discover more about us. Schedule a visit.

Link to Story:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-uncover-insights-alzheimer-disease.html

The Progression of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a slowly progressing, irreversible neurodegenerative brain disease with a long preclinical phase (up to 20 years) and an average clinical duration of 8 to 10 years. The progression of AD is accompanied by changes to the brain that serve as disease biomarkers.

Normal aging vs. Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease symptoms often start subtly. People with early Alzheimer’s disease (and their families) may mistake the early signs for normal aging and put off going to a doctor.
Disease progression typically spans several stages. These stages include preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease dementia varying from mild to severe.

MCI due to Alzheimer’s disease is a critical stage of the disease continuum

During this stage, clinicians may be able to detect very early features of Alzheimer’s disease compared to other causes of memory loss or other forms of cognitive impairment. These features can be detected using validated tools such as Mini-Cog, General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG), Memory Impairment Screen (MIS), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).7-9

The time between MCI due to AD and AD dementia is limited

The rate of cognitive decline increases sharply in the years before dementia. Since MCI is the earliest stage of Alzheimer’s disease with observable symptoms, this leaves limited time between diagnosis and dementia—with estimates ranging from 2 to 6 years.1,5,6.
Patients with MCI due to AD have been shown to convert to AD dementia at an annual rate of 31%.

Link to Story

Thinking Of Transferring Your Loved One To A Memory Care Facility?

When you’ve decided that the right choice for your loved one is to transition to a memory care facility, there are some steps you can take to make it easier and less stressful for all those involved.

1. Do your research. Talk to your loved ones first to understand their needs. Before choosing a memory care facility, research facilities, and their amenities to know whether it is the right choice for your loved one. Know the community policies and procedures, the security available, and the features and treatments available. When you do choose a facility, make frequent visits there, bringing your loved one along if possible, before the move. This will help your loved one get familiar with the setting and the staff.

2. Tell staff about your loved one’s background. If the staff of the memory care facility is aware of your loved one’s hobbies and interests, it helps them build a relationship, putting your loved one more at ease in their new situation. It also aids the staff in helping your loved one make new friends with similar interests. Having someone to relate to and talk to can ease the transition to the memory care facility.

3. Keep it familiar. To help ease your loved ones into their new living arrangements, bring items from home that are meaningful and familiar. Try to arrange the room to be similar to the way the bedroom back home was. Keeping familiar belongings close by can help aid in the feeling of comfort and security.

At Village Green Alzheimer's care home we help you during the process. Schedule a visit and meet our team.

10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's

 

Memory loss that disrupts daily life may be a symptom of Alzheimer's or other dementia. Alzheimer's is a brain disease that causes a slow decline in memory, thinking and reasoning skills. There are 10 warning signs and symptoms. If you notice any of them, don't ignore them. Schedule an appointment with your doctor.

 

1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life

 

One of the most common signs of Alzheimer’s disease, especially in the early stage, is forgetting recently learned information. Others include forgetting important dates or events, asking the same questions over and over, and increasingly needing to rely on memory aids (e.g., reminder notes or electronic devices) or family members for things they used to handle on their own.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Sometimes forgetting names or appointments, but remembering them later.

 

2. Challenges in planning or solving problems

 

Some people living with dementia may experience changes in their ability to develop and follow a plan or work with numbers. They may have trouble following a familiar recipe or keeping track of monthly bills. They may have difficulty concentrating and take much longer to do things than they did before.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Making occasional errors when managing finances or household bills.

 

3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks

 

People with Alzheimer's often find it hard to complete daily tasks. Sometimes they may have trouble driving to a familiar location, organizing a grocery list or remembering the rules of a favorite game.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Occasionally needing help to use microwave settings or to record a TV show.

 

4. Confusion with time or place

 

People living with Alzheimer's can lose track of dates, seasons and the passage of time. They may have trouble understanding something if it is not happening immediately. Sometimes they may forget where they are or how they got there.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Getting confused about the day of the week but figuring it out later.

 

5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships

 

For some people, having vision problems is a sign of Alzheimer's. This may lead to difficulty with balance or trouble reading. They may also have problems judging distance and determining color or contrast, causing issues with driving.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Vision changes related to cataracts.

 

6. New problems with words in speaking or writing

 

People living with Alzheimer's may have trouble following or joining a conversation. They may stop in the middle of a conversation and have no idea how to continue or they may repeat themselves. They may struggle with vocabulary, have trouble naming a familiar object or use the wrong name (e.g., calling a "watch" a "hand-clock").

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Sometimes having trouble finding the right word.

 

7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps

 

A person living with Alzheimer's disease may put things in unusual places. They may lose things and be unable to go back over their steps to find them again. He or she may accuse others of stealing, especially as the disease progresses.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Misplacing things from time to time and retracing steps to find them.

 

8. Decreased or poor judgment

 

Individuals may experience changes in judgment or decision-making. For example, they may use poor judgment when dealing with money or pay less attention to grooming or keeping themselves clean.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Making a bad decision or mistake once in a while, like neglecting to change the oil in the car.

 

9. Withdrawal from work or social activities

 

A person living with Alzheimer’s disease may experience changes in the ability to hold or follow a conversation. As a result, he or she may withdraw from hobbies, social activities or other engagements. They may have trouble keeping up with a favorite team or activity.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Sometimes feeling uninterested in family or social obligations.

 

10. Changes in mood and personality

 

Individuals living with Alzheimer’s may experience mood and personality changes. They can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious. They may be easily upset at home, with friends or when out of their comfort zone.

 

What's a typical age-related change?

Developing very specific ways of doing things and becoming irritable when a routine is disrupted.

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