How a Retirement Community Can Help Seniors Get More from Life

As a mom, we see the cycle of life in living color.

Not only do we bring new life into this world, but we also see our parents getting older. No longer are they at the peak of health and physical fitness. Whilst they might have played with us as children, now we perhaps see them struggling with daily tasks or gradually losing their mobility too.

In this article, we explore whether a retirement community can help seniors like our parents to get more from life.

Suffering Alone with Aches and Pains

Many parents don’t want to bother their grown children with their problems.

They effectively under-share their issues rather than talk about them on social media as has become the norm for the younger generation. This can lead to an information gap, especially when they are only able to visit parents at their home every few weeks, rather than every other weekend.

For many of us, the inability to do what we used to do is first noticed in our mid-30s. The persistent aches and pains come on later, typically in the areas where we’ve had occasional difficulties before. This could be an old knee injury from playing sports, a back problem from lifting something too heavy once upon a time, or it could come out of nowhere.

The above experience in the cycle of life is magnified with our parents because they’re usually a couple of decades older than us.

Therapy Can Help

A retirement community sometimes provides support to residents who are beginning to find mobility more difficult.

For instance, the Rehab and Therapy Services by Stannesrc can help their residents to improve their mobility through progressive exercises and modern techniques. Periods of inactivity can cause joints to move less freely, so these types of services allow their residents to get around more.

Accidents in the Home

Seniors like our parents can sometimes get into accidents, either in the home or outside.

They lose strength in their arms and balance can become an issue. So, when lifting a pot of hot water from the range, it can suddenly become too heavy. Then it gets dropped, topples over, and may scold them.

In other situations, they can slip and fall due to uneven sidewalk surfaces, no provision for ramp access, or easy steps to climb up.

Many more accidents happen to parents than are realized because of the above factors. That’s especially true when not moving around as much and the body failing to cooperate as expected.

Contracture Care

Other services by retirement communities may include contracture care.

The idea here is special care for people who currently have a brace, or a splint designed to assist their healing process. Seniors have a particularly harder time with broken bones, strained wrists, and ankle problems. Care is needed to assist them, so they can live as normal a life in retirement as possible, without it interfering with their healing.

Given that the healing time is extended for seniors, every little helps here.

Isolation and Loss of Friends

Getting older can mean increasing isolation. When one of your parents loses their lifelong partner, it’s a shock and can leave them bereft.

Also, getting old means many friends passing away with fewer ones to rely upon. It’s then difficult to find new friends, especially when not using technology to talk to others and finding mobility restrictive too.

Retirement Communities Allow Residents to Develop New Bonds

One of the key benefits of a retirement community is that it brings like-minded people together.

No longer isolated at home with not much to do, there are plenty of group activities to get involved in. This provides the chance to interact with others towards a common goal or objective.

Organized outings also let residents find others with whom they feel comfortable and can talk. These opportunities represent new chances to form bonds with people they never would have met otherwise. Also, it can stop them from waiting weeks for their daughter or son to visit and counting the days between those visits.

Daily Chores Too Much of a Burden

The chores of life that we do either daily or weekly in some cases can become too much for our parents.

We may notice this when we visit, and the house is in disarray when it never was before. If it’s becoming dirtier or home maintenance isn’t being performed, these are tell-tale signs of trouble ahead.

Daily Chores Handled by Others

With a retirement community, it’s possible to get assistance with chores or personal tasks that they’re currently struggling with.

Also, household chores are largely removed because the community manages those. This can simplify life to make it more manageable.

For aging parents who are struggling with loneliness, mobility, or other issues, a retirement community can provide a solution. They also offer rehab and related services to improve the quality of life of their residents.

 

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