Here at The Promised Land Adult Family Home, we take pride in our ability to provide an active lifestyle for the elderly we care for. The definition of active can be very different from person to person factoring in their age, health, mobility limits, among other things. We try our best to consider all these things to create a positivity-stimulating calendar. Many of our residents exceed 80 years old and some have very limited mobility or can only walk with assistance. This is when creativity is necessary.
Creativity is one of our strong suits, because we are constantly thinking of new ways to keep our residents active. The way we create activities is strongly based the ever changing condition of our residents and even gauging their daily energy levels. Some of our residents have days where they believe they can run a marathon and others where they just want a nice long nap. This is when our observation skills are very necessary to help encourage an active lifestyle to meet their daily needs. For those who are able, we can go for a walk with them, stroll the back yard to watch the pond, Chip some golf balls around the yard among other things. For our more limited residents, we offer anything from seated aerobics, to bingo, to musical sessions, among various other games and activities. We have developed very specific games and activities for people with special requests. We have a resident who played basketball all of his able life. In turn, we created a small basketball hoop with miniature basketballs that can be brought right in front of his chair for him to shoot basketballs. Another resident of ours enjoys yard darts, so we developed an indoor floor dart game that uses beanbags. This ensures that they can play whether it rains or shines outside!
Music is also essential in our home. We often have musically gifted visitors visit to play various instruments (guitar, piano, harp, etc.) for our guests. Upon entering our home, you will see a large upright piano, which is frequently played by residents and guests. Our own manager Emily Fitzgerald is a 10-year classical trained singer and will often perform for our residents or even sing to an agitated or confused resident to help soothe them. Music is an excellent mental stimulant. Studies have shown that of all memory stimulating methods, music is most associated to long term memory so that is why we often play, perform, and sign along to the classic songs that were popular during their younger years to help them retain cherished memories.
Physical ability retention is also very important to us. Physical ability retention assistance can be described as any action taken to help maintain or improve upon a physical ability or limit one may have. The old saying goes, “A body in motion, stays in motion”’, and that is very true with the elderly. This applies to every part of the body; hands, arms, legs, feet, even speech. We do everything in our power to help our residents maintain self-sufficiency and physical abilities. We encourage all of our residents that can walk to walk, whether it be a long distance or short, it all helps them to retain the ability to walk. If they cannot walk far but have the ability to stand, we will assist them in activities such as standing up and down from a chair as many times as they comfortably can. If they are losing mobility for their hands due to arthritis or other joint ailments, we encourage them in doing stretches and strengthening exercising to help them maintain self-sufficiency. Even simple tasks such as brushing your teeth, combing your hair or feeding yourself can be a great accomplishment when you start to experience the frustration of losing physical abilities with age.
In larger facilities such as nursing homes or memory care facilities, it is not as easy for the care givers to truly assess each individual needs due to their higher resident to staff ratio (larger facilities often having 30-100+ patients). That is why a smaller facility such as The Promised Land Adult Family Home with only 6 or less residents is an excellent option for you or your aging loved one to receive the highest level of care.
The Promised Land Adult Family Home
Bothell, Washington
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