Ways Nursing Homes Benefit Their Residents

Choosing to put a loved one into a nursing home can be very difficult. Most often this “choice” is not so much a choice as a necessity. As we get older, we eventually lose the ability to care for ourselves; this is simply a fact of life. However, despite the negative stigma that can accompany nursing homes, this new living environment can greatly benefit residents. Franklin Institute studies found that senior citizens who engaged in regular physical activity, like walking, showed improvements in learning abilities, concentration, and abstract reasoning and memory skills as compared to those who were sedentary; they also cut their risk of stroke by 57%. Furthermore, R. S. Wilson, PhD ran a study that demonstrated that “a cognitively inactive [elderly] person was 2.6 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) than a cognitively active [elderly] person.” Nursing homes provide residents with a community rich in socially, mentally, and physically healthy activities.

Social Activities
Many nursing homes throw celebrations for residents’ birthdays in which family members and fellow residents are invited to participate. Additionally, many homes throw celebrations for holidays. Holidays and birthdays alike can be trying for residents who live far from their loved ones. Community celebration can fill that void, and provide residents with the opportunity to bond with their community. It also provides residents with events to look forward to that are out-of-the-norm.
Social hours and activities like coffee or cocktail hours, and dances are offered to some nursing home residents. This provides residents with a great time and the opportunity to socialize with family, friends, and fellow residents.
Most nursing homes also provide residents with religious services; in fact, every nursing home that is provided for by Medicare and Medicaid is required to offer nursing home residents the chance to attend religious services. Some nursing homes even have religious services provided at the home itself by different religious groups.

Art Related Activities
Various nursing homes provide arts activities for their residents. These activities provide residents with opportunities to exercise their minds and to interact with their fellow residents and local community.
Music is one such activity. Activities range from concerts by local groups and schools to talent shows to sing-alongs. Some nursing homes invite family members and the local community to attend and participate in the aforementioned activities.
Another arts activity available to many nursing home residents is the accessibility to a book service. Numerous nursing homes have libraries that provide residents with books for their entertainment. Audio books and volunteer readers may also be available for those visually impaired. Moreover, book carts are usually available for those who are immobile.
Some nursing homes also have arts and crafts programs. Arts and crafts bring to mind childish activities, like finger painting. However, it is common for seniors’ arts and crafts to consist of creating clay vases, mosaics, scrap-booking, etc. This provides residents with the opportunity to exercise their creative capacities, ultimately providing them with a sense of accomplishment.
Other activities include various discussion groups. Leaders of these groups include both residents, as some may have extensive experience with a particular subject, and volunteers. Topics can be broad, covering everything from politics to art history, and are usually determined by the residents to fit the community’s interests.
Additionally, some nursing homes provide the means for resident published newsletters. This allows residents to exercise their talents and express themselves.

Recreational Activities
Recreational activities allow residents to interact in different group settings (i.e. one-on-one and large group). This not only provides residents with healthy social time, but also allows them to connect with their community in general and, again, exercise their minds.
Games are popular recreational activities. Bingo, chess, and bridge contests and tournaments are common in nursing homes. Volunteer and family members commonly participate in and help organize games for residents.
Trips and outdoor time are common activities in nursing homes. Outdoor activities include gardening, picnics, games, and barbeques with residents, friends, and family members alike. Trips are usually organized by an activities coordinator, and provided for by donations, nursing home funds in general, and/or funds accumulated by selling arts and crafts created by residents. Volunteers are crucial for resident trips as transportation can be a difficult, but the rewards provided to residents are great. Trips allow residents to get away from their normal environment and routine.
Physical fitness activities are common in nursing homes. Everything from yoga to endurance and strength training are offered. Activities for those with special needs or disabilities are also common, allowing them to exercise regularly.
So, it is clear to see that a loved one’s move to a nursing home can be beneficial and enjoyable. Residents spend time exercising their minds and bodies, and get to enjoy the company of others’ their age.

Amy Shoemaker is a guest post and article writer bringing to us her thoughts on the benefits of nursing homes for the elderly.
Additionally, Amy writes about this subject for www.nursinghomeabuse.net.

Guest Post by Evil Genius Rainy of the Dark: How to Quickly Write Blog Posts

If writing your blog posts has a small, but shameful, impending doom feeling (much like doing the dishes), don't worry. Before long, it was bound to become a task. But you're sticking to it because you know it needs to be done, and you don't really hate it. You just wish it was, well, easier. Here are a few ideas how to make it less of a chore, or at least one accomplished with less frustration:

Know the point of the article. I know, this should be a given, but it's easier said than done. Picking at topic isn't the same thing as know what you're writing about. The easiest way to do this is to write the title. Don't worry about being clever there yet; you're evil genius can shine later. Right now, just use it to focus.

Know how to approach it. Do you want to make it a long-winded discourse why you are best to reign overlord? Or would you like a post with topics and explanations (like this post)? If you're not sure where to begin, consider a simple formula: open it, write 3 or more points, and close it. Simple and effective.

Know your outline. Either of the above approaches can benefit from a rough outline. You don't have to go research paper on it with Roman Numerals. But writing down your key points can make pounding out an article that much easier when you don't have to stop every few lines to figure out what's next.

That should be enough to get you started, but there's more tricks you can apply that will make it even easier.

Keep a running list of topics. Coming up with what to write about can be one of the most frustrating parts of creating an article. Keeping a list of topics as ideas occur to you while chatting, catching up on social networks, blogging or doing the dishes can be a great way to bypass that nerve-gnawing part of blogging. When it's time to write, just open your list, pick two that appeal to you and get to work on your quick outline.

Stay ahead of the game. If you have a cache of back posts, you won't feel quite as much pressure to write. And that can be a good thing. Of course, you need to make sure to keep up on the cache, so regularly writing is still a must. But turning out content for next week is a more tolerable stress than right-this-moment.

Map it out the night before. That's right. If you plan to write on Wednesday mornings, than do your topic selection and outlining on Tuesday. Once you get used to the process, it should take less than thirty minutes to outline a couple of articles. Some may require research, but consider that you mostly write what you know (or what you have an opinion on), then you'll see that you can brainstorm before bed and get up in the morning to write it.

Do a few at a time. If you need to write two or more articles a week, work on them together. That is, pick them all at once, create the rough outlines all at once, and save it. Then when you're ready to write, hit them in order.

There you have it, seven ways to take care of article writing. Once turned into a routine, you'll find you can easily keep on your blog. And the sense of accomplishment will be so great, you might just tackle the dishes, too.

How do you currently handle article writing?

When Rainy Kaye isn't plotting world domination, she enjoys coaching others about it on her blog http://www.rainyofthedark.com

She also likes fluffy kittens.

I'm Running out of Imaginative Titles for my Posts

That's bound to happen eventually, I suppose.

There isn't all that much by way of news. I wrote my first ever guest blog post yesterday. You can read it here:

http://speedyreader-allthingsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-post-by-sm-carriere.html

That same blog has put up their lovely (squee!) review of The Dying God & Other Stories onto the blog (here), as well as in their notes on Facebook. It makes me so happy!

I wrote nothing at all yesterday. The editing took far longer than I intended it too. That said, I think that, with one more pass with a different Beta Reader, I'll be ready to submit The Third Prince once again. We'll see, though. I'm not all that concerned about missing a day of writing. I'll be catching up throughout the week ... I hope.

On a completely unrelated topic, I may have broken my left foot. Nice. It maybe might have happened three weeks ago, but I stubbornly refused to not go to training, and therefore aggravated the problem. Yesterday (ahem ... during training) it hurt so much I actually felt like crying. Oh well, to the clinic I go to get a requisition for an X-Ray. There'll be no training for me tonight. You can't see me, but I'm making a sad face.

Slightly related, but not really, I'm quite exciting for the weather to warm up a little. Equestrian Archery season starts soon. Which reminds me, I have to email C.K. Oh, and thanks to the venerable C.G. (you know who you are), I'm thinking of doing an article on the subject of Equestrian Archery and shopping that out to a few specialty magazines etc. We'll see. It'll have to wait until April in any case.

Mock the Week is extremely hilarious.

I think that about covers everything. So, without further ado, here is today's Forgotten English:

Weather-Wiseacre

A weather prophet.

- Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1898-1905

By the colour or hue of the scaum [atmospheric haze] do weatherwiseacres guess about coming weather.

- John Mactaggart's Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, 1824

[From] wiseacre, a wise or learned person; a sage.

- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1928

Now this is interesting. As soon as I read 'wiseacre' a guffawed a little. My grandmother and mother both often used this word to describe me ... very sarcastically (I should note, not me exclusively). In fact, I heard it only ever used sarcastically and so thought that it could only be used sarcastically. That's the only way I've ever used the word myself. Until now, I thought it was just a made-up word that meant 'smart-arse.' Hah! This makes me absurdly happy.

Righty-o, back to work for me. Have a great Tuesday all! Ta-ta for now.