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Answers For Elders

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Dementia: The Environmental Four Fs

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9 minutes | Saturday, September 9, 2023
Allyson Schrier, founder and CEO of Zinnia TV, joins Suzanne to talk about Teepa Snow's four ideals for making the environment a safer place for those with Alzheimer's and dementia. Teepa says an environment should be Friendly, Familiar, Functional, and Forgiving. Environmental wellness is one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, a focus of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Allyson explains, "I want to look at the space through their eyes. And I want to ask myself, is this a space that's friendly to them? Is it going to seem familiar to them, if I'm moving...
7 minutes | Saturday, September 9, 2023
Allyson Schrier, founder and CEO of Zinnia TV, joins Suzanne to talk about how those with dementia and Alzheimer's are affected by different colors in their environment. Environmental wellness is one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, a focus of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Allyson says, "We'll talk about specific colors. We'll also talk about colors in general. People who are living with dementia have challenges seeing contrast. An example, the bathroom at my house has a white floor, white walls, and white toilet. My husband [who had dementia] woul...
9 minutes | Saturday, September 9, 2023
Allyson Schrier, founder and CEO of Zinnia TV, joins Suzanne to talk about things in an environment that we should be mindful of if we have someone with dementia in our lives. Environmental wellness is one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, a focus of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Allyson says, "I guess I'll start with clutter. It becomes increasingly difficult for people to find things when they are living with dementia, and also decision-making becomes very, very challenging. So when I'm talking about clutter, I am talking about things like trippin...
11 minutes | Saturday, September 9, 2023
Allyson Schrier joins Suzanne to talk about how a brain with dementia works differently, and how to change our approach for communicating with someone with dementia. Allyson realized that slower-paced visuals, with music instead of words, or with the words captioned, would be easier for those with Alzheimer's to engage with. This led to her cofounding Zinnia TV, an app for mobile devices and connected TVs for people with Alzheimer's and dementia that creates engagement, reduces challenging behaviors, and encourages adherence to activities of daily living. Creating an environment that suppor...
10 minutes | Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Courtesy of Athira Pharma, Psychiatrist and Medical Director Bernardo Ng of the Sun Valley Research Center joins Suzanne to talk about how they reach out to the community to find people to participate in Alzheimer's clinical trials, particularly in underserved groups such as Latino populations in the United States. Dr. Ng says, "We've done a lot of different things and we've learned as we go. What we do constantly is to participate in what's called health fairs. So the health department, some federal clinics, some schools, and the local community college periodically put together health fai...
13 minutes | Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Courtesy of Athira Pharma, Psychiatrist and Medical Director Bernardo Ng of the Sun Valley Research Center joins Suzanne to talk about why Latinos are often hesitant to participate in Alzheimer's clinical trials. Dr. Ng says, "We were talking about access earlier on, and that's one of the things that we're trying to overcome, by settling in an area that has little services. Other highly populated Hispanic areas may not have clinical sites like that. "The other one is certainly the stigma that we have talked about. The fear of, or just the thought of, being a subject in the research trial, b...
13 minutes | Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Courtesy of Athira Pharma, Psychiatrist and Medical Director Bernardo Ng of the Sun Valley Research Center joins Suzanne to talk about specific challenges for the Latino community in signing up for Alzheimer's clinical trials. What are the specific challenges for Alzheimer's in the Latino community? Dr. Ng says, "One of the things about the Latino community is that they trust their doctors blindly, I'll trust whatever he or she tells me to do. And then when you put on the table, the option that we don't have any more treatments for you, or you keep on getting worse, or we detected that this...
13 minutes | Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Courtesy of Athira Pharma, Psychiatrist and Medical Director Bernardo Ng of the Sun Valley Research Center joins Suzanne to talk about Alzheimer's clinical trials, particularly in underserved groups such as Latino populations in the United States. Dr. Ng is a Mexicali native who started his private practice in Imperial County in 1994. He became a Medical Doctor at the University of Nuevo Leon in 1987. After completing his year of social service in the city of Monterrey in 1988, he entered specialized training in Psychiatry, in El Paso Texas in 1989 and continued in San Diego California in 1...
10 minutes | Saturday, September 2, 2023
Founder and CEO of Real Estate 55 Plus Juli Anne Gibson joins Suzanne to talk about the unique services that her company provides for people over 55. Juli Anne says, "We know that in real estate, it's really about the relationships with the people. It really is not about the house, because it doesn't become a home until the people reside in and create the space that they want. So we come from a place of proactivity. The primary focus is to find out what the seniors' goals are. And then we create a road map for how they're going to age, and where they're going to live. And for the most of th...
7 minutes | Saturday, September 2, 2023
Juli Anne Gibson joins Suzanne to talk about home maintenance, which not only keeps a senior safe, it can defer expenses, or increase the value of our home. Maintaining a home can help seniors aging in place in their homes for as long as they can. Juli Anne is the founder and CEO of Real Estate 55 Plus. About maintenance, Juli Anne says, "It not only keeps the senior safe, but it also can defer expenses, or it can increase the value of your home. Oftentimes if we're coming in, doing an assessment, there's been lack of maintenance on systems and the property itself, which are gonna cost a lo...
10 minutes | Saturday, September 2, 2023
Juli Anne Gibson joins Suzanne to talk about home safety, and a key aspect of this for seniors is fall prevention. Being injured in a fall is the number one reason seniors aren't able to go back their homes and live independently. 75% of home falls are preventable. It's the simple things that cause falls or tripping, there are easy things to do to prevent them. Juli Anne, founder and CEO of Real Estate 55 Plus, talks about how to assess your home for the future to "age in place" and "right-size" your living domain. Juli Anne says, "We work a lot with the Red Cross. The Red Cross actually ha...
11 minutes | Saturday, September 2, 2023
Founder and CEO of Real Estate 55 Plus Juli Anne Gibson joins Suzanne to kick off the topic of environmental wellness: surrounding yourself with an environment that brings you joy; being in an environment that supports you; living sustainably and being mindful of the world we live in. This is one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, featured as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Juli Anne says, "Let's specifically talk about environmental wellness for seniors. Number one, our home is where we create family and community and connection. And as we age...
14 minutes | Friday, September 1, 2023
Tonya Hilson at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to talk about how we can do better with our seniors to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation. Tonya says, "So what sometimes we see happen often is that families um they become frustrated with caring for their loved one at home. So then they move to a senior community, they make sure they have everything that they need, they make sure everything is put in place before that arrive, and they welcome them there, and they kind of disappear. Not intentionally, but it's because of life, their own personal lives, they are caught up wit...
21 minutes | Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lori Hutson joins Suzanne to talk about honoring thyself, living your core values, as well as not overcommitting, not giving up yourself for someone else, being intentional with our lives, respecting boundaries, and knowing when to say no. These are an aspect of both spiritual and intellectual wellness, two of the 8 foundational principles of wellness featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Lori says, "This could be at work too, but in our personal relationships, if we're not setting those boundaries and honoring ourselves, we start buildin...
14 minutes | Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lori Hutson joins Suzanne to talk about brain health, an aspect of intellectual wellness, one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Lori says, "One of the main things would be what's normal and what's not normal as far as our state of mind, our memory, things like that. As we do get older, there are some ... small declines in memory, a slower processing speed. That's pretty typical... reaction time, decrease speed in learning – it might take us a little longer to learn things. I talked about th...
14 minutes | Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lori Hutson joins Suzanne to talk about our connection to people, particularly intimate connections. A lot of people over 60 may have lost a spouse, and they're at a time in their life where they haven't dated in decades. A core need of everyone is to have that sort of connection. This is an aspect of spiritual wellness, featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Lori provides a list of tips for navigating the field of dating in the 2020s for those over 60 years of age. Download the pdf file at this link (you may have to right-click and save t...
15 minutes | Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lori Hutson joins Suzanne to talk about how find something to be grateful for, no matter where we are in the world today. This topic is part of spiritual wellness, featured as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Lori says, "Especially in these times we're living in now, we're just bombarded with the news cycle, and you can really go down rabbit holes, and you can really look for some things to get to depressed or down about. There are strategies to really live having an attitude of gratitude, to find something to be grateful for no matter where we are." Lori ...
9 minutes | Saturday, August 26, 2023
Founder and CEO Susan Black joins Suzanne to share some amazing travel stories from Wowzitude. Vitual tour visits is part of intellectual wellness — expanding our minds, learning — one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Susan says, "One of my favorite ones was for Anna. Anna was in her assisted living home and she mentioned to her activity director, because she knew we were going to Paris next week, that she loves Paris. She's been there many times. And as a matter of fact, her daughter, so...
7 minutes | Saturday, August 26, 2023
Making connections unites us all. Wowzitude's live-stream tours with licensed guides are able to zoom into areas that regular groups can't go to. Imagine going somewhere in real life with 40 people behind you and trying to hear what the guide is saying. You also have a front-row seat at every tour. Wowzitude's founder Susan Black joins Suzanne to describe some of the destinations. It's part of Intellectual Wellness — expanding our minds, learning — one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, featured this month as part of The Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Sus...
10 minutes | Saturday, August 26, 2023
Take virtual tours of 140 destinations at Wowzitude, expanding your mind through exposure to new cultures via immersive live-stream experiences. Founder and CEO Susan Black joins Suzanne to describe some of the destinations. It's part of intellectual wellness — expanding our minds, learning — one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. The trips come with trip kits. Susan says, "We love our trip kits. First we started with recipes. Each of our recipes is submitted by each of our guides, our, our...
11 minutes | Saturday, August 26, 2023
Wowzitude Founder and CEO Susan Black joins Suzanne to talk about continuing to be culturally curious in our senior years, by taking virtual tours to 140 locations across the world. It's part of intellectual wellness — expanding our minds, learning — one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, featured this month as part of The Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Susan says, "These are live-stream guided walking tours. The way we work it is, our guides have a stabilizer called a Gimble and a camera, and everything that they see you see live, while it's happening. I...
14 minutes | Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Shirley Hofmeister, a resident of The Lakeshore near Renton, Washington, joins Suzanne to provide a resident's perspective of what a typical day is like at an Era Living retirement community. The Lakeshore is located at 11448 Rainier Avenue S, Seattle, WA 98178. Shirley was a stay at home mom for adopted children then had a 30-year teaching career and did some fitness work with Jackie Sorenson. Describing the process of deciding to move to retirement living, Shirley says, "My husband and I had already given up our house and moved to a condo. And he said, one of us is going to be left alone ...
13 minutes | Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Era Living's Human Resources Director Matt Bromen joins Suzanne to talk about recruiting staff, and his secret sauce for keeping staff members for a decade or more at the company. Matt says, "I don't know if it's a secret so much as really great people. The secret is the people. I would love to take credit for the cement... the cement really started with Eli and Rebecca Almo, and the mission and values. And I know it's cheesy, and any HR Director is going to get on a podcast as say how important their mission and values are, but our mission and values are extremely important to us. That is ...
9 minutes | Saturday, August 19, 2023
Ageless Grace's Denise Medved joins Suzanne to talk about caregivers and family members doing brain exercises together to improve cognitive health.  Denise says, "The program can help you maintain your cognitive health. It can help you improve your cognitive health and it can delay any decline that has already started. It won't cure it, it won't go back and fix it, but it will delay it. We've had some research studies that show even in eight weeks of doing it three times a week, as opposed to every day, that they improved or maintained their cognitive function. Most improved." "Mass. Genera...
7 minutes | Saturday, August 19, 2023
Denise Medved at Ageless Grace shares three of her 21 simple exercises to do each day to fortify your brain. Denise says,  "Breaking out of your normal patterns of movement is important to firing new neurons and creating new neural pathways. Most people don't do new things. They do what they already know how to do, and they repeat it. Breaking out of that pattern is really important, to find new neurons, and create new neural pathways. Obviously, the best thing to do is actually physically do them with me, but I can describe a few that will help you be able to get started and see a differen...
10 minutes | Saturday, August 19, 2023
Denise Medved joins Suzanne to talk about the Ageless Grace brain fitness program, 21 simple exercises to do each day to maintain brain health. Ideally, these are preventative measures, but if the signs of cognitive decline are beginning to appear, the Ageless Grace program can improve symptoms. Because Ageless Grace is performed in a chair to engage the brain, almost anyone can participate. Denise describes her inspiration for the program. "I saw my parents aging completely differently, even though they had the same food, they lived in the same house, they did everything together for 47 ye...
11 minutes | Saturday, August 19, 2023
Denise Medved, founder and CEO of Ageless Grace, joins Suzanne to talk about the brain fitness program taught in 50 states and more than 30 countries. Brain fitness is an aspect of intellectual wellness, one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness, a topic of this month's portion of The Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. More than 3,600 educators have been certified to teach the program. It consists of 21 simple exercise tools, based on everyday movements that are natural and organic, and focus on the healthy longevity of the body and brain. Denise explains, "There...
10 minutes | Saturday, August 12, 2023
Reverend Doctor Kathianne Lewis joins Suzanne to talk about forgiving ourselves as part of Spiritual Wellnss, one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana.  Rev Kathianne says, "Get off our case earlier — we'll have less baggage, so that we can enjoy the last quarter or third or half of our lives. To be bogged down with self-judgment is really hard on the soul." To subscribe to "Thoughts to Sleep On,"  send your name and number to info@spiritualliving.org, and get a free daily evening call from Rev...
7 minutes | Saturday, August 12, 2023
Reverend Doctor Kathianne Lewis joins Suzanne to talk about how to see that there are miracles in everyday life, an aspect of Spiritual Wellnss, one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Rev Kathianne says, "I'm really a miracle junkie. I think we've all had miracles. Most people have had something out of the ordinary that they couldn't even imagine happening, but it did. Then we live off of that. I used to do that myself. I want what I would say from the Old Testament is mana. I want my own ma...
10 minutes | Saturday, August 12, 2023
Reverend Doctor Kathianne Lewis joins Suzanne to talk about finding and reflecting our personal values in our lives as part of Spiritual Wellnss, one of the 8 foundational principles of wellness featured this month as part of the Vitality Revolution podcast series sponsored by Humana. Rev. Kathianne is Spiritual Director and Senior Minister at the Center for Spiritual Living in Seattle. Rev. Kathianne says, "The next step in recognizing our spirituality is understanding what's really good about us." "When I was younger, I wasn't anxious, but I certainly wanted to fit in and just, you know, ...
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Dementia: The Environmental Four Fs
Answers For Elders

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