Posts Tagged ‘retirement community’

It’s sad but true. There are bad people are out there. While crimes committed against senior citizens are not as common as crimes committed against younger adults, it is every bit, if not more, disturbing. It’s hard to fathom someone hurting or scamming an older person, but it happens.

Below are some suggestions about safety and staying safe from cons. Those who provide elder care should inform seniors of these guidelines.

Tips to Keep Safe from SeniorAdvice.com:

• Be sure that all doors, locks, and windows are strong and cannot be broken.
• Keep all doors and windows locked especially when out of the house.
• Make a list of valuable belongings, with pictures if desired, and keep track of this list by keeping it in a safe place.
• Ask the local police department to mark valuable property with an I.D. number.
• When strangers are at the door, check through a peephole or ask for identity before opening the door.
• Do not keep large amounts of money at home.
• Know your neighbors. You can watch out for each other.
• Stay alert in public places.
• If you drive, lock the doors at all times.
• Do not open car door or roll down windows for strangers – ever.
• Park in well-lit parking areas.
• Carry your purse close to your body when walking outdoors with the strap over the shoulder and across the chest.
• If you are in the process of being robbed, do not resist and hand over belongings to avoid getting hurt.
• Avoid a regular banking routine that involved transporting money on the same day of the week during the same times. Note, social security checks and pension can be directly deposited into your bank account.
• Never carry large amounts of cash on your person, and put credit cards or wallets within inside pockets.
• Do not keep credit cards and checkbooks together so as to prevent signature forging if the two are stolen together.

Avoiding Cons
Senior citizens can be taken advantage of through telephone, internet, insurance, or home repair scams. Sometimes older adults are taken advantage of by people they know and think they can trust. Here are some tips for avoiding possible cons:

• Do not feel hesitant to hang up on telemarketers to protect yourself from possible bullying, suggestiveness, or false information.
• Never give personal information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or bank account numbers over the phone.
• Do not take money out of your account when instructed to by a stranger. A common scam involves strangers pretending to be bank tellers and asking people to take money out of their accounts. Real banks never use these methods.
• Be cautious of deals that sound too good to be true or involve presenting large amounts of money up front with promises of receiving money later.
• Checking with the local Better Business Bureau for more information about the validity of companies.
• Be cautious of people going door to door and offering home repair services. They may not be properly trained and can overcharge for services. If you employ someone for this kind of work, check references, get an agreement in writing for the services, and never pay in advance.

“There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.” ~Vicki Baum.

Ms. Baum is right. Dancing also can be a short-cut to health – both physically and mentally. According to Brain Fitness For Seniors.com, dancing is a boon to health because it stimulates different areas of the brain. How? Well, it often requires learning new steps, and it keeps seniors connected to others. It involves balance, coordination, listening, rhythm, motion, emotions, and physical touch.

Present day seniors grew up dancing. There were grand, lavish ballrooms, and people in cities took the streetcars to dance the night away. Ballroom dancing was a popular choice for a date. Big Band orchestras under the batons of Tommy Dorsey or Harry James toured the country playing in these wonderful ballrooms.

Today’s seniors are still dancing. Seniors’ dances are everywhere, and there are even exercise classes of “seated” dancing. If an entertainer performs the “old favorites” at a senior center or assisted living community, the audience instantly responds with toe-tapping and probably a rush of memories.

Health-wise, a dance routine for older adults can improve fitness in a low-impact way. More specifically, the physical benefits of dance from Ehow.com include:

• Improves cardiovascular fitness – Even light dancing will increase the heart rate and give the heart a good workout.
• Builds muscles – Through dance, seniors work their muscles and help to combat the effects of age.
• Improves social outlook – By joining a dance class—no matter what type of dance—they can enjoy the company of being with other dancers.
• Increases balance and control – The improved balance that comes from dancing helps prevent slips and falls.
• Increases bone mass – Both men and women begin to lose bone mass as they age, leading to more broken bones when they fall.
• Improves flexibility – A good dance workout will include stretching time which can help senior citizens increase flexibility and reduce muscle aches.

Again, from Brain Fitness For Seniors.com, by improving the social interactivity of seniors, dancing increases social harmony, understanding and tolerance in the community which is important because aging requires people of sometimes diverse backgrounds to live closer together in retirement homes and communities.

Music and rhythm have measurable effects on the brain and are the subject of multiple studies of brain-fitness benefits in both the young and old. Listening to music itself can have clear effects on the brain, stimulating different areas, changing brainwave patterns, and relieving stress.

Some believe that just watching dance stimulates the brain – mental stimulation that may be almost as powerful as performing the activity first hand. Even seniors who are too physically restricted to move freely can still participate and gain brain fitness benefits from social dance groups.

In summary, the lyrics of country music star Lee Ann Womack’s signature song say it all:

“I hope you still feel small when you stand behind the ocean.
I hope whenever one door closes, another opens.
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,
and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance…
I Hope You Dance.”