Strokes do not just strike seniors. Anyone of any age, race or gender can have a stroke.
Many of the risk factors for stroke are controllable. These include alcohol use, atherosclerosis (the build-up of plaque in the walls of your arteries), diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, physical inactivity, and the use of tobacco and smoking.
With strokes, every minute counts so it is vital for you to think FAST. The most effective treatments for stroke are only available within the first three hours of experiencing the first symptoms of a stroke.
The following are common symptoms of a stroke:
SUDDEN numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
SUDDEN confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
SUDDEN trouble seeing in one of both eyes.
SUDDEN trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, loss of coordination.
SUDDEN severe headache with no known cause.
To help you remember how to recognize the warning signs of a stroke and how you should respond, the National Stroke Association recommends that you think FAST.
F
Face
Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
A
Arms
Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one side drift downward?
S
Speech
Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is the speech slurred or strange?
T
Time
If you observe any of the signs of a stroke, call 9-1-1 immediately.
To help you remember how to Think FAST, the National Stroke Association has provided a FAST Wallet Card that you can download and print to carry with you. Click the link to the right to view the Fast Wallet Card http://goo.gl/dHYcs
The National Stroke Association also urges you to note the time you first experienced the first symptom of a stroke. The information is important to health care providers and can affect treatment decisions.
For more information about how you can become a Stroke Champion by helping raise stroke awareness during the month of May and throughout the year, visit theStroke Awareness Resource Center.
Post ScriptHeritage Woods of Flora, a BMA affordable assisted living community in Flora, Illinois, is hosting a Stroke Awareness Mother-Daughter Tea in partnership with Clay County Hospital at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22, 2013.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living and senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
John O’Leary cautioned those of us attending his keynote address at the Life Services Network’s (LSN) 2013 Annual Meeting & Exhibition about a couple of pictures that he was about to show.
John is President of Rising Above. LSN is the largest elder care association in Illinois and the state affiliate of Leading Age and the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA).
He was talking about growing and thriving through adversity, igniting your life, and making a difference in the lives of others.
John is living proof of the message he delivers.
The pictures that John was about to show those attending the keynote address, were of John lying in a hospital bed when he was nine years of age. Burns covered 100% of his body. Nearly 90% of the burns were third degree. His chances of making it through the night were less than 1%.
He was an adventurous boy who had been playing with gasoline in the garage.
He endured months in the hospital, including a five-month period in which his arms and legs were strapped down. He underwent dozens of surgeries and spent years in therapy. All of his fingers had to be amputated.
Today, he is a business owner and international speaker, who defines his greatest success in life as marriage to his wife, Beth, and their four children.
What I most noticed about John during this presentation and in meeting with him afterward is his remarkable spark for live.
What I will remember most were his comments and stories about the Powers of Love, One and More.
Igniting your life so that you thrive both professionally and personally starts with the Power of Love. A heart on fire is powerful.
The Power of One reflects the ability of each of us individually to change the world. In John’s case, it was the Power of One plus One. He talked about the two individuals, each acting alone, who had the biggest impact on his recovery. The individuals were a care aide and Jack Buck, the announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals. John is a native of the St. Louis area and a big Cardinal fan.
The Power of More reflects a focus on what more can I do for myself and for others. After you do something for someone, ask yourself what else can I do to make a difference.
As John said, everything you do has the power to push people down or pull people up.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living and senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Brian N Minton of BMA and I spoke yesterday on The Wonderful World of Blogs, Videos and E-Newsletters in the Successful Marketing of assisted living and senior living communities at the 2013 Annual Meeting of Life Services Network (LSN).
LSN is the largest eldercare association in Illinois and the Illinois state affiliate of Leading Age and the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA).
As part of our presentation, we highlighted Ten Tips for Better Blogging based on our experience and what we have learned from others.
This was a headline for a Blog about an educational program that was conducted at the Bridle Brook of Mahomet assisted living and memory care community in Champaign County. Professional Arthur Kramer from the University of Illinois spoke on his research into the benefits of physical activity for older adults. He noted that if we have a pill that provided all of the benefits that exercise provides in enhancing the health of our brain, we take it in a minute and pay good money for it.
This Blog focused on an emotional presentation by Julie Papievis at the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community in Batavia, Illinois. Julie was critically injured in a car accident as she was pulling out of a shopping center parking lot in the western suburbs of Chicago. Doctors pegged her chances of survival at 4%; if she did somehow manage to survive, it would be in a vegetative state. Just six years later, Julie ran a 5K and has since competed in an indoor triathlon.
2) Focus on “What’s In It for the Reader”
The approach to branding in the Social Media is different than branding in print, radio and television.
As Time Sanders, CEO of Net Minds, noted in a Chase Business Insight webinar in January, “you build your brand by providing information and solving problems, not by talking about your brand.”
3) Write from Your Point of View
Writing a Blog is much like writing a column for a newspaper. Write it from your point of few. For instance, in a Blog titled “Calling Assisted Living an “Acute Care Setting” Is Just Plain Wrong” I provided my opinion about a story that was posted in the Washington Times.
4) Use a Conversational Style
For instance, I started a Blog that we posted last week on “Can Assisted Living Prevent Premature Death with “with my years of experience in assisted and senior living, an article recently posted on the Medical News Today website really has me thinking.”
In a Blog on Assisted Living Residents Join the Harlem Shake Craze provides an example of how you can use video. <blog>
7) Post Regularly
We post once a week, occasionally more often if we have the time and a topic of value.
8) Link to Others
If your Blog highlights an educational program conducted by the Alzheimer’s Association, include a link to the Alzheimer’s Association’s website in your Blog.
By Rick Banas of assisted and senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
With my years of experience in assisted and senior living, an article recently posted on the Medical News Today website really has me thinking.
The article <link> is about research that ties social isolation to shorter lifespans in older adults.
One of the surprising results, the article notes, is that even people who are happy being alone are more likely to die prematurely if they don’t have enough social interactions with other humans.
One of the biggest benefits of living in an assisted living community is all of the opportunities that are available for residents to socialize with others.
Instead of eating alone in front of a television, older adults in assisted living communities are dining with other residents.
They can gather with other residents in a lounge area to watch a movie, a ball game or their favorite television shows.
They can join others for exercise programs. Our Heritage Woods of DeKalb community, for instance, offers Tai Chi on Thursdays; Heritage Woods of Centralia has Yoga on Wednesdays; John Evans Supportive Living in Pekin hosts a “Move Those Joints” program three times a week. Residents of Bridle Brook in Champaign County can stay active with a Walking Club in the indoor comfort of their assisted living and memory care community.
They can participate with other residents in the activities and special events offered by the community.
Wii Bowling has become a very popular activity, with the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition (AALC) hosting an annual statewide Wii Bowling Tournament. This year, nearly 80 teams of residents from affordable assisted living communities in Illinois entered the competition, which will culminate with the top teams bowling against each other in a Final Four on May 14 and 15 in Decatur, Illinois.
This year, the AALC also is hosting a statewide Spelling Bee. More than 100 teams of residents entered the competition, with 12 teams qualifying to compete in the Spelling Finals in Decatur on May 14 and 15. The most frequently used words in the Scripps National Spelling Bee will be used.
Other recent and upcoming programs at the communities BMA manages include:
Laughter Yoga
Mother’s Day Celebrations and Memorial Day Tributes
Fashion Shows with residents and staff modeling the clothing
BBQs, Ice Cream Socials and Happy Hours
Senior Proms
Hawaiian Luaus
Musical entertainment and health education programs
Residents can participate no matter what the weather.
With this in mind, isn’t it possible that assisted living can help prevent premature death among seniors?
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living and senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
The nine teams of residents from affordable assisted living communities in northern Illinois were gathered together at the Manteno Golf Club in Manteno, Illinois.
They were joined by Arlene Allen and Ann Atkinson. Arlene grew up in Jo Davies County, Illinois, where she attended school in a one-room schoolhouse for seven years. She taught school in the Kankakee area for 38 years. Ann taught kindergarten in Quincy, Massachusetts and Bourbonnais, Illinois, and worked for 22 years in the Graduate School at Olivet Nazarene University.
Anne and Arlene were there to serve as judges for the Illinois Supportive Living Spelling Bee Regional Finals for the North Region. The competition is being sponsored by the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition (AALC), an organization that represents affordable assisted living communities that operate through the Illinois Supportive Living program.
The program enables older adults and adults with physical disabilities of all incomes, including those on Medicaid, to live in a residential-apartment home environment and receive personal assistance, help with medications, and services such as meals, housekeeping and laundry.
Also there to help as assistant judges were six students from Manteno Middle School. Nora Crockett, Taylor Gilliam, Caitlin Godsey, Colin Smith, Olzea Smolinski and Cassidy St. Peter are all members of the school’s Spelling Bee team. They were joined by the school’s Spelling Bee team’s sponsor Erica Lehrus.
More than 100 teams of residents from communities located throughout Illinois had entered the Spelling Bee, with nine teams qualifying for the regional finals in the North Region.
Standard spelling bee rules were followed, with judges giving the team a word to spell. The team had two minutes to work together to agree on a spelling. They could ask the judge to repeat the word, for the definition and for the word to be used in a sentence. One member of the team needed to correctly spell the word for the judges. One wrong letter and the team was out.
The Gold Medal winners was the team from Heritage Woods of Rockford, with Heritage Woods of Manteno coming in second, and Victory Center of Joliet finishing in third.
All three teams qualified for the Spelling Bee Finals, which will be held on May 14 and 15 at the Decatur Hotel and Conference Center in Decatur, Illinois. The most frequently used words in the Scripps national Spelling Bee will be used.
They will be competing against the teams that qualified in the Cook County, Central and Southern Divisions.
Cook County
Eden Supportive Living of Chicago
Victory Centre of Bartlett
Victory Centre of River Woods
Central Division
Springfield Supportive Living
Mary Bryant Home in Springfield
Heritage Woods of Charleston
South Division
Prairie Living at Chautauqua
Cambridge House of Maryville
Cambridge House of Swansea
Dorie Johnson, one of the members of the winning team from Heritage Woods of Rockford, mentioned that winning the regional title and qualifying for the state finals was an early birthday present. She is celebrating her 90th Birthday today. Like judge Arlene Allen, she grew up in Jo Davies County.
Dorie’s teammate, Nita Mahan, will be 85 on June 26. She started her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse and then taught second and third grades.
When Dorie and Nita returned home to Heritage Woods of Rockford from the competition in Manteno last Thursday, they were honored by residents and staff with a victory celebration and a banner congratulated them on victory.
Spectators are welcome to attend the Spelling Bee Finals next month in Decatur. We hope to see you there.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
