Belmont Village Senior Living of Oak Park is your premier assisted living facility in Oak Park, Illinois. We are located in the heart of historic Oak Park, a western suburb of Chicago. Our senior living residents don’t have to go far to enjoy all the “Windy City” has to offer. We are close to shops, galleries, places of worship, and RUSH Oak Park Hospital. When your desired destination is more than walking distance, free transportation, via our own Belmont Village bus, is available. Inside the Belmont Village community, residents and their guests discover an abundance of amenities including elegant areas for gathering, events and entertainment. Residents can also find pleasure in Belmont’s signature programs in hospitality, dining, lifelong learning and fitness. The skyline view from the sixth floor is also a comfortable gathering spot for residents and their guests. And those with support needs benefit from one of the best-trained, responsive staffs in senior living. If you are looking for senior care, assisted living, retirement communities, senior housing, senior living, elder care, and independent living, Belmont Village Senior Living of Oak Park, is your place to be. ...read more
By Belmont Village Senior Living of Oak Park April 28, 2013
Giving up driving can be a tremendous blow to an older person. There's the practical side: how to run errands, get to the doctor, visit friends, etc., and then there's the emotional side: driving is a key symbol of independence. Agreeing to forgo driving is in many ways also an agreement to give up one's independence. It is very tough. Most seniors will drive as long as they can, and many times, it is up to the adult children to decide when driving has become unsafe. Remember, the issue is safety - both the senior's and other people. If a person can't make decisions quickly enough or has difficulty seeing, then it is time to stop driving. What about driver's licenses? According to www.senioradvice.com, many seniors will argue they can still drive, because the DMV is still giving them a license. The DMV, however, only sees them for a short period of time and often there is no road test. There is little basis for determining whether they are adequate drivers in a real world environment, so a license doesn't really mean that much. Study after study shows that the mere fact a person is older is not an indicator as to whether they can drive. Just because someone is 65 does not mean they should lose their license automatically. The only exception is once a person reaches the age of 80, because people older than 80 get into as many accidents as teenagers. People age differently. For that reason, it is not possible to set one age when everyone should stop driving. So, how does one know when to stop? The website http://helpguide.org/elder/senior_citizen_driving.htm#warning tells about unsafe driving warning signs: • Problems on the road. Abrupt lane changes, braking, or acceleration. Failing to use the turn signal, or keeping the signal on without changing lanes. Drifting into other lanes. Driving on the wrong side of the road or in the shoulder. • Trouble with reflexes. Trouble reading signs or navigating directions to get somewhere. Range-of-motion issues (looking over the shoulder, moving the hands or feet). Trouble moving from the gas to the brake pedal, or confusing the two pedals. Slow reaction to changes in the driving environment. • Increased anxiety and anger in the car. Feeling more nervous or fearful while driving or feeling exhausted after driving. Frustration or anger at other drivers but oblivious to the frustration of other drivers, not understanding why they are honking. Reluctance from friends or relatives to be in the car with the senior driving • Trouble with memory or handling change. Getting lost more often. Missing highway exits or backing up after missing an exit. Trouble paying attention to signals, road signs, pavement markings, or pedestrians. • Close calls and increased citations. More frequent "close calls" (i.e., almost crashing), or dents and scrapes on the car or on fences, mailboxes, garage doors, and curbs. Increased traffic tickets or "warnings" by traffic or law enforcement officers. If some of the descriptions above are apt, it may be time to think about whether or not a senior is still a safe driver. Some helpful websites are www.seniordrivers.org and www.granddriver.info ...read more
By Oak Park Arms Retirement Community June 16, 2010
"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 http://brainfitnessforseniors.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. Healthwise, a dance routine for older adults can improve fitness in a low-impact way. More specifically, the physical benefits of dance from http://www.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 http://brainfitnessforseniors.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." ...read more
By Oak Park Arms Retirement Community May 04, 2010
Hospice services are very personal and caring in nature, so it does not seem right to produce a huge marketing method to sell these services. It is better to build relationships and participate in events to make your services know to potential patients. ...read more
Although we hope everyone will recover from an illness or old age, this is oftentimes not the case. In some situations, there is nothing that can be done to restore a person’s health. However, hospice care can make the end of one’s life much more comfortable through physical, e... ...read more