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Sad tales about elderly victims losing their money online are on the rise. Coercion, trickery, and badgering lead to older adults losing billions of dollars each year. The National Council on Aging estimates over five million seniors fall into financial scams annually. 

The Cost of Elder Fraud

The consequences of senior scams can be devastating. Forbes estimates that elder financial fraud losses total over $36.5 billion annually. With only one in every 44 incidences reported, the figures may be significantly higher. Some of the common elder fraud scams include:

• Health insurance fraud
• Telemarketing scams
• Counterfeit drug scams
• Reverse mortgage scams
• Investment schemes
• Lottery scams

Senior citizens are easy targets for scammers due to their financial position. Most older adults own homes and have fixed incomes, meaning they have a large pool of funds to extort. Additionally, loneliness in old age results in seniors lowering their guard in identifying red flags. Declining cognitive ability worsens the situation. 

Protecting Your Loved One from Elder Fraud

These expert tips can protect your loved one from financial exploitation:

Maintain Regular Contact 

Isolation as your loved one ages may increase their risk of falling for romance scams. Maintaining regular contact with your parent can help you notice sudden changes in their behavior. Mentions of new companions, unsolicited offers, or sweepstakes may alert you before they give out personal information to their new “friend.”

Enroll Your Parent in a Licensed St. Petersburg Assisted Living Facility

A failing memory among dementia or Alzheimer’s patients can increase the risk of falling for scams. You can secure the interactions that your parent has daily by placing them under memory care in St. Petersburg, FL. 

Caregivers can assist your loved one in opting out of fraudulent calls, emails, and promotions. Additionally, a St. Petersburg assisted living facility’s social functions can help minimize isolation and keep your older adult active. 

Discuss the Topic with Your Loved One

You may have to speak to your elderly relatives or friends about the risk of financial scams. Discourage your loved one from conducting business over the telephone. Remind them always to ask questions, no matter how urgent the issue sounds. 

Teach your loved one the signs of a scam. Mention a recent fraud incident and inquire how your parent may protect themselves against such. Remind them never to give away their personal information, including Social Security numbers or bank account details, online or over the phone. 

Sign Up Your Parent on a “Do Not Call” List

You can access multiple sites that place your loved one on a “do not call” list. Engage the phone company to learn about the measures they have in place to regulate robocalls and “unknown callers.” Consider customizing your loved one’s smartphone to block unidentified calls. 

Obtain Power of Attorney

If you fear that your elderly family member can no longer handle their finances, you can seek a legal route to prevent senior scams. Power of attorney may give you greater control over their finances, keeping your loved one safe. 

Report Suspected Cases of Elder Fraud 

You can teach your loved one how to file complaints with Adult Protective Services (APS). Every state has an APS program responsible for receiving and investigating elder abuse cases.  

The program also educates seniors on common scams spreading within their locality. These can keep your loved one informed and less likely to get caught off-guard. 

Protecting Your Loved Ones

Cases of elder financial abuse are on the rise, especially with online scams. The six tips above can help keep your loved one’s monetary possessions safe. 

Ensuring your loved one is up to date with the latest scams and what to do when they identify scammers can help keep them protected. 

Staying hydrated is essential at any age, but it is particularly vital for seniors. Proper hydration can help prevent many common medical concerns that affect senior citizens. 

These include hypertension, coronary heart disease, and urinary tract infections. It is crucial for elderly individuals to drink enough water each day to avoid these issues and other health concerns.

Getting Hydration in Assisted Living in Orlando, Florida

As important as it is to remain hydrated, many seniors fail to drink enough to get the recommended daily water intake. How can you encourage seniors to stay well-hydrated? Below are five easy ways to keep seniors in assisted living in Orlando, Florida, stay hydrated and healthy.

1. Make Water More Flavorful

One of the easiest ways to encourage anyone to drink enough water is by making it more appealing. Many seniors struggle with the lack of flavor when drinking water. To make it more appetizing, you can add pieces of real fruit to infuse a light flavor into the water. 

Water can be paired with watermelon, berries, grapefruit, pineapple, or oranges. This approach is especially effective if you add the fruit hours in advance and allow the flavor to be infused into the water beforehand.

2. Set Reminders

Nowadays, we rely heavily on phones, watches, and other technology to give us daily reminders for important tasks. There’s no reason staying hydrated can’t be one of these tasks! Set an hourly reminder on your phone, smartwatch, or other device to give a reminder that it’s time to drink some water. 

This approach is particularly helpful for seniors who are enjoying independent living in Orlando. When a caretaker cannot always be present to remind them to stay hydrated, technology can step in and provide a gentle reminder.

3. Provide Hydrating Snacks

For seniors who are strongly resistant to drinking enough water, hydration can be provided through food as well. Providing hydrating snacks can help compensate for some of their daily water intake. Hydrating snacks include the following and more:

• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Watermelon
• Applesauce
• Snap peas
• Cherry tomatoes
• Grapes

You can get creative with these snacks by making veggie trays with hummus dips or fruit salads with various types of melon. Fruit cocktails with softer fruits are particularly beneficial for seniors who have difficulty chewing or who have dentures.

4. Create Small Goals

When you reside in a facility for assisted living in Orlando, Florida, you will find many seniors who are goal oriented. For these seniors, setting small goals can help them stay on track with their hydration. 

To surpass the daily recommended intake of 64 ounces, you can set a goal of drinking 8 ounces per hour. This amount is a small, achievable goal for many seniors that will help them stay motivated when keeping up with their hydration.

5. Use Straws or Lidded Cups

Keeping seniors hydrated may be as simple as changing what they drink from. Many seniors struggle with shaky hands and certain motor skills. These ailments can make it difficult to hold a cup or drink from something with a wide lid. Providing drinks with straws, lids, or narrow openings can help make drinking water easier for elderly individuals.

Staying hydrated is essential for many seniors. With these steps it will be easier to remain hydrated while having fun.

Most people hope to live to old age, but not everyone makes a plan for navigating those years. However, healthy aging largely depends on having good self-care habits, including getting enough exercise and eating nutritious food. Whatever age you are right now, it’s not too late or too early to improve your vitality and lower your chances of developing health problems.

A recent study by the Gerontological Society of America found that motivation is the key to staying healthy as you grow older. That means overcoming short-term pleasures like over-indulging on sweets or napping instead of taking your daily walk. Seniors in assisted living in Orlando, Florida, may have an easier time staying motivated, as many communities provide health-boosting activities.

Understanding Your Motivation

Some motivation is external. Many people get up in the morning and go to work because they are motivated to keep their jobs and make their house payments. But getting up an hour earlier to exercise requires internal motivation. There’s no immediate consequence if they don’t do it. In fact, staying in bed for an extra hour may even be seen as a reward.

If you don’t know what your goals are or how to achieve them, it’s almost impossible to activate your internal motivation.

Setting Goals

Staying “healthy” is a somewhat ambiguous goal, especially because there are many factors you cannot control when it comes to health. For example, one of the biggest contributing factors to health is genetics. It may be more helpful to create specific goals, such as, “I want to stay healthy enough to play with my grandchildren.” That goal requires you to stay flexible, maintain bone and muscle strength, and have enough energy to remain active for 30 minutes or more.

If your goal is to stay healthy enough to travel, you might focus on taking long walks to build your stamina.

Stay Adaptable

Healthy aging doesn’t mean you will never face a health challenge. Adapting to your new normal when challenges come is part of staying mentally healthy. Being open to assistive devices or medical interventions that can make life easier will help you meet your goals. Accepting help when it’s needed can make it easier for you to maintain your health.

When asked, most seniors say they want to remain in their own home, but upon further examination, their ultimate goal is to remain independent. Moving to one of the independent living facilities in Orlando, FL, can increase your level of independence, not hamper it. Having easy access to wellness programs, nutritious food, and social activities could improve your health and help you reach your goals.

Can Assisted Living in Orlando, FL, Help You Stay Motivated?

Too often, people think of moving into a senior living facility as the end of something, when it can be a fresh new beginning. With amenities like housekeeping, a fitness center, a computer center, and plenty of opportunities for socializing, living in an assisted living community can increase your motivation to stay healthy. When life is filled with new experiences and friends who are living life to the fullest, staying motivated to meet your healthy aging goals may be easier than ever before.

Flexibility is an important part of life, no matter how old you are. However, it’s more important than ever to practice flexibility as you age. 

In older folks, flexibility can help with chronic pain and encourage steady balance, which decreases the risks of falls and injuries. Here are three low-impact exercises that can help you maintain flexibility.

What Does It Mean to Be Low-Impact?

A low-impact exercise is a movement that is gentle on your joints. Examples of low-impact exercises include swimming, Pilates, Tai Chi, and yoga.

Needless to say, low-impact exercises are less stressful to the body than high-impact exercises like running and jumping. These are activities that have a greater impact on your joints and feet. Some folks need to avoid high-impact exercises because they can lead to injuries and fractures.

How Exercise Improves Flexibility

“Exercise” is an umbrella term that can encompass a variety of movements and training styles, including weight training, aerobics training, and flexibility training. An example of flexibility training is stretching.

However, some strength-training exercises and movements can increase your flexibility, even if the movement itself isn’t considered stretching. Exercise can make you more flexible when you perform an exercise correctly and move through the full range of motion.

3 Low-Impact Exercises

These three low-impact exercises that improve flexibility combine resistance training with static stretching for optimal results.

1. Yoga

Yoga might be the most obvious out of all of these examples because it’s commonly associated with flexibility and stretching.

However, yoga is so much more than simply stretching. This form of exercise uses various positions (called “asanas” by yogis) to challenge your strength and balance.

A proper yoga routine will hit all major muscle groups and strengthen your core. While there are plenty of athletic-style yoga classes, many classical styles of yoga (in Orlando, skilled nursing facility programs practice classical yoga) safely take you through a variety of low-impact exercises that will get you stronger and more flexible in no time.

2. Pilates

Pilates is often confused with yoga, but they are extremely different disciplines. While they share some elements, Pilates has a different focus.

Pilates teaches you to relax your muscles and only focus on strengthening certain muscles at a time. The common phrase repeated by Pilates teachers is, “Can you move [insert body part] and nothing else?”

By training in this style, Pilates encourages better balance while strengthening and conditioning tight, weak muscles. By lubricating your joints and strengthening your muscles, Pilates also increases your flexibility.

3. Walking

Walking is not such an obvious flexibility-increasing exercise, but it indirectly leads to stronger and more flexible muscles.

Walking is a low-impact, weight-bearing exercise. Because it is weight-bearing, it increases the delivery of nutrition to your joints and the lubrication of your joints.

Uphill walking is low-impact while stretching your calf muscles. Take longer strides to help stretch out your hip flexors. Swing your arms as you walk to lubricate your upper body joints.

Do not underestimate the power of walking!

Finding Optimal Health at Assisted Living Facilities in Orlando, FL

Many older folks struggle with maintaining a healthy exercise routine as they get older due to fear of risk or injury.

In Orlando, skilled nursing facility programs include wellness portions to help safely guide you to a full-body health routine and thrive in your golden years.

Are you new to assisted living in Orlando and are looking for a place to eat? There are a ton of great restaurants that can suit both your taste and your diet — so many, in fact, that it can almost be difficult to settle on one. To help you find the best of the best, we’ve created this guide to some of the finest restaurants in all of Orlando. Enjoy!

Luke’s Kitchen and Bar

640 South Orlando Avenue, Maitland

If you’re interested in familiar fare with an elevated twist, then Luke’s is the perfect place for you. Their seafood is their bread and butter, but there are plenty of great options for those who prefer their meals sourced from dry land. The dessert menu is another one of their strengths, so make sure to leave room!

The Osprey

4899 New Broad Street, Orlando

The Osprey is an award-winning seafood restaurant that has become a staple of Orlando’s “best of” lists, thanks largely to their locally-sourced dishes. When you get their Florida Bluehouse Salmon or their Key West Yellowtail Snapper, you know that you’re getting the freshest fish in town.

Pizza Bruno

3990 Curry Ford Road, Orlando

Even with all of the great things that come with assisted and independent living in Orlando, there are still some times when you might feel a little homesick. If you’re originally from New York or New Jersey, one of the best ways to get a taste of home is by going out for some pizza. 

You don’t have to be from the northeast to enjoy Pizza Bruno, though. These world-class wood-fired pizzas are renowned for their authenticity and their wide variety of enticing styles. From the New Haven Clam Pie to the vegan Viva Verde to the Classic Original, there’s something for everyone.  

Reyes Mezcaleria

821 N Orange Avenue, Orlando

There are a ton of great Mexican restaurants in the city of Orlando, but Reyes Mezcaleria may just be the best of them all. Go for brunch, lunch, or dinner and enjoy authentic dishes from all over the various regions of Mexico. 

If you enjoy tequila or mezcal, that just happens to be their specialty. They’ve got over 150 different spirits available.

Il Pescatore

651 Primrose Drive, Orlando

If you’re looking for a more casual and cozy ambiance and some of the best Italian food in all of Orlando, Il Pescatore should be on the top of your list. They’ve got all of the classics you know and love, and they do them all to perfection. 

One of the best things about Il Pescatore is that they provide their top-quality food at an affordable price. It’s a perfect restaurant for when the whole family comes to visit.

Assisted Living in Orlando Can Be Delicious

These are only a few of the many fantastic restaurants available to you in Orlando. Whether you enjoy sushi and other Japanese cuisines, authentic Cuban food, Cajun and creole classics, or just a good old-fashioned burger, there’s an incredible eatery for you here. 

We hope you found this list helpful and that it inspires you to go out and experience some of the best meals in town for yourself.

Director of Construction Bill Andersen and Construction Manager Rob Clerici with the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Eagle Award for Excellence in Construction.Westminster Oaks and Westminster Communities of Florida are delighted to announce that the new Memory Care neighborhood in the Life Plan Community in Tallahassee has been recognized by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of North Florida with its Eagle Award for Excellence in Construction.

The Eagle Award, shared with the project’s general contractor, Cook Brothers Inc., recognizes and celebrates outstanding projects built by North Florida ABC members and the workmanship of those who contribute. Teamwork and cooperation between general contractors, specialty contractors, and material suppliers are prerequisites for building excellence into any construction project.

“It is quite an honor to receive this award,” said Bill Andersen, Director of Construction for Westminster Communities of Florida. “We are very appreciative of this award and are thankful to Cook Brothers for the quality product they produced. The new Memory Care neighborhood is a beautiful building in an attractive setting for the residents at Westminster Oaks, with spacious units, a large, home-like living and gathering areas, country kitchen dining spaces, and a large exterior courtyard setting for getting outdoors. Plus, the facility incorporates some of the newest and most innovative technologies for Memory Care.”

The new Memory Care neighborhood is an expansion of the Life Plan Community, which serves more than 600 residents with Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Nursing Care, Rehabilitation and more. Residents will receive Memory Care and Assisted Living services in spaces custom-designed to support their needs. The building was designed as a set of small, secure neighborhoods with spacious private apartments, a memory garden and more. In addition, it features innovative and sustainable building features, like higher-efficiency HVAC systems, zero VOC paints and sealants, and long life-span construction materials, and was constructed to the National Green Building Standard Silver level.

Congratulations to Westminster Oaks, the Westminster Communities of Florida Construction & Design Department, and Cook Brothers Inc. for this prestigious recognition.

Westminster Oaks is a Continuing Care Retirement Community set amid the rolling hills of Florida’s capital. The community offers Independent Living, featuring Westminster Communities of Florida’s exclusive My W Life program for wellbeing of mind, body and soul, as well as Assisted Living, Nursing Care, Memory Care and more. To learn more about Westminster Oaks, visit us online at www.WestminsterOaksFL.org or call (850) 878-1136.

Transitioning a loved one to assisted living or memory care is an emotional decision. If you’ve been on the fence about whether this level of care is necessary for your family member, rest assured that you aren’t alone. 

All across the country, family members are faced with the decision to put their loved ones in memory care for their own benefit and safety. 

But how do you know if it’s the right time to move your loved one to this level of care? Here are three telltale signs that might spur you to make a decision now. 

1. Difficulties with Daily Living Activities

One of the earliest signs that memory care may be a good move is when a loved one begins to struggle with activities of daily living. This can include daily skills such as: 

• Taking a shower or bathing on their own
• Using the restroom safely
• Getting dressed and ready for the day
• Making themselves a meal
• Taking medications as prescribed

When someone cannot reliably perform all of the above tasks without a significant amount of help, it can send up a red flag that they may not be capable of living on their own right now. 

By making the choice to place them in a qualified facility for memory care, they will have access to dedicated staff members who can assist them with these tasks.

2. Lack of Safety

Safety concerns are another reason someone may require memory care. They may forget to turn the stove off when they’re done cooking or they may get lost easily when taking a walk around their neighborhood. 

If you notice bruises or injuries that your loved one doesn’t recall getting, it might be a sign that they need more supervision to remain safe. Assistance from a qualified memory care team can give you more insight into how they are injuring themselves and prevent major accidents from occurring. 

3. Caregiver Burnout

If you’re shouldering the responsibility of caring for your loved one, burnout is a real possibility. They may need more assistance than what you can offer. Caregiving is a full-time job that might require around-the-clock attention to keep your loved one safe and healthy. 

Orlando assisted living can allow you to take a much-needed break from the worry and stress of being your family member’s primary caregiver. You can rest easy at night knowing that your loved ones will get the help they need and that they’ll be taken care of according to an established lifestyle plan. 

Is It Time to Pursue Orlando Assisted Living?

When you start to see these signs in your loved one, it may be time to explore memory care in Orlando, Florida. 

Deciding to place a family member in memory care can be a challenge. But with the right team on your side, you can rest assured knowing that they will be well taken care of by experienced workers who understand their unique needs. 

If you are assisting a loved one who is transitioning to long-term nursing care, you may be looking for ways to make the transition easier. While you’ll find some of the best assisted living facilities in Orlando, Florida, the move to these facilities can still be overwhelming. 

The change and uncertainty of a big move can cause stress and anxiety. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to make the transition easier. 

Get to Know the Community Before Moving

The stress of moving to a new environment will be worse if your loved one has no familiarity with their new community. To ease the transition, make sure that the senior has visited the community many times and understands how to get around.

Most long-term nursing care facilities will allow new residents to visit frequently or even attend lunches or social functions ahead of moving day. Ensuring that your loved one is familiar with their new home as well as the services and amenities ahead of time will make the transition easier.

Keep Seniors Involved in Planning

While family members often think they are doing the best thing by taking over planning for the move, sometimes they leave out the senior, making them feel isolated and not in control.

Keep your loved one involved in the decision-making process, from the timing of the move to decisions about what personal property they will take along. 

Of course, some seniors need more help than others. However, to the extent that your senior loved one is able to make decisions, giving them an active role in the planning process will make for a smoother transition. 

Plan the New Home Together

There are so many decisions to be made when moving a senior to long-term nursing care. From choosing what items to bring to preparing to decorate the new space, there is a long list of things that must be accounted for.

It is important to let your loved one plan their new space, whether they are bringing along old furniture or purchasing new artwork or decorations. Allowing them to plan their new home will not only make them feel welcome when they arrive but will also give them something to look forward to. 

Set Up a Visitors’ Calendar

Whether you are moving your loved one to an independent living facility or an Orlando skilled nursing facility, there will be procedures in place for visitors. Familiarize yourself with these procedures, then set up a visitors’ calendar.

Plan for you, a family member, or one of the senior’s friends to visit frequently at first. Seeing familiar faces multiple times a week will help avoid feelings of loneliness and abandonment and make the transition easier overall.

Assisted Living Facilities in Orlando, FL

Orlando, FL, is home to some of the greatest assisted living facilities in the country. No matter what needs your loved one has, there is a great community waiting to make them feel at home. 

Few choices are more important than the assisted living facility you choose for yourself or a loved one. This is a decision that you want to research thoroughly. Please be encouraged to read testimonials and reviews from a wide range of sources. Those insights are quite helpful. It’s beneficial to read the facility’s mission statement, as well.

As you search for Orlando (FL) assisted living facilities, remember that you’ll get the best information during your facility tour. This is when you will see the property in person, learn more about your living options, and ask your tour guide the following questions.

Ask These Questions About Orlando (FL) Assisted Living

Consider bringing the following list of questions to your facility tour.

What Is Your Staff to Resident Ratio?

Make sure that you or your loved one are comfortable with the number of staff available at any time. This isn’t just a good indicator of the ability to provide excellent service. It also shows the facility can maintain a full staff.

Are Your Employees Capable of Providing Memory Care?

When you need memory care in Orlando, Florida, it’s important to discuss this with your facility tour guide. They should be able to show you the memory care facility on-site, introduce you to the staff who work in that area, and discuss the programs available to residents with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

What Are the Safety and Security Measures in Place?

Assisted living facilities must have procedures in place to keep residents safe. This should include exit plans, COVID-19 measures, safety drills, controlled entry, and security systems.

What Criteria Do You Use to Recommend This Community or Level of Care?

Not every community or life plan option is a good fit for every senior. Some may need more attentive care. Your tour guide should be able to outline the criteria for different levels of care or let you know if another facility would be a better fit. They will also tell you how they determine when a resident may need additional services or living options.

How Do You Schedule Personal Care Services?

It isn’t just important for an assisted living facility to provide personal care services as needed. Ideally, they will be able to accommodate each resident’s personal preferences and schedules, as well. After all, moving into a new community is enough of an adjustment. Many seniors find it difficult to change their personal care routines on top of it all.

What Social Opportunities Are Available?

It’s so important to the well-being of seniors living in assisted living communities to stay active and socialize with one another. Ideally, the community will have a combination of planned activities and opportunities to socialize independently.

What to Expect from Your Orlando Skilled Nursing Facility Tour

When you end your tour, you should feel confident that all of your questions have been addressed wholly and honestly. While it’s certainly acceptable for your tour guide to ask to do some further research on detailed inquiries, they should be able to answer the questions above quite thoroughly. 

Your tour should also include a close look at your potential living space, dining areas, social and gathering spaces, and any other areas you may utilize as a new resident. Please don’t hesitate to press for additional information or access. You deserve all of the insights you need to choose an excellent facility for retirement living in Florida.

Keeping in touch with loved ones is crucial. But with the pace of today’s technological advancements, it can be hard for senior citizens to keep up. Sometimes, it’s best to stick to the basics. Below are some of the best video apps for seniors to use based on usability, accessibility, and user experience. 

FaceTime

FaceTime is one of our top choices because it’s so easy to use, and anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac already has it on their device. Senior citizens can make a video call just as easily as a regular phone call without navigating a separate app. The only downside of FaceTime is it’s not accessible to everyone. Everyone in the conversation must have Apple products. 

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is wildly popular worldwide among people of all ages. Thanks to its simple user interface for both audio and video calls, it’s easy to figure out and can be mastered in just a few minutes. All you need is a stable internet connection. This makes it easy for technology-timid seniors to hop on a video call in a matter of seconds. 

The best part of WhatsApp is its improved security and privacy features over other apps. With WhatsApp, calls and messages are fitted with end-to-end encryption. This means only the two people on either end of the conversation can hear or see it. 

Oscar Senior

Oscar Senior is very different from average video apps because it does so much more than facilitate video calls. It requires a bit more setup than other apps, but the software essentially provides a new operating system. The entire user interface of the device changes to a more senior-friendly format. Large text and buttons make it easy to call, video chat, text, share photos, and even use other apps. 

The senior’s interface is just one facet of this software, though. There is also a management center and a caregiver’s dashboard to make managing their care more accessible. Oscar Senior can be a powerful tool. However, because of its price tag and complexity, this option is not suitable for everyone. 

Assisted Living in Orlando

If you or a loved one requires additional care or memory care in Orlando, assisted living may be the right option. There are many facilities for assisted living in Orlando that provide a broad spectrum of care and excellent treatment for senior citizens. 

Independent Living in Orlando

Many seniors in Orlando do not need assisted living but could still benefit from living in a community tailored to their needs. Independent living facilities allow seniors to continue their ordinary lives while encouraging them to remain active, social, and healthy. Many seniors prefer independent living communities because they don’t have to worry about things like yard work and housekeeping, and they get to be around people their age. 

Another benefit of independent living facilities is that when you need more care or transition to assisted living, it is easy to make that change.