Seniors Celebrate Active Aging Week

As part of a month-long celebration of Active Aging Week, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, 2015, residents at The Holmstad retirement community strapped on goggles for an indoor air adventure, experienced life at a dairy farm, got lost in the beauty of a Monet and treated their senses with a trip to the largest farmers market in the United States.

“We celebrated Active Aging Week for an entire month,” says Resident Services Director Cathy Reese. “This year’s theme “Live Your Adventure,” complements our existing LifeConnect™ approach to whole-person wellness, so we simply added activities and trips to our already packed programming.” With LifeConnect(R), staff members connect residents with the resources and opportunities to achieve wellness in every dimension of life.

This year, the community added intergenerational programming to its Active Aging Week itinerary and visited Mooseheart Learning Center in Mooseheart, Ill. While there, residents participated in some good old-fashioned playtime with the little ones and then quieted down with one-on-one reading time.

“The children had fun playing with our ‘grandparents’,” says Reese. “And our residents had fun with them! You could see residents’ eyes light up and they were smiling and laughing. Children have a way of bringing out the kid in all of us.”

According to the Journal of Urban Health, this intergenerational interaction is good for seniors’ health. The journal cites that seniors who volunteer regularly with children have a higher weekly caloric burn, fewer falls, less reliance on canes and better performance on memory tests than their peers.

In addition to the trip to Mooseheart, residents visited the Art Institute of Chicago and Armstrong Gardens; walked to help end Alzheimer’s during the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s event; and crossed state lines to visit the Farmers Market and Olbrich Gardens in Wisconsin and the Fair Oaks Dairy Farm in Indiana. A daring group of residents suited up at iFly in Naperville to experience indoor skydiving, and on-campus they participated in health and wellness programming and exercise classes.

Active Aging Week is sponsored by the International Council on Aging. Visit Active Aging Week 2015 for more information. To learn more about The Holmstad and upcoming programming and activities open to the public, visit www.TheHolmstad.org or call 877-226-7310.

About The Holmstad

The Holmstad is a faith-based, non-profit continuing care retirement community located at 700 W. Fabyan Parkway, Batavia, Ill. It is administered by Covenant Retirement Communities, Inc., which is a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church.