May is Older Americans Month, and here at St. Anthony’s, everyone in our community is worth celebrating! This month is about recognizing how older generations have impacted our lives, the future, and the world. Whether they’re actively volunteering and engaging in the community or have created an impactful legacy in their adventurous lifetime, every older American has a story to share and a life worth honoring. And here at St. Anthony’s, we celebrate those stories every day.
Honoring the Legacies
One of the best ways to celebrate Older Americans Month is to intentionally honor what older adults in our lives have done in the past to build a better future. Your aging parent or grandparent may have changed the lives of others through their career, as a trusted colleague or workplace leader.
Your loved one’s career might have been a high-paying executive job making decisions that affected hundreds of families. They could have worked in construction and ensured homes and buildings were safe and stable to care for the people entering them. Perhaps they served our nation in the military. Maybe they were a teacher and taught important lessons to our youth, or worked in medicine and were able to heal others. Or even if they didn’t work outside the home, their work as a homemaker had a positive ripple effect.
These stories and experiences create a legacy that touched hundreds of lives, whether they knew it or not! These legacies made our country what it is today, and they are stories worth appreciating.
How Residents Contribute to Our Community
As powerful as these legacies are, seniors’ impact on our communities doesn’t stop when they move into a senior living community! St. Anthony’s residents touch the lives of fellow residents, our staff, and the people of Kansas City every day.
St. Anthony’s would not be the senior living community we know and love without the contributions of our residents! Our residents are the heart of it all. They participate in our activities, bringing laughter and light to all corners of our community. Our residents create clubs for cooking, game nights, and other shared passions that bring them together.
Our residents share their stories and lessons they’ve learned through a lifetime of experience with younger generations, whether that be our staff, volunteers, or other visitors who come to get to know them. These intergenerational interactions are foundational to celebrating the lives of older adults!
Empowering Seniors at St. Anthony’s
Because we see the value and significance of every individual who joins the St. Anthony’s family, our goal is to empower seniors of all capabilities to continue living fulfilling lives and making an impact doing what they love. Here are some ways we accomplish this goal:
1. Inspiring A Life of Faith
While not every resident shares our faith foundation, we believe faith-based senior living is essential for cultivating spiritual wellness and a sense of purpose. For those residents who share the Catholic faith, access to Mass services, priests, and a staff that respects and honors their beliefs not only helps them to feel more connected and at home, but it also ignites meaning in the lives of faith-based seniors.
2. Staying Physically Active
Adults aged 65 and older should aim for 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, including activities that strengthen muscles and improve balance. Doing this can help seniors live independently for longer as they maintain mobility and fitness, enabling them to remain active in the community unassisted.
The St. Thomas More Fitness and Wellness Center offers equipment and classes for seniors of all fitness levels to stretch, flex, and get active — including chair exercises and classes specifically designed for our assisted living and memory care residents!
3. Engaging with the Greater Kansas City Community
Our residents’ community contributions extend beyond the comfort of their St. Anthony’s apartments, and we do our best to make Kansas City accessible to our assisted living and memory care residents, as well as those in independent living. At times, this means bringing the community into St. Anthony’s to engage with our residents, but it also happens through our participation in community events. Riding in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or even just enjoying some ice cream out on the town are great ways we help our residents experience the lively culture of Kansas City and be a part of it themselves!
4. Providing All the Support They Need
Empowerment is only possible with the right kind of support. While we encourage independence as much as is doable for each resident, we work closely with them to determine the level of care and support they may need as they transition into assisted living after a lifetime of independence.
Moving to assisted living when in need of additional support will actually improve the quality of life for older adults! Just because they need a little support with mobility or activities of daily living doesn’t mean they must sacrifice their autonomy. We encourage our residents to remain as involved and engaged in the community as they please. For those in our Memory Care program, we enjoy reflecting with residents on their special legacies as a tool to celebrate and help memory retention. Maintaining familiar routines and relationships can powerfully impact memory retention as we age, so staying involved is very valuable to holistic senior wellness.
Thank You, Seniors!
Whether you are a current resident at St. Anthony’s or are an older adult living elsewhere in our community, thank you. Thank you for living such an incredible life and contributing to our community and future in many ways. We are honored to celebrate your legacy this month!
If you’re not yet enjoying the perks of senior living, we’d love to invite you to join our St. Anthony’s family. Contact us to schedule a tour!
