The Biggest Ice Cream Scoop in the World!

We recently took a scenic bus ride to the outskirts of Ephrata to enjoy lunch at the "Udder Choice" restaurant where one of the attractions is the World's Largest Ice Cream Scoop, or at least the largest one in Lancaster County!  It was actually used in the ground-breaking ceremony for the restaurant.  We would rather see it used for a giant scoop of ice cream for which we had the only spoons! We were happy with our sundaes, ice cream sodas, floats and other ice cream creations.  We also ate sandwiches and the best seafood bisque around!  It was a beautiful day out for independent residents as well as personal care residents!

Senior Health and Fitness Day at Juniper Village!

On May 31st, we celebrated Senior Health and Fitness Day here at Juniper Village at Lebanon with our partners at WellSpan Health Services.  We had a full day of activities planned, starting with Seated Yoga with Melanie and then Band-Together with Tanya. WellSpan sponsored a Health Fair, which included taking vital signs, learning about sleep disorders, diabetes information and understanding arthritis.  The afternoon consisted of a healthy salad and fruit buffet lunch, followed by a short walk around the campus.  The day ended with Dr. Lisa Helwig's presentation on tips for better Senior Health. Many thanks to our friends at WellSpan for making Senior Health & Fitness Day educational and fun!

Volunteer Opportunities Abound in Juniper Courtyards!

This spring has been a wet one, which is good news for our gardens at Juniper Village at Lebanon!  Even better news is that we now have a volunteer gardening team of Mark Geyer and his caregiver Cele, who visit us at least once per week to help keep our gardens beautiful. Mark picks up the many sticks that fall from our larger trees, and he helps work the soil and plant herbs, vegetables and flowers in our many garden areas, including one raised bed and several flower pots.

Cele has graciously donated all of the plants so far, and they already look gorgeous!  We have several "arm-chair supervisors" who come out to join in the action.  Many thanks to all of our fabulous volunteers, such as Mark and Cele, who "nurture the spirit of life" in so many ways at Juniper Village!

June 2017 Events in Lebanon, PA: Live In Wellness

“You are what you eat.” The old adage is now truer than ever. Good health is largely dependent on good nutrition, so much so that doctors trace many physical and emotional ailments back to a diet deficient in vitamins and minerals. Eating a well-balanced diet is a major part of encouraging long life, lowering the incidence of disease, and helping sick people recover. On the flip side, inadequate nutrition and poor quality foods can generally cut life span and open us up to many illnesses and disease. In effect, food is medicine per Webster's definition of medicine: "The science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease." Food acts as medicine - to maintain, prevent, and treat disease.

With this month’s Alive in All Seasons focus on food, we’d like to give you a prescription for a healthy diet: breakfast daily (do not skip); meals x3 (at least) daily; foods from each of the food groups per meal daily. The food pyramid defines the food groups as grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy and proteins. The amounts vary according to age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level. Here’s a good guideline to start you on your way. Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Make half your grains whole grains. Move to low-fat and fat-free dairy. Vary your protein routine and eat and drink the right amount for you.

Join us as we continue our focus on healthy aging by shedding light on our hydration program with healthy snacks and juices, and demonstrate how food and nutrition help us to Live in Wellness from a dietitian’s point of view.

Our fabulous June 2017 events in Lebanon, PA at Juniper Village at Lebanon include our:

§  Communication with Persons that Have Hearing Loss with Jack French, owner of Zounds of Lancaster Hearing Center, who will discuss strategies, techniques and tips that enable good quality communication whether the individual wears hearing aids or not; there is no cost to attend this informational session that will be held in The Club of the Community House and a complimentary breakfast will be provided on June 7^th from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. (RSVP by June 5^th to 717-272-8782.)

§  Fresh and Healthy Fun Meals for the Summer as we join Kaitlyn Berkheiser, RD, LDN of WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital, for a lunch experience that demonstrates how to prepare quick and healthy meals during the summer months, so bring a guest and learn the value of working together to create healthy nutritious meals; there is no cost to attend this informational session held in The Club of the Community House and a light lunch will be provided on June 21^st from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm. (RSVP by June 19^th to 717-272-8782.)

§  WellSpan Health Managing Stress Series as in this program, participants learn to relax, breathe and adapt to stress, and learn to change their attitudes and perceptions when they can't change the world; there is no cost to attend this educational series held in The Club of the Community House on June 22^nd, 29^th, and July 6^th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. (RSVP to 717-270-7764.)

§  Blood Drive For Central PA Blood Bank because each pint of blood donated can save as many as three lives, everyone’s participation is encouraged and much appreciated, so join us at Juniper Village to make your contribution to the Central PA Blood Bank set-up in The Club of the Community House; no appointment is necessary, and a goody bag will be provided to each donor on June 27^th from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

We look forward to sharing our June 2017 events in Lebanon, PA at Juniper Village at Lebanon with you as you Live In Wellness.

An Award Winning Evening for Judy!

Resident Judy Gonshor was the honored guest at the Heritage Girls award ceremony on May 16th.  When the leader of the Heritage Girls found out that Judy is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the famous hymn-writer Fanny Crosby, she knew that she had to include Judy in the awards ceremony, because three girls had just earned their Fanny Crosby badges!  Judy looked like a seasoned public speaker as she walked up to the microphone to speak about her famous relative, who wrote the lyrics to over 8,000 hymns, even though she was blind for her whole life!  Judy's daughter Jackie, also a relative of Fanny's, was present for the ceremony, as were several members of the Joyful Noise Singers, who led the gathering in singing two of Fanny's most popular hymns, "Blessed Assurance" and "To God Be the Glory".

Happy Spring!

We were planning to do something with the big bin of silk flowers that we had accumulated over the years, and we wanted to do something to decorate our doors for spring.  So we purchased sheets of styrofoam, cut out the initials of the participants, added a ribbon to hang them, and then let everyone do their own thing.  Each finished door hanger turned out totally different from each other door hanger, even though everyone started with the same ingredients!  Special thanks to our next door neighbor, Chiko, who is from Japan but is staying at Youth With A Mission for a few weeks.  She was a huge help in cutting wire stems and helping with the gluing process.  She had as much fun as the participants, and she promises to return in July after her mission trip to South America!  We appreciate all of our wonderful volunteers!

The Lebanon Senior Singers Visit Juniper Village!

The residents of Juniper Village at Lebanon were recently treated to a very special concert by the Lebanon Senior Singers.  They only make a few community appearances each season, so we felt very honored that they chose to visit us.  It was standing room only as they performed beautiful arrangements of some of our favorite songs, including "Y-M-C-A", which had everyone throwing their hands into the air.  They promised to visit us again for their holiday program.  We will be looking forward to that!