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Southgate at Shrewsbury

Retirement community near Shrewsbury and Worcester, MA

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Southgate & CVS Vaccinate Residents Successfully

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After several weeks of preplanning, Southgate at Shrewsbury and CVS Pharmacy orchestrated six successful vaccine clinics to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine safely and efficiently to their residents and staff.

CVS & Southgate Teams. Featured in this Photo are Kate Aleksiewicz, Lead Pharmacist and members of her CVS pharmacy staff, Southgate employees Sheila Meucci, Health & Wellness Director; Kara Ewick, Resident Services Director; Deborah Bourque, Resident Liaison; Rogerio Neves, Housekeeping Director; William Zangarine, Hampton Suites Director.

Southgate at Shrewsbury management organized the clinic to ensure that social distancing protocols were followed and that common surfaces were sanitized between each appointment. Many Southgate staff volunteered to assist in setting up and running separate pre-registration areas for temperature screening, a quiet area where staff could assist residents with paperwork, a CVS registration table, and four screened-off areas for vaccination and observation.

Not even a challenge from an impressive Nor’easter storm could halt the efforts of Southgate and CVS to safely vaccinate residents and staff. To ensure delivery of the second vaccine, Southgate provided their guest apartment with dining accommodations to CVS pharmacists, who stayed overnight to ensure the clinic could be held the day following the storm.

Lead Pharmacist Kate Aleksiewicz and her CVS Pharmacy team brave a nor’easter  to vaccinate over 200 Residents and Employee

In a letter to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Southgate CEO Dana Levenson wrote, “We could not have higher praise for the folks from CVS. Our residents and employees have been thanking us for the vaccinations, but it truly should be us thanking you and CVS.”

Of the team at Southgate at Shrewsbury, Executive Vice President Patricia A. LaCross provided the following comment:

“Our Southgate staff have been very present during the last 11 months of COVID, stepping up to guard the stations at our entrances to screen guests 24 hours a day, providing services safely to the best of their ability, and working the day-long vaccine clinics to assure that operations ran smoothly, so there were no missed opportunities to vaccinate our Residents. We have a real committed staff, and I honestly couldn’t be prouder of our team. I call them Southgate Warriors!”

Last Clinic Day: Bill Zangarine and Kara Ewick presented several gift baskets to the CVS Pharmacy Team in thanks for their extraordinary effort to vaccine our entire Southgate Community.

 

Prediabetes Awareness & Diabetes Prevention: What You Need To Know

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Diabetes awareness and prevention is always a hot topic among the senior population, but what about prediabetes? Awareness of prediabetes is incredibly important to our overall health, yet the CDC estimates a staggering 88 million American adults have prediabetes and 84% of those are unaware they have it!

So what is prediabetes? Simply put, prediabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes doesn’t have any clear symptoms, so it often goes unnoticed and undiagnosed.

The good news is that a prediabetes diagnosis does not mean you will surely progress to having type 2 diabetes. It means you are at greater risk, but with proper mitigation and the guidance of a medical professional, it also means you are better educated and able to make the changes necessary to avoid type 2 diabetes.

How Do I Know If I Have Prediabetes?

Talk to your doctor about getting your blood sugar tested, regularly. Particularly if you fall into any of these more at-risk groups:

  • Having a family history of diabetes
  • History of gestational diabetes
  • Being overweight
  • Limited physical activity
  • African American, Hispanic/Latino American, Native American or Pacific Islander
  • Diet rich in processed meat & sugar-sweetened beverages
  • Over 45 years old
  • Tobacco user
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome
  • Disrupted sleep patterns or sleep apnea

I Have Prediabetes. What Now?

In a way, finding out you have prediabetes is a beneficial tool in preventing type 2 diabetes. Because you haven’t progressed to type 2 diabetes, you likely aren’t experiencing the symptoms associated with diabetes. You can make a few simple lifestyle changes to control your blood sugar levels and prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Change Up Your Diet

If you have a lot of red meat, processed foods or sugar-added beverages in your diet, start switching those out for healthier snacks and beverages. Introduce more fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains into your diet. Switch your vegetable and canola oil out for healthier olive and avocado oil, and make sure to cut down on the processed foods and meats.

Cutting out those sugary beverages can be tricky if you’ve become accustomed to the sweetness. Try phasing them out by introducing new beverages you can make easily at home such as infused water or replacing it with kombucha or green tea.

Increase Your Activity

Increasing your activity levels will also help stabilize your prediabetes. You don’t need to start running marathons, just simply introduce 15–30 minutes of moderately strenuous activity into your daily routine!

woman swimming

This can take many forms, whether it be walking, jogging, swimming, or exercising with weights and machines. Physical activity helps moderate your blood sugar levels, but you will want to stay consistent!

Prediabetes awareness is very important, particularly for seniors, as it can help us make the lifestyle changes we need to ensure a longer, healthier and happier life. Be sure to talk to you doctor about getting your blood sugar levels tested regularly, and check on your diet and lifestyle. Your golden years should be just that—golden!

Is A Turkey Too Much? Try A Thanksgiving Cornish Hen

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Roasted Hen

Roasted Hen with stuffing and beans.

With Thanksgiving drawing near, many of us are preparing a scaled-down version of our annual feast. We can still enjoy the holiday with each other virtually, but the need for massive pans of food on the table to feed our families and friends may not be necessary in many cases.

While most dishes are very easy to scale down for a single household, there is one dish that can be difficult to orchestrate: the turkey. Turkeys do not come in single-family servings, but there are delightful birds ready to highlight your holiday table that are perfect for small groups.

Cornish hens make for beautiful miniature centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table and can be stuffed and cooked in a more manageable way due to their size. Not only do they take less time, but they come out every bit as delicious.

Preparing A Cornish Hen

Cornish Game Hen

A roasted cornish game hen fresh out of the oven and garnished with a sprig of rosemary.

Preparing a Cornish hen takes significantly less time and labor being that the average bird weighs between one and two pounds compared to a 15-pound turkey.

You can prepare your favorite stuffing the same way as you would for a turkey—just much less of it! Adjust your recipe according to the combined weight of your Cornish hen(s).

Heat your oven to 350º, place your hens on a greased roasting pan and cover them with foil. Bake them for 40 minutes.

Remove the foil, brush any herbed or plain melted butter over the hens, and bake for an additional 25-35 minutes. You will know when your hens are done when the juices run clear and the internal temperatures read 180º for the hens and 165º for the stuffing.

Delicious Roasted Cornish Game Hen with Stuffing served in a Shallow White Dish on a Wood Table

Delicious Roasted Cornish Game Hen with Stuffing

Even though your physical table may be a bit smaller than most years, your Thanksgiving meal can still be just as delicious as it always is. And even though your physical table may be smaller, don’t forget you can make your virtual table larger. If you need help getting started, check out our blog post about keeping in contact under quarantine.

From all of us at Southgate at Shrewsbury, we wish you a happy, safe, and delicious Thanksgiving!

Maintaining Our Hearing As We Age

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Did you hear that? Maybe it was popcorn popping in the kitchen, or perhaps the pattering of your dog’s feet as he scampered across the floor. Was is the birds waking and chirping, outside your window?

Our environments are filled with unique sounds, and a simple sound can trigger an emotional response that takes you back through beautiful memories or to faraway places. Taking care of hearing as we age will help us ensure a higher quality of perception and life.

We have all heard that we need to wear earmuffs or ear plugs in loud places like concerts, and not to turn the volume up too loudly on our headphones. Those are good practices, but what else can we do to help preserve our hearing, as we get older? The following tips will help you do your best to maintain and even potentially strengthen your hearing.

Eat for Your Ears

Hearing contributes to the enjoyment of eating. That satisfying “crunch” sound created by something like a tortilla chip, or that “squirt” noise from an extra-juicy peach are examples of how sound enhances the eating experience—but that’s not what we mean by “eat for your ears!”

A recent 22-year study conducted by medical professionals associated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that simply following one of three healthy diets decreased likelihood of hearing loss by at least 30 percent; the Alternative Mediterranean Diet (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Hypertension (DASH), or the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010).

On a more micro level, certain nutrients like folic acid have been linked to a decline in hearing loss associated with aging populations. Legumes, broccoli, asparagus and beets contain some of the highest contents of folic acid. This list of 15 foods from Healthline is a great place to start.

Zinc may not be a mineral you think of often, but it is very important for both a healthy immune system and the defense against hearing loss. This particular study found an improvement in tinnitus and sensorineural hearing loss in one-third of elderly adults. Those numbers are encouraging when you compare them to this study from Oregon State University that estimates as many as 40% of the elderly population may be zinc deficient. Adding more zinc to your diet is not a daunting task—try eating more dark chocolate, sweet potatoes, cashews, or a number of the other delicious foods on this list from WorldHealth.

Diets rich in vitamins A and C in conjunction with magnesium have been shown to halt the production of damaging free-radical molecules that attack the sensitive hairs in our inner hair we use to hear properly. Great sources of vitamin A include carrots, red peppers, beef liver, and even vanilla ice cream! Eat This, Not That put together a list of eight great food filled with Vitamin A.

For Vitamin C, we have all heard of citrus, but foods like bell peppers, guavas and strawberries have even more of this vital antioxidant! MyFoodData put together a list of the top ten foods highest in vitamin C. Here’s a hint: hit the produce aisle!

To increase your magnesium intake, look to pumpkin seeds, almonds, soymilk, and even shredded wheat cereal. Many of the foods you love may be higher on this list of foods with magnesium from the Cleveland Clinic.

Get Your Hearing Tested Regularly

As with all health matters, prevention is key. So be sure to talk to your doctor about your own personal hearing health and be sure to get regular checkups.

Protecting our ears is not something we tend to think about on a daily basis—even though we use them all the time! Even when we are sleeping, our ears are active. We use them beyond just our basic communication—we use them to perceive so much about the world around us and rely on them to activate certain mental and physical responses.

If you eat for your ears and follow the above best practices, you will greatly increase the likelihood your hearing remains strong as you age. Now sit back, close your eyes, and just listen …