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Southgate at Shrewsbury

Retirement community near Shrewsbury and Worcester, MA

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retirement

Three Keys to Remaining Happily Healthy in Retirement

October 29, 2021 by Southgate

Understanding Senior Depression

In order to optimize happiness in retirement and avoid senior depression, it’s important to understand the unique difficulties the elderly community faces. As we get older, we are more likely to live alone and feel isolated. Friends, family and neighbors have moved, and the landscapes around us have changed. We are also more likely to deal with physical and mental ailments.

Depending on the study, it’s estimated that up to almost 25% of seniors deal with or have dealt with senior depression. It can often be difficult to identify because the symptoms can be conflated with other mental and physical issues associated with aging.

Because depression can be left undiagnosed, it behooves seniors to combat depression proactively. It is also key to understand the difference between grief (which lasts for a limited time and is linked to a jarring event such as death or a move) and chronic depression. The following tactics will help you maintain a fulfilling life in retirement.

Make New Friends

As we get older, it is inevitable our social landscape will change. A recent study conducted at Michigan State University highlights how valuing friendships later in life correlated to overall improved mental and physical function even more than family. This is not to say family is not important, it is meant to highlight the truly powerful value of quality friendship.

As we grow older, our interests and abilities may change, but our need for a fulfilling social life does not. If you’re looking to make new friends in retirement, try taking a class, volunteering, joining a group or getting a part-time job. Keep yourself in environments where you’re stimulated and meeting new people—depression will have a harder time creeping in and affecting your mental and physical state.

Watch Your Nutrition and Be Active

Proper nutrition and physical activity are important at any age, but as we grow older, the problems associated with having poor nutrition and lackadaisical exercise habits can be significantly more hampering. Poor nutrition and low activity levels not only lead to a myriad of physical health issues like high blood pressure, brittle bones and increased risk of diabetes, they also increase the likelihood depression will take hold.

While you’re physically active, endorphins are released into the brain’s opioid receptors, causing you to feel euphoric. When you’re exercising effectively, you also stave off physical ailments that can lead to time away from activity and lead to more feelings of isolation.

Ensuring quality nutrition habits will not only help stave off illnesses such as diabetes and various forms of cancer, it will keep your brain functioning more powerfully and help regulate mood. This 2017 study found people with depression that adopted a better nutrition plan felt their symptoms improve. Check out this WebMD article to help you with your nutrition, but also …

Talk To Your Doctor

As we age, it becomes more important that we have regular check-ups with our doctors. Always keep your doctor in the loop! If you have a broken arm, you will obviously tell your doctor, so why not do the same for your brain? Your doctor will be able to assist you in gathering the resources you need to best take care of yourself, whether it be the right medication, the right diet or the right medical professional.

All in all, remain engaged with the world around you and you will be much less likely to suffer from senior depression. This can be difficult as your world changes, which is why independent living communities like Southgate at Shrewsbury provide residents with a bevy of activities and events to keep them engaged, active and happy. If you’re concerned about depression as you enter retirement, an independent living community might be the best option for you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: healthy living, retirement, senior health, tips

What To Look For In a Retirement Community In 2021

February 16, 2021 by Southgate

Congratulations! You’ve worked hard and have reached an exciting new phase of life wide open with possibilities—welcome to retirement!

So what now? How will you spend all that newfound free time? Where will you spend all that newfound free time?

You’ve decided to live in a retirement community, but with so many options, how do you begin to narrow it down?

Will The Community Fit Your Lifestyle?

You will want to make sure your retirement community offers easy access to the lifestyle you enjoy. Amenities and conveniences come in many shapes and sizes, so you should be able to make sure you have access to what you need to maximize the enjoyment of retirement.

Whether you’re more into physical activity, like to spend time outside or in the garden, enjoy pursuing more knowledge or simply gathering in social places, communities like Southgate at Shrewsbury have a wide variety of amenities and conveniences to ensure you not only adjust to life in retirement, but love it! With our on-site dining options, handicap-accessible garden, woodworking shop, gym and spa, extensive programming and so much more, Southgate is a great place for anyone to find what they are looking for in retirement. Check out our amenities here.

Convenience Is Key!

Convenience is Key
The pandemic has taught us all the true value of convenience and efficiency, and these are absolutely traits you should look for in a retirement community.

This applies not only to what they have on-site, but what is nearby. Do you have access to the healthcare you need or the shopping you desire? How about good food?

As we age, having access to great healthcare in an efficient manner becomes more important. At Southgate at Shrewsbury, we not only have excellent on-site healthcare and wellness options, but are located near some of the most highly regarded hospitals and medical providers in the country.

In terms of shopping and conveniences, it is quite easy to make sure your favorite stores are nearby or that your favorite delivery services will ship to your community. Communities like Southgate even have convenience stores on site, along with other services like beauty salons and several different dining options.

Cleanliness & Friendliness

When looking for a place to spend your golden years, you certainly want to end up somewhere that is both clean and sanitary as well as friendly. A positive atmosphere goes a long way to ensuring you make the most of retirement.

When checking out independent living communities, be sure to inspect the common areas for organization and cleanliness. Does the staff seem to take pride in what they do? Do the residents take pride in their community? If the answer to both of those is “yes,” you will likely be greeted by a clean and organized facility.

Be sure to also check out the staff. Are they helpful and do they carry themselves with a positive demeanor? If you are to spend your golden years at a retirement community, the staff can be the thing that makes it extra special. This is a point of emphasis for all of us at Southgate at Shrewsbury. We both set the tone and encourage residents to be as involved as they want to be in helping to shape their community.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: independent living, retirement, retirement community

The Benefits of Living in a Retirement Community Right Now

December 4, 2020 by Southgate

With social distancing and COVID-19 becoming a staple in our current everyday lives, living in a retirement community has a plethora of additional benefits that should be considered when looking at life after your career.

You’ve worked hard to get to this point—you should ensure you set yourself up to enjoy your retirement, pandemic or not! Residing at an independent living facility has its perks, regardless. The following are some extra benefits the pandemic has shown us an independent living community has.

A Built In Social Network

With a large, diverse group of residents, living in a retirement community contains a built-in social network to help you maintain a vibrant social life. During the pandemic, socially distanced activities can still be planned. At a facility like Southgate at Shrewsbury, our residents and support staff alike are active in making sure our residents have something to keep them engaged despite the challenges a pandemic can cause.

Safe & Enclosed Facility

During unusual circumstances like a pandemic, a retirement community functions as a walled-off safe zone, which further protects residents from the virus. At Southgate at Shrewsbury, our attentive staff ensures our campus remains free of unnecessary risk so our residents can enjoy a calmer lifestyle.

On-Site Support Services & Staff

If you’re considering a retirement community like Southgate, you’ll notice the many on-site services, amenities and conveniences that allow for less travel into the outside world. On top of that, the staff operating these facilities are always ready to assist residents.

At Southgate, you will find convenient medical care on campus, a convenience store, multiple dining options, a beauty salon, a health spa and much more. For your enjoyment, there is also a library, swimming pool, candlepin bowling alley, woodworking studio, handicap-accessible garden and more.

While the pandemic has brought with it many challenges, choosing to live in a retirement community can be a solution to many of them by providing you with a safe environment insulated from unnecessary risks. You will find an exciting social community, wonderful living facilities and enough conveniences, services and activities to keep you engaged throughout your golden years.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: assisted living, benefits, independent living, retirement, retirement community, southgate

Book Review

April 10, 2020 by Southgate

Being retired means you have more free time to devote to enriching things you simply want to do. You may be unsure of how to spend that free time at first, but over time, you will come to find there are numerous ways to bolster your life in retirement.

One such thing we get to do more after we’re through with the hustle and bustle of work life is enter the wondrous world of literature. Whether it be with a group or under the simple light of your bedside table, delving into a great story brings us both emotional and cognitive benefits. If you’re looking to add some books to your list or do some extra reading while social distancing, check out the following five award-winners and recent releases:

The Nickel Boys: A Novel by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead’s dramatization of a real juvenile reform school operating in Florida during the Jim Crow-era South is explored through the eyes of Elwood Curtis, a young black man living in segregated Tallahassee who takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to heart. He believes he is “as good as anyone” and is about to attend a local black college. One innocent mistake changes Elwood’s trajectory, and he is sentenced to the Nickel Academy, a juvenile reformatory whose mission statement claims to turn delinquent boys into “honorable and honest men.” As Elwood encounters a sadistically abusive staff, he clings to Dr. King’s words: “Throw us in jail and we will still love you.” His ideals clash with his friend Turner’s, who believes scheming and avoiding trouble is the only way to make it in a corrupted world. The results of this ideological clash will echo for decades.

The Nickel Boys: A Novel explores the devastating history of a real reform school operated for 111 years in Florida during one of its darkest periods. The Florida School for Boys, or the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, would be completely shut down in the 21st century, but not before warping the lives of thousands. Whitehead’s dramatization is a New York Times Bestseller, winner of the Kirkus Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and was listed on Time Magazine’s list of the 10 Best Fiction Books of the Decade.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Author Robert Kolker uncovers and weaves the tale of the Galvin family, one of the first families studied by the National Institute of Mental Health, whose DNA has offered important information leading to decades of headway into understanding and combatting schizophrenia.

Don and Mimi Galvin are purportedly living the American Dream. After World War II, the Air Force moved Don to Colorado where he and Mimi had twelve children throughout the baby boom from 1945 to 1965. They seemed to be happy—a poster family for the new American Dream—but behind closed doors, the story was vastly different.

Being subjected to the hidden psychological, physical and emotional abuse took a major toll on the Galvin children. By the mid-1970’s, six of the ten Galvin boys had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, baffling the medical community.
The untold story of the Galvin’s offers a look through the often-dark history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization and lobotomies to the modern searches for genetic indicators of the disease. The happenings within the Galvin’s home on Hidden Valley Road and their DNA continue to play vital roles in the continuing effort to treat, protect from and even eradicate schizophrenia.

Code Name Hélène: A Novel by Ariel Lawhon

Ariel Lawhon explores the captivating story of real-life socialite-turned-spy Nancy Wake during World War II through four interweaving timelines coinciding with the four different names Wake used, starting with the time she married wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca in Paris.

After the Germans invade France, Mrs. Fiocca adopts a code name: Lucienne Carlier. She begins smuggling people and documents across the border to safety. As Ms. Carlier, she was dubbed The White Mouse by the Gestapo for her ability to both avoid capture and keep her identity secret. Eventually, a bounty of five million francs was placed on Nancy’s head, and she is forced to leave France and her husband behind.

After escaping to Britain, Nancy Wake trains with the Special Operations Executives in Britain and is given a new code name to use only with comrades: Hélène. Upon completion of her training, Nancy receives a mission and is airdropped back into France.
Back in France, Nancy now goes by Madam Andrée. She goes on to become one of the most influential and dangerous leaders of the French Revolution. She was witty, cunning, and known for both her signature red lipstick and ability to summon weapons straight from Allied Forces. Nancy only remains safe as long as the enemy cannot connect the dots and link her four identities. As France nears liberation, Nancy becomes more exposed and keeping her identities separate and secret from her enemy becomes more difficult and more imperative.

This novel was just published on March 31, 2020, and is already generating excellent reviews and substantial buzz. Kirkus Reviews says, “A compulsively readable account of a little-known yet extraordinary historical figure—Lawhon’s best book to date.”

Valentine: A Novel by Elizabeth Wetmore

In February 1976, the next great oil boom is about to hit Odessa, Texas. Wealth and prosperity are on the horizon, and the town is abuzz. Suddenly, the morning after Valentine’s Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramirez appears on Mary Rose Whitehead’s front porch, barely alive after suffering a vicious attack in a nearby oil field.

What happens when justice is difficult to achieve? When a case has already been tried on the local barstools and in the local church pews? Valentine explores the intersections of violence, race, class, religion and industry during the West Texas oil boom, painting a dark yet hopeful tale.

The number one new release on Amazon, Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine: A Novel has already received high praises, marking a wildly successful debut for Wetmore. Publishers Weekly says in a starred review, “Stirring … Wetmore poetically weaves the landscape of Odessa and the internal lives of her characters, whose presence remains vivid after the last page is turned. This moving portrait of West Texas oil country evokes the work of Larry McMurtry and John Sayles with strong, memorable female voices.”

The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel

Recently released in March 2020, The Mirror & The Light brings author Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy to a close. Following Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror & The Light explores the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the once-poor boy who became one of the most powerful men of his time.

The latest installment picks up in May, 1536 after the decapitation of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell, the simple blacksmith’s son from Putney, is celebrating with the victors. His master, Henry VIII, weds his third queen, Jane Seymour. The regime faces many threats, both internal and external. Under Henry VIII’s watchful and ruthless eye, how will Cromwell go on to become one of the most feared and influential people of his time?

Crafting a story from a historical event in which the outcome is known can be very difficult, but that’s exactly what Mantel does expertly in closing out the Wolf Hall Trilogy. The Times Literary Supplement referred to it as “some of the most complex and immersive fiction to have come along in years,” while the New York Times hailed it “the triumphant capstone to Mantel’s trilogy.”
Not sure what to do with some of that previously social time during social distancing? Dive into a great story and visit a whole new world.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: reading, retirement, senior living, southgate

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