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Autumn Leaves Prelude to White Winter
03:08PM / Wednesday, November 02, 2016
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Driving around Northern Berkshire County this gorgeous October treats both residents and visitors alike to stunning, vibrant, oranges, reds and golds of the autumn leaves. Leaf peepers drive to the Berkshires from all over to take in the breathless beauty of the trees atop Mount Greylock, Jiminy Peak, the Taconic Mountains and more.

In the midst of this beautiful time of the year, many are already lamenting the coming of winter. Rather than revel in the current beauty and enjoyment of the moment, folks are saying, "sure, it’s nice now, but you know what’s next,” and other statements expressing a similar sentiment. Generally speaking, it's good to enjoy the moment: Don’t look ahead to the snow and cold of winter because it’s going to come no matter what you do, so breathe in the scent and beauty of these stunning autumn leaves and worry about winter when it gets a little closer.   

However, for our seniors, it is extremely important to think and plan ahead for the coming winter.

We cannot count on another mild winter like we had in 2015-2016, and with snow, ice and sometimes dangerously cold temperatures, many of our senior citizens are looking at several months of anxiety, relying on others for snow removal, grocery shopping and transportation to appointments. Along with all of those issues, there is one more problem of a cold, snowy winter that has a far greater impact on seniors — isolation.  Whether one is 100 percent healthy or has some physical or cognitive impairment, isolation negatively impacts the overall mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.   

https://www.mcmasteroptimalaging.org/blog/detail/professionals-blog/2016/04/08/loneliness-and-social-isolation-are-important-health-risks-in-the-elderly

What the community may worry about with regard to our cherished seniors as winter approaches is the possibility of them being trapped in their homes during a blizzard or dangerously cold temperatures, unable to get to the store, go to church or synagogue, and get to the senior center for exercise class and lunch with friends. We worry even more about what can happen if the high winds cause power outages, knocking out their lights AND their heat, knowing that they won’t call for help but rather, as most folks do, they will try to power through and take care of themselves, sometimes with tragic results.

With myriad senior living community options, Americans are truly blessed to have a choice to live in community, rather than struggle through the challenges and isolation of winter after winter. So why aren’t more seniors working towards this move now, instead of waiting for an injury and something even worse to force their hands?

One of the biggest obstacles for seniors, whether they are 65 or 95, is the idea of leaving their homes. People in some senior living communities refer to a person or couple’s home as the “house” they’ve owned or lived in for the past 40, 50 or 60 years. Yes, it is a house but, most importantly, it is a home. It is the place they first lived with their beloved spouse; the place where they watched their children play in the yard; where they measured the annual growth of their children with the pencil mark on the wall or door jamb.  Their home was host to countless Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas mornings with family from all over, many who have left this life for the next.  Their homes are where they mowed the lawn, planted vegetable and flower gardens, the place where they helped their children get ready in their Halloween costumes to go trick or treating and from where they watched those same children go off to college, get married or join the service.  

So, at Sweetwood of Williamstown, when we are talking with a family about the possibility of them or their parents moving into our Sweetwood community, we know that, in many cases, the people with whom we are talking are experiencing the anticipatory grief of leaving their home behind, as it contains all the memories of what their love and lives have been.

In reality, that love and those memories are contained in them and they will take them wherever they go. For those with cognitive impairment and, indeed, in all of us, memories are carried in our hearts, in our spirits – the very core of our beings – and nothing can ever take them from us.  If our house is destroyed by a fire or natural disaster such as a hurricane or tornado, do our memories disappear with it?  No, they do not, anymore than they do when we move to a new house and create a new home.

At Sweetwood, we understand the difficulty of leaving one’s home; many of us have had to do it, and it isn’t easy. On the other side of the difficulty and the grief associated with such a change is the opportunity to create a new home and new memories, to add to those already living in our heads and our hearts. Many of us are conditioned to believe that we cannot make new friends, find new hobbies and start new journeys at a certain age. Such a belief sells all of us short, and at Sweetwood, anyone observing and interacting with the entire Sweetwood community would see how wrong that belief is.

So, prepare for the cold of winter by planning to join us in the warmth, comfort, safety and adventure at Sweetwood of Williamstown. A new home is here for you, along with new friends and new memories to be made – all of these to be added to the homes, friends and memories that have enriched your life thus far and made you person you are today!

 

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