Hearing involves not only your ears but also the brain, so it’s no wonder that hearing loss can go hand in hand with thinking and memory problems. Studies are increasingly linking hearing loss to issues such as faster brain shrinkage, earlier onset of significant cognitive impairment, and up to a quintupled risk of dementia. Addressing conditions such as hearing loss, however, could help prevent a third of dementia cases worldwide, per a UK research collaborative. With hearing health and overall wellness so connected, it’s important to seek regular hearing checks and address listening difficulties early.
Community News
Preventing Slips and Falls
Falls are more common among people over 65 years of age, so it’s especially important for seniors to take steps to reduce falls as much as possible. Making a few modifications in the home can prevent dangerous situations, such as slippery floors, poor lighting, loose rugs, electrical cords, and clutter. Visit each room in your home. Then look at the space objectively and ask: Is this safe? Are there objects or items that present a falls risk? If so, think about the many ways to create a safer home: wear nonslip socks or slippers, use night lights in dark hallways, remove throw rugs, keep electrical cords safely hidden behind furniture and organize your projects so they are off the floor and out of walkways.
New Year, New Smile!
Are you ready to kick off a new year with a dazzling new smile? Have you considered dentures? Dentures are removable replacements for your missing teeth, made to appear and function as well as your natural teeth and surrounding gum tissues. Missing teeth can result in your face taking on a sunken-like appearance. Dentures can effectively reverse that by providing a structure with definition back into your cheeks, making you look younger and livelier. You can enjoy a straighter and more even smile and the procedure will complete the spaces where there were once gaps. This year, give yourself a confident and healthy smile!
Sleep Hygiene – Ending Insomnia
When insomnia is ongoing, try altering your sleep habits. There is ample clinical evidence supporting the effectiveness of a concept called Sleep Hygiene – recommendations that help with the specific aim of improving sleep quality. Even a few slight adjustments can help immensely. These can include having a bedtime routine and avoiding nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. Listen to soothing music, and schedule ‘worry’ time for the next day. Patients can phone Cerebra Health to get a sleep study sent directly to their home. The results are interpreted by a specialist at Cardio 1 Medical and the appropriate treatments are reviewed with each person one on one.
Smoking Affects Your Hearing
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? If you are a smoker, you can now add increased risk of hearing loss to the list of reasons to quit. The chemicals found in cigarettes may affect the way your ear processes sound. In fact, smokers have been found to be 15% more likely to have hearing loss than non-smokers. Hearing loss isn’t fatal, but it can lead to a number of health-related issues down the line. Dementia & depression have been linked to untreated hearing loss, so be sure to have your ears checked regularly. Get started by scheduling a hearing test today.
Sleep Hygiene – Ending Insomnia
When insomnia is ongoing, try altering your sleep habits. There is ample clinical evidence supporting the effectiveness of a concept called Sleep Hygiene – recommendations that help with the specific aim of improving sleep quality. Even a few slight adjustments can help immensely. These can include having a bedtime routine and avoiding nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. Listen to soothing music, and schedule ‘worry’ time for the next day. Patients can phone Cerebra Health to get a sleep study sent directly to their home. The results are interpreted by a specialist at Cardio 1 Medical and the appropriate treatments are reviewed with each person one on one.
Sleep Hygiene – Ending Insomnia
When insomnia is ongoing, try altering your sleep habits. There is ample clinical evidence supporting the effectiveness of a concept called Sleep Hygiene – recommendations that help with the specific aim of improving sleep quality. Even a few slight adjustments can help immensely. These can include having a bedtime routine and avoiding nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. Listen to soothing music, and schedule ‘worry’ time for the next day. Patients can phone Cerebra Health to get a sleep study sent directly to their home. The results are interpreted by a specialist at Cardio 1 Medical and the appropriate treatments are reviewed with each person one on one.
Smoking Affects Your Hearing
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? If you are a smoker, you can now add increased risk of hearing loss to the list of reasons to quit. The chemicals found in cigarettes may affect the way your ear processes sound. In fact, smokers have been found to be 15% more likely to have hearing loss than non-smokers. Hearing loss isn’t fatal, but it can lead to a number of health-related issues down the line. Dementia & depression have been linked to untreated hearing loss, so be sure to have your ears checked regularly. Get started by scheduling a hearing test today.
Smoking Affects Your Hearing
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? If you are a smoker, you can now add increased risk of hearing loss to the list of reasons to quit. The chemicals found in cigarettes may affect the way your ear processes sound. In fact, smokers have been found to be 15% more likely to have hearing loss than non-smokers. Hearing loss isn’t fatal, but it can lead to a number of health-related issues down the line. Dementia & depression have been linked to untreated hearing loss, so be sure to have your ears checked regularly. Get started by scheduling a hearing test today.
Hidden Gem Awaits at Lions Place
It’s a tall, unassuming, 18 story apartment building on Portage Avenue where countless commuters drive by it daily. It’s not far from the downtown core, and to most Winnipeggers the building labelled “Lions Place”, looks like any other 55+ residence.
Lions Place, under the Lions Housing Centres umbrella, has a unique and truly one-of-a-kind feature in their building, and you’ll find it tucked away in the back on the main floor, The Greenhouse, a little touch of nature that is also attached to a backyard garden for the resident’s enjoyment.
On any given day, if you wander through the space that boasts tall ceilings and plenty of natural light, there’s a very good chance you’ll find long-time resident Dorothy Wilk. Wilk moved into the building back in 2007, and it was because of this very amenity that she decided to call it home.
“Yes, the Greenhouse is what brought me here,” she laughs. “My son accidentally found this building, and thought yes, my mom would enjoy it here.”
Now, she’s not just enjoying it, Wilk has made it her “baby”.
She heads up a small group of volunteers and has taken it upon herself to make sure the space is attractive, clean, and of course full of foliage. Wilk oversees the buying of the plants, soil, fertilizers, and any supplies needed – all reimbursed, of course, by Lions Housing Centres.
After a new organizational structure was put in place in 2020, Lions Place has seen many improvements throughout the building – but the one Wilk is most happy about is the Greenhouse restoration project, where the renovations are now almost fully complete. A project that began this past summer now sees new cabinetry, flooring, lighting, and paint – the choice of colour an honour bestowed upon Wilk and a few other volunteers. It’s now given the space a new life after years of being overlooked by previous management.
“I was delighted because nothing had been done since I have been involved, which is approximately 15 years,” she muses, “other than what the volunteers had finished on their own.”
While she is never short of volunteers for the greenhouse, it’s the outside garden in the backyard that is a bit more work to recruit help. This area -slated for improvements of its’ own in the summer of 2022 – gets TLC from Lions Place maintenance staff who look after the outside plots, shrubbery, and weeds, all of course under a watchful eye from Wilk who has high standards. Nestled in amongst the shrubs is the Memory Garden, started by the residents in 2012. It’s a space devoted to friends who have passed away at Lions Place. Roses and lilies adorn the area, all courtesy of residents who provided the plants or the funds to honour them.
For Wilk, who turns 92 in February, there is nowhere else she’d rather be, and loves nothing more than taking the time to talk to residents and tour them around the greenhouse. She wouldn’t trade her work in the space for anything.
“It just makes me feel valued as a member of society, that I’m useful,” she smiles. “Doesn’t matter the age you are, you can always be useful.”
If you would like to donate to the Greenhouse restoration project, or the upcoming garden improvements please visit their website at www.lhc.ca.
– Michelle Lissel
Clean Homes and Safe Gatherings
December is a busy time for everyone, with activities like sports, shopping for the holidays and with the New Year soon approaching. Hosting family gatherings requires a lot of work and preparation, and cleaning is a big part of getting things ready for those events. Having cleaning professionals take care of getting your home sparkling clean and ready for your guests can help take some of the pressure off, so you can focus on other things. Keeping your guests safe and healthy is also important and high-touch disinfectant services can help keep your home bacteria and virus free so you can relax and enjoy the day!
