Health and Everyday Living for Seniors

Prevention is easier than treatment. Regular check-ups, staying active, eating well, staying hydrated, managing medications carefully, and keeping socially engaged all help older adults avoid common health problems and stay independent longer.

Art and creative activities support mood, focus, and connection, and they are especially valuable for people living with dementia. Creating something, or simply enjoying color, music, and movement, can bring calm and joy even when words become harder to find.

Meaningful, low-pressure activities give a senior a sense of purpose and connection. A simple craft, familiar music, or looking through old photos together all work well. The activity matters less than doing it together and keeping it enjoyable.

Good nutrition gets harder with age, but fresh, familiar meals make a real difference for energy, mood, and health. In-home meal services and home-cooked food, shared with company, support both wellbeing and enjoyment at the table.

Residents wake on their own. They are retired, and we think they should be allowed to sleep in, so mornings begin anywhere between 7:00 and 10:30 with juice, coffee or tea and a bowl of fresh cut fruit. We say the pledge and talk about the day, the season and the weather, then sit down to a hot breakfast. Afterwards there is usually a table game, and for some residents watching the others play is entertainment enough. Lunch and dinner are eaten together as a family, always with dessert after lunch. After dinner, medications are given and everyone is helped to get ready for bed. Every bedroom has a television and a private ensuite bathroom, though most residents would rather be in the den or the kitchen with everyone else.

Our night staff prepare breakfast and lunch, which frees the daytime caregivers to spend their hours with residents, and the caregivers take turns making dinner from planned menus. Breakfast might be bacon and eggs, pancakes, waffles, yogurt or bagels. Because we are only cooking for a handful of people, we can cater to what each resident actually likes. If someone wants pineapple jam, we get pineapple jam. We also encourage fluids through the day to keep everyone properly hydrated.

Five days a week, after lunch, an entertainer comes to the home: pianists, guitarists, flutists and singers, along with a chair yoga instructor and an arts and crafts teacher. The live music and sing-alongs are a favorite. There are also fresh air walks, time outside on the deck, manicures and trivia. Wednesday is the ice cream social, and on Sundays we serve High Tea in place of lunch, with china teapots, tea cups, finger sandwiches and sweet treats. Happy hour brings savory snacks like little quiches, fried shrimp and chicken skewers.

Just Like Home is non medical. We hold a Connecticut Department of Public Health Residential Care Home license, and the caregivers who pass medications are state medication certified, as are our House Manager and Administrator. A concierge medical team visits the home every two weeks, and more often when needed. Psychiatrists, physicians, podiatrists and cardiologists come to the home rather than residents having to travel to appointments. Physical and occupational therapy can also be provided on site.