“Anybody can learn how to play their own music, any way they can,” says music teacher Michael Cobus. By Shawna Culleton Music teacher Michael Cobus offers a gentle challenge to his older adult students when they hesitate over learning a particularly difficult composition: “If not now, then when?” Cobus has been teaching the recorder to mostly older adult students for …
Regular dental checkups and hygiene can help prevent or catch age-related problems of the mouth, including cavities, gum disease, stomatitis and oral cancer. By Ryan McBride Open wide and say “Ahh” It used to be thought that tooth decay and an overall decline in dental health were inevitable consequences of getting older. Not so, today. Thanks to advances in dental …
Do you have trouble understanding what people are saying in a noisy place? Do you think everyone is mumbling? Hearing loss may the culprit—and it can take a toll on your wellbeing. Help is available! Aging is the number one cause of hearing loss So says the Canadian Hearing Society, which also reports that the incidence of hearing loss is …
You can’t prevent many of the changes to your eyes that come with age, but you can protect your vision and reduce your risk of developing eye disease. The eyes have it. Until they don’t. For most of us, our eyes begin to show signs of aging in our mid-40s. From there, our vision deteriorates with every passing year. In …
Pelvic floor muscles that are weak, tight or loose may be the culprit behind frequent urination. Lifestyle changes and a visit to a physiotherapist may bring all the relief you need. By Lindsay Mykes They’re the hardworking muscles nobody wants to talk about. In fact, nobody really thinks about them until they stop doing their jobs. They’re the pelvic floor …
When it comes to fitness, there is no-one-size fits all formula that works for every body—but aquacize comes close. By Shawna Culleton Struggling with pain or mobility issues that interfere with your fitness goals? Dip into aquacize. Aquacize, or aquatic exercise, is really just any aerobic endurance class held in deep or shallow water. Water’s buoyancy supports part of your …
Above: Former Deer Lodge Centre resident Dorothy Kirkwood helped foundation board member Belinda Bigold discover the power of Making Lives Better. By Belinda Bigold I grew up on nearby Linwood Street, a nd continue to live on the same street today, so Deer Lodge Centre has been ever-present in my life. My siblings and my daughter (who all attended Linwood …
Whether you follow the Planetary Health Diet, the Mediterranean Diet or the updated Canada Food Guide, piling your plate with healthy, delicious food is only part of the story. By Victoria Beechum Nutrition has been making news this spring. With all the noise (and controversy) hitting the headlines, the question of how to choose a winning diet might seem more …
Installing gyms on Deer Lodge Centre’s geriatric rehabilitation units has improved quality of care for patients and families, and boosted collaboration between healthcare teams. By Ryan McBride At Deer Lodge Centre, we bring the gym to you. That’s the basic idea behind recent changes to how Deer Lodge provides physio and occupational therapy to patients on its geriatric rehab units. …
Dr. Mandana Modirrousta with the rTMS machine at St. Boniface Hospital. Photo by St. Boniface Hospital Foundation. By Greg Holmes A promising treatment in the fight against depression is now available to clients of the Operational Stress Injury Clinic at Deer Lodge Centre. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or rTMS, is a painless brain-stimulation therapy that has been proven to improve …
It sounds like baby-talk: each word over-exaggerated and a little too loud, each sentence drawn out in a long, high-pitched sing-song. But when you speak that way to an older adult, it’s called elderspeak—and there’s nothing cute about it. Many people use elderspeak (consciously or not) to show caring or sympathy. But that sympathy is grounded in a gross assumption: …
Programs offer multiple treatment options for military personnel and veterans suffering from operational stress injuries By Shawna Culleton For soldiers and veterans, bravery is in their very blood. They’re conditioned from basic training onward to charge into places and situations from which an instinct for self-preservation would drive the rest of us away. Like a thousand tiny fractures, the impacts …