M O T H E R…. Put Them All Together They Spell Mother

This past weekend we celebrated all of our wonderful mothers with a beautiful brunch. Our residents and their families loved spending time with each other and even making new friends. We had lots of good food, great music and tons of fun together.  Please stop by and join us for any of our upcoming events, we would love to see you!

Take Your Child To Work Day

As April ended we found ourselves celebrating “Take Your Child To Work Day”. Our staff brought their children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews to work. They were they a tremendous benefit to us. The kids helped out by walking around outside the buildings with our residents, helped hand out supplies, and even enjoyed a pizza party lunch and fresh hot soft pretzels. We also had a visit from Rosebud the Therapy Hen and everyone got to enjoy her. It was a fun day for all!

May 2017 Events in Williamstown, NJ: Grow Strong Daily

Continuing our Spring Alive In All Seasons focus on healthy again, we continue to let wellbeing thrive with a May focus on Fitness. Staying fit throughout all seasons of life is possible and at Juniper we promote fitness every day of the week! We recently shared on our Facebook page a New York Times story, authored by Gretchen Reynolds, providing results from the Mayo Clinic who recently conducted an experiment on the cells of 72 healthy but sedentary men and women who were 30 or younger or older than 64. The volunteers were randomly assigned to a particular exercise regimen. There were some unsurprising differences: The gains in muscle mass and strength were greater for those who exercised only with weights, while interval training had the strongest influence on endurance. But more unexpected results were found in the biopsied muscle cells. It seems as if the decline in the cellular health of muscles associated with aging was “corrected” with exercise, especially if it was intense, says Dr. Sreekumaran Nair, a professor of medicine and an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic and the study’s senior author. In fact, older people’s cells responded in some ways more robustly to intense exercise than the cells of the young did. So pick up those weights, get on that bike and remember it’s never too late to benefit from exercise. And if you’re not doing so already, follow us on social media so you don’t miss a thing.

We invite you to Grow Strong Daily along with us with programs such as Fitness Five and our Route 66 Walking Program. Learn more about fitness and keeping your heart healthy at our Heart Healthy Luncheon and educational presentation. Staying fit throughout all seasons of life is possible.

Our fabulous May 2017 events in Williamstown, NJ at Juniper Village at Williamstown include our:

§  Cinco De Mayo Celebration because it's time to pull out your old sombrero, grab your maracas and join us for our annual Cinco de Mayo celebration and enjoy traditional Mexican food, festive music and a whole lot of fun, with this month’s focus on Fitness we invite you to “Grow Strong Daily” while learning a Mexican folk dance and interesting facts about the day, and last but not least, bring your business cards to exchange and be entered to win our door prize, then leave us a big OLÉ on May 4^th at 3:00 pm.

§  Mother’s Day Brunch because whether you are a mother or have a wonderful mother, we invite you to enjoy a beautiful brunch and music to honor the special mothers in our lives, so spend quality time with your family and ours as we share stories of all the wonderful moms out there on May 7^th at 9:30 am. (RSVP by April 28^th at 856-740-4444.)

§  Memorial Day Celebration for a tribute as we honor those who have bravely served our country as we share an afternoon of food, music and stories about the men and woman that served our country in the past and are currently still serving in our armed forces, while we hear from our own Resident Associate Sarah about how proud she is to serve our country, so we look forward to sharing this special day with you on May 29^th at 3:00 pm.

We look forward to sharing our May 2017 events in Williamstown, NJ at Juniper Village at Williamstown with you as you Grow Strong Daily.

Every Bunny Loves Some Bunny….

Easter arrived early at Juniper Village at Williamstown. Our annual Easter Egg Hunt was a big hit. The kids loved finding the eggs and the adults loved our beautiful continental breakfast. I think the biggest hit was none other than  The Easter Bunny! Our bunny put smiles on everybody’s  face. Wishing you all a beautiful Passover and Easter!

April 2017 Events in Williamstown, NJ: Believe in Yourself

Each April we begin our Healthy Aging Series with a focus on brain health, and encourage you to Believe in Yourself. We know that believing in yourself has a positive effect on your mental health, but did you know that self-confidence influences your physical health as well? Recent studies show people who exhibit self-confidence are generally healthier and tend to live longer. That's because confidence is a positive emotion and positive emotions have countless health benefits for your mind, body and spirit. In nurturing wellbeing by encouraging an active body, an engaged mind and a fulfilled spirit, Juniper is also building self-confidence. The link between health and confidence also may be related to the ability of positive emotions to boost our brain's power to hold attention, be aware and remember things. We are better able to learn, build new skills and relate with others when we are feeling optimistic. Also confident people are better able to handle chaotic situations in a positive manner. This helps to reduce or avoid excessive stress, high blood pressure, anger, confusion – all the negative side effects of feeling powerless, overwhelmed and out of control.

If you need to kick start your confidence, here are a few things to try: smile; count your blessings; surround yourself with confident people; learn how others have found their confidence and follow their lead; challenge negative or inaccurate thinking and replace with accurate, constructive thoughts; and encourage yourself. You can also plan to join us this month for uplifting discussions and a focus on brain health with offerings such as Daily Brain Builders, Wii games, and a Brain Healthy Luncheon.

Our fabulous April 2017 events in Williamstown, NJ at Juniper Village at Williamstown include our:

§  Red Hatter’s Spring Fling as with this month’s focus on Brain Health in mind, we invite you to join in an afternoon filled with fun brain-challenging games, brain-healthy refreshments and lots more, and ladies, don’t forget to wear your traditional red and purple with pride while joining us for this festive occasion on April 5^th at 3:00 pm.

§  Annual Community and Family Easter Celebration as we are calling all family and friends to join us for a morning of fun as we celebrate Easter Juniper Village style, so bring the kids for our annual Easter egg hunt, pictures with The Easter Bunny and most of all good old-fashioned fun with our family and yours on April 8^th at 10:00 am.

§  First Annual Karaoke Idol Night to find out if you are the next Juniper Villager Karaoke Idol, let your brain take over, brush off your vocal chords, unleash your inner Rock Star and show us what you’ve got, as we enjoy a night of fun, friendship, food, networking and what’s sure to be the talk of the town, and of course, bring your business cards to exchange with your fellow rock stars on April 24^th at 6:30 pm.

We look forward to sharing our April 2017 events in Williamstown, NJ at Juniper Village at Williamstown with you as you Believe in Yourself.

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?....... To Get To Juniper Village Williamstown!

As we keep with our theme of “Performance” we need to know that there are many types of performers including animals. Today we had a visit from our friend Gwenne and her Half Rhode Island Red and half White Leghorn friend Rosebud. Rosebud is a therapy hen who loves to sit and be held and be loved by people. She wears a diaper as not to mess on anyone and is very polite about it. Everyone enjoyed holding her and learning about her from Gwenne. It truly is amazing to see how animals play such a big part in a person’s life. Rosebud brought smiles to all today!

Connect4Life Leads to Better Outcomes for Residents

Integrated Care in Seniors Housing that Meets the Triple Aim from Cindy Longfellow

Data shows Connect4Life’s high-tech/high-touch integrated services lead to higher quality care and better outcomes for residents

Executive Summary: Integrated Care in Seniors Housing that Meets
the Triple Aim

By Anne Tumlinson, MMHS and Lynne Katzmann, PhD

According to the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, more than 190 million Americans, or about 59 percent of the population, are affected by one or more chronic illnesses. Over the next 15 years (between 2016 and 2030,) 80 percent of the United States population will experience one or more chronic conditions, costing more than $42 trillion in medical care spending and losses in employment productivity.

To address these challenges and enhance the resident experience, Juniper Communities, a Bloomfield, NJ-based national owner-operator of seniors housing, developed the Connect4Life model, which provides on-site comprehensive therapy, primary care, pharmacy and lab services, integrated with other services using a “high-tech/high-touch” communications protocol that transfers information through an Electronic Health Record (EHR) and coordinates care through a human navigator.

Juniper Communities retained Anne Tumlinson Innovations (ATI) to compare Connect4Life outcomes and utilization data with data on the broader Medicare population from the 2012 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). The findings suggest that the Connect4Life model contributes to lower hospital readmissions and the utilization of inpatient services among a high-need resident population. The results affirm the potential of integrating select clinical care and services in a seniors housing environment that provides supportive services to those who have chronic conditions, functional limitations, and complex social needs.

The results suggest an integrated program of services in seniors housing—like Juniper’s Connect4Life —can contribute to reducing the cost of care and services to Medicare beneficiaries residing in seniors housing. More importantly, the data points to the value of the Connect4Life model for managing population health because of its ability to efficiently target integrated care interventions in the high cost, high-need Medicare population.

Juniper Communities has been a thought leader in senior living care, developing nearly a dozen innovative service and delivery programs to enhance aging, lifestyle and resident health. Recognizing opportunities in to meet the triple aim of recent health policy changes in the United States – improved customer satisfaction, evidence-base quality and lower healthcare utilization, Juniper is pioneering Connect 4 Life – one of senior living’s first truly integrated care models of assisted living care and service.

Read more in the FREE White Paper!