Presbyterian Senior Living held its 8th Successful Aging Retreat recently, hosting both team members and community residents at its Dillsburg corporate office.
First held in 2015, the retreat was paused during COVID then converted to community-focused activities over the past two years.
“We sponsored alternative wellness activities the last couple of years, but it just wasn’t the same,” explained Alicia Fenstermacher, vice president of purposeful living. “We wanted to get back in person and get back in touch.
“The residents really missed coming together in person.”
Retreating into the Dimensions of Wellness
The agenda for the day took the word ‘retreat’ literally, Alicia explained. The day was a balance of every dimension of wellness with most agenda items overlapping multiple aspects.
PSL promotes a culture of wellness with Thrive Wellness, a program focused on a philosophy of engagement, purposeful living, and meaning in everyday life. The program is resident-driven and explicitly focuses on the six dimensions of wellness: emotional, occupational, physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual.
Over 40 people attended the event. Residents and team members from each community were invited, as well as operations support team members. The day’s agenda was planned by the Purposeful Living Team in collaboration with community input.
Successful Aging Retreat Sessions
The day included four main sessions with movement activities built between each session. “We wanted to show you don’t have to do an hour of exercise to incorporate movement into your day,” Alicia said. “You can get benefits from movement at any time.
“We also wanted to show how movement can flow into the intellectual side by training the brain how to focus with exercise activities.”
Highlights from four main sessions included:
Horticulture – Connecting with Nature:
Ruth MacCarthy, horticulturist at Cathedral Village, shared how important nature is to people. “Her enthusiasm is contagious,” Alicia said. “You can feel her passion for nature.”
Minute to Win It:
Team members and residents from Presbyterian Village, Hollidaysburg, PA, brought this activity after playing it on their campus. Activities included unwrapping candy kisses while wearing oven mitts, moving M&M candies with chopsticks and competing in a dice-rolling contest within a set amount of time. “You couldn’t just sit back and watch,” Alicia explained. “You really had to participate. Everyone was really a part of the fun.”
BINGO with a Twist:
Instead of calling out numbers and matching them to a game card, this version of Bingo focused on music. The leader, Laura Glass, corporate director of community life, played a song, and everyone sang and matched it to a bingo card. Alicia shared, "Singing brings people together. Lots of fun memories were brought up as the sons played."
The Benefits of Pets:
A highlight of the day was the presentation by Sue Barthalow, administration assistant at Quincy Village, with her dog, Murphy, “Everyone loved seeing Murphy.” Alicia said. “We wanted to recognize the importance of pets on campus and in seniors’ lives, whether you have a pet or not.”
In addition to the activities, all participants brought a donation for the Antietam Humane Society in Mechanicsburg. “Our team felt it was important to share something with the greater community,” Alicia explained. “We know it’s not just about us.”
But the best part of the day, according to Alicia, was the laughter. “There was just so much laughter,” she said. “It was great to be back together and to balance work and fun and build those relationships.”
