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Submitted by Solstice Senior Living

Life has been turned upside down for just about everyone, preventing people throughout the world from working, socializing, and performing everyday activities. Older adults living alone are more isolated and it’s no secret that seniors are at a greater risk for depression—and struggling with isolation can add significantly to that risk.

A Happy Hour cart makes the rounds at Solstice Senior Living every Thursday, offering cheese and cracker plates, wines and sodas, and upbeat music.

Solstice Senior Living in Bellingham has 105 senior souls we need to keep safe and healthy and engaged. Although that may seem like a daunting task, we’ve come up with wonderful ways to keep our residents engaged and stimulated while obeying CDC guidelines to keep them safe.

We’ve created Happy Hour carts with cheese & cracker plates, a selection of single bottled wines and sodas, and upbeat music. We go door to door every other Thursday to deliver Happy Hour right to our residents. Some sit in their doorways to enjoy a socially distanced visit with their hallmates during this festive occasion.

Another wonderful activity we’ve added is Hallway Tours on each floor. Our second story floor had an Under the Sea Adventure at one wing and a Jungle Tour in the other wing. We had jungle sounds and underwater sounds playing from an iPad along with pictures and decorations, including balloons hanging from the ceiling to create a bubble look, and fun facts to create a visual as well as audio adventure.

Residents tour six different countries in the east and west wings, getting passports stamped at each for a chance to win a prize.

The first floor offers a World Tour with six different countries represented in the east and west wings. Fun facts and decorations have been added that represents each country, along with flags of the world strung across the entryway. Each resident can pick up a passport with pages representing each country, get it stamped, and then turn them in to win a prize.

Another resident sat in the hallway where Germany was represented and reminisced about her grandmother who, with only a fifth-grade education, came to Whatcom County with her husband from an arranged marriage and prospered as successful business owners right here in Bellingham where she has lived her whole life. “The tour brought back such wonderful memories of my grandparents and their stories of where they originated from,” she said.

One of our dear residents spent a lot of her young life out on the ocean sailing the amazing waterways of the Pacific Northwest. Her shouts of pleasure as she took the undersea tour were priceless as it brought back her precious memories of being out on the water.

Solstice Senior Living is dedicated to the safety and well-being of all our precious seniors and we challenge ourselves every day to add stimulation to their lives during this time of continued isolation.

All photos courtesy of Solstice Senior Living

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