Live in Wellness: June Events

The month of June is named after the Roman goddess of marriage, Juno. It is no wonder that so many weddings occur during the month of June. As is such, Juniper Communities will be reminiscing about and celebrating weddings throughout the month. June is also the month with the longest daytime hours of the year in the northern hemisphere. Make the best of the extended days by celebrating wellness!

Can the choices you make really affect your health and wellness? Absolutely! Cancer, heart disease, lung disease, stroke and injury, the major causes of death and health problems, can all be prevented by choosing a healthy lifestyle. Simple changes like choosing not to smoke, seeing your doctor regularly, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and getting enough sleep all contribute to longer life.

This month we finish our quarterly Alive In All Seasons theme of “Let Wellbeing Thrive” by engaging in activities focused on food and nutrition. Look for our consistently health snack and juice options at our hydration stations and dietitian presentations. Our H’Art and Soul of Dining Program will also be showcased as we implement the addition of more regional favorites – focusing on fresh and scratch made, our signature soups and muffin of the day as well as the new grill menu.

Our fabulous activity offerings this month include our Father’s Day Car Hop on June 14^th at noon; and our Blueberry Pancake Breakfast on June 26^th from 8:30 am to 10:30 am. Join us this month as we Live in Wellness.

Flower Planting and Mother's Day Tea

This month’s Alive in All Seasons theme is “Grow Strong Daily” so what better way to start off the month then with our Best Friend’s flower planting!

It was a perfect day to be outside to do our flower planting.  We all donned our hats and gloves (and sunscreen) and enjoyed getting some exercise, spending time with friends and community, and celebrating the beauty of spring.  And spring is the perfect season to celebrate growth!

Later, we celebrated Mother’s Day with our traditional Mother’s Day Tea.  We had wonderful pastries,  beautiful harp music, and roses and gifts for all the women that attended our celebration.  Just a small token to show our appreciation for all the wonderful women in our lives!

“A mother is a verb.  It’s something  you do.  Not just who you are.”  - Cheryl Lacey Donovan

“Mother’s hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”  Author Unknown

Bunnies! Cute, fluffy, adorable, little bunnies!

People that come to Juniper Village at Aurora often notice and ask about all the giraffe statues they see all over the community.  The giraffe is a symbol of sorts for us for two reasons:  One has to do with the giraffe’s long neck which symbolizes how we strive to reach way up, to go above and beyond.  The second reason is because at one time it was thought that giraffes had one of the largest hearts.  In reality, they have a small heart, however, it has such great power from a very strong heart beat because it has to generate blood flow from the heart all the way up to the brain which is quite a distance.  This heart beat is so strong generates twice the blood pressure of a human and double the beats per minute (170 beats per minute) as compared to a human.

We take pride in our giraffe symbol and a beautiful example of this is a recent rescue made by our maintenance director, Steve.  Steve found three dead baby bunnies in our courtyard.  The mother rabbit was gone and there were two small surviving baby bunnies.  He took them in and bought cat’s milk formula and a very small bottle and began the process of bottle feeding them.  One of them was extremely small, much smaller than the other one, and we didn’t think it would survive.  However, Steve would not even entertain the idea that the little one wouldn’t make it.  He took them home every night and fed them every two hours.  After the first couple of days, you could see that the smallest one was getting stronger.  It was not able to hop initially, it would walk off balance, and when it would sit up to try to clean its face, it would fall over. Still, Steve kept feeding them and letting them run around to get strong (even letting them run around on his bed at home) and they both continued to grow and flourish!

The team at JVA helped as Steve’s backup on occasion so he had some time off from caring for these adorable bunnies.  They are both doing very well, eating grass now and even drinking water from a shallow dish, so the goal is to release them back into the courtyard at JVA in the next week or two.

What a perfect example of the wonderful heart of Steve and the staff at Juniper Village at Aurora!  They truly embody the philosophy of a compassionate, strong heart and going above and beyond to make a difference!