Short Term Post Acute Care | Holiday Cheer

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in our time providing short term post acute care, it’s how to enrich the lives of seniors in simple and meaningful ways. Here, we share ten awesome ways to offer holiday cheer to seniors, whether they are in short term post acute care or at home:

• Offer to help them write and mail cards to their loved ones. Writing personal messages is important to many seniors but can become more challenging with age and conditions like arthritis.
• Deliver festive homemade Christmas cookies. Nothing brings holiday cheer like a tin or plate of fresh baked holiday goodies!
• Take them shopping for a special gift for a loved one and help them wrap it with love and deliver it on the holidays.
• Decorate their home, apartment, or room with holiday decor to help them feel festive despite their circumstances.
• Bring them holiday music to play softly throughout the holiday season.
• Light a cinnamon candle or melt pine-scented wax to fill their home or room with the familiar and comforting smell of the holidays.
• Invite them to share a holiday meal with you in your home or theirs – whichever is easier. The holidays are especially hard when they are spent alone; simply offering your company is often the kindest gesture you can make.
• Bring your children or grandchildren to visit. Nothing creates old-fashioned holiday cheer and brings more joy to the elderly than the sweetness of happy children!

You can also help relieve any potential stress of the holiday season by offering to do some household chores. This can be as simple as running to the store for groceries, watering plants, or cleaning a bathroom.

For more ideas on enriching the lives of seniors or for details on short term post acute care near you, call your local Santé. We have locations throughout the Phoenix and Tucson areas.