Rings of Wellness: Celebrating the 2024 Olympics
As the world enjoyed the excitement of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, our staff and residents at The Village at Woods Edge participated in our own special festivities. We held a friendly competition right here at our senior living community that focused on our 5 Rings of Wellness: Life Enrichment, Spiritual, Nature, Physical, and Nutrition. Residents participated in a 5 week-long series of events and earned their rings of wellness for each category they took part.
As you’d expect, our Rings of Wellness 2024 Olympic events match our community’s high standards for overall health and well-being. Keep reading to learn more about the highlights from this engaging series.
5 Rings of Wellness at TVWE
Our 5 Rings of Wellness events were based around TVWE’s pillars of wellness, which focus on residents’ physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. By aligning this series of events with the 2024 Olympics in Paris, our staff was able to bring all forms of health and wellness to the forefront and tie them together with community engagement and some neighborly competition.
Life Enrichment
The emotional aspects of overall health and wellness can often be overlooked. It’s not uncommon for seniors to struggle with various mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, as they move into the next stages of their lives. At The Village, we focus on the importance of daily opportunities for socialization.
Our Life Enrichment-focused event during the Rings of Wellness series was a visit from Dr. Carletta Artis, doctor of psychology, from Camp Community College. She led an inspiring talk on the importance of staying engaged throughout different stages of life. She also discussed the value of a positive view on self-worth and how that impacts our day-to-day motivations and interactions as we age. This inspiring presentation provided our residents with valuable information and encouragement to lead full lives.
Spiritual Health
Spirituality is often a personal journey based on your beliefs, life purpose, and interests. At The Village at Woods Edge, we help you cultivate your faith and spirituality in a way that’s meaningful for you. Whether you’re attending a worship service or Bible study, you can gather with others who share similar beliefs.
During our 5 Rings of Wellness series, we incorporated an Olympic challenge that encouraged our residents to nurture their spiritual wellness through yoga and mindfulness. Trained yogi, Jane Fries, led a peaceful chair yoga session combined with meditation to help residents feel and understand the benefits of these purposeful movements and centering mindset. This restorative session was great for the spirit and the soul.
Nature
Fresh air, sunshine, and an abundance of green — being outdoors and enjoying nature is a simple way to support overall wellness. Another way to get in touch with nature is to get your hands dirty — literally. Gardening has been shown to release chemicals in the brain that improve mood and reduce stress. We took our cue from this and designed our Nature Ring of Wellness around it.
With help from the United Way, our residents got their hands dirty creating succulent terrariums. The relaxing process of arranging small succulent plants in their own miniature potted garden was a wonderful way to connect with the natural world, and residents were able to take their completed terrariums home after the activity for continued enjoyment.
Physical Health
It can be easy to decrease your activity as you grow older. At The Village at Woods Edge, we make it a point to help seniors stay active with plenty of on-site activities and off-site outings, such as fitness classes, walking clubs, and trips to the pool at the Franklin YMCA. Staying physically active can improve your mood and energy level, boost your cardiovascular health, and reduce the risk of falls.
Our Rings of Wellness events provided plenty of opportunities for residents to participate in physical fitness and fun. In addition, our Director of Rehabilitative Services, Sarah Phillips, shared a range of therapeutic tips to focus on physical well-being and hosted a relay event with a range of exercises.
We even started a “Solemates” walking club involving both residents and staff that kicked off a collective challenge beginning on the first day of the Summer Olympics. We counted our steps throughout the duration of the competition, with a collective goal of walking the equivalent distance from Franklin, VA to Paris, France by the conclusion of the summer games. This motivating event got feet moving all over our community. We tallied the efforts of everyone involved with an amazing goal of 8.8 million steps!
Nutrition
Summer is a fantastic time to focus on nutritious eating since so many fresh fruits and vegetables are in season. At The Village at Woods Edge, we know that maintaining a healthy balanced diet is important at any age, and we encourage residents to incorporate nutritious options from every food group into meals.
To earn the Nutrition Ring of Wellness during our summer series, residents took part in a cooking demonstration and tasting centered around a local food celebrity -- the peanut. We learned about the many benefits of peanuts, which are actually a legume! Peanuts are packed with protein, vitamins, and antioxidants, and can even promote feelings of fullness, making them a great snack option.
Resident Engagement at TVWE
Friendly competition and encouragement took the spotlight for our residents this summer. Our 5 Rings of Wellness event was a huge success as we aligned all of our community events here in Franklin, VA, with the stellar competitions taking place in Paris.
This summer event at The Village at Woods Edge wouldn’t be complete if it didn’t reflect our pillars of wellness. Each ring in our Olympic flag represented a different aspect of wellness. We promoted the value of life enrichment, spiritual health, connection to nature, physical health, and the importance of nutrition for our residents.
Do you want to learn more about our Rings of Wellness event as well as other events our residents enjoy? Call our team at 757-517-2791 to schedule a tour today.
