The Holidays at Springmoor, In Pictures

This holiday season, waiting list members & other special guests were invited to an afternoon of great company, food & entertainment to get a little taste of what the holidays are like here at Springmoor.

Beautiful decorations greeted our guests...

...including the breathtaking poinsettia tree.

Several holidays were celebrated simultaneously...

...while a woodwind trio played along...

... and everyone enjoyed the holiday feast!

Medicare Part D: Decoded

Do you have questions about Medicare Part D?  

Let Springmoor and CCRX pharmacists answer them for you before the end of open plan enrollment!

In the Spirit of Giving

As part of Springmoor's 25th Anniversary celebrations last year, resident gardeners began donating portions of their harvests to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's Plant a Row for the Hungry program.  That began over a year ago, and hasn't lost any steam.

(This certificate is for just one week of donations!)

In fact, last year's contributions were just topped!  103 more pounds of produce were collected, bringing this year's total to 638 pounds, the equivalent of 536 meals!

Springmoor Residents Take Flight of Honor

This past Thursday was a very special day for two of the many war veterans at Springmoor. Lou Mallia and Fred Wagoner were two of the hundred local World War II veterans on the Triangle Flight of Honor.

Lou was sure the trip would be special, just as his time in the service was special. He said, “Everything about the war was memorable because plans were changing so quickly, and we were so young.” He was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation and a Good Conduct Medal, but says he wasn’t a war hero like others at Springmoor. He was also quick to say, “I am taking this trip for myself, as well as others at Springmoor who can’t make the trip, for one reason or another.” One of his Springmoor friends, that was to be on the same flight, can’t go.

The Triangle Flight of Honor is a program that flies veterans to Washington, D.C. to tour the WWII memorials constructed in honor of their service. The flight, tour and meals are provided at no cost to the veteran by local sponsors.

Springmoor Activities Director, Leah Willis, said, "We have others that have been accepted to go, or that are considering it.” She has made applications easily accessible in the library.

Leah and the community are planning to honor all World War II veterans at Springmoor. “We will have a special celebration in our auditorium the Friday before Memorial Day 2011, after all the local flights are complete.”

Executive Director, Fred Conner, said, “We all hope this flight will be memorable, but much smoother than Lou’s trip home from service many years ago. His 13 day sea voyage from France had to survive an almost tidal wave; several crew members were injured.”

Rainy and cold weather did move into the D.C. area for the day of the trip, but Fred Wagoner said that didn’t ruin the experience for him. The veterans were sent off with a water canon salute, provided by the RDU Fire Department. After landing at Reagan National Airport, they still managed to visit the WWII Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, as well as other national monuments, see The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and then duck out of the weather for a bit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Twelve hours later, they landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and were greeted with a true hero’s welcome. “They treated us royally,” remarked Fred Wagoner. Bagpipes lead in the steady stream of veterans, as several thousand people with flags, signs, and banners welcomed them home once again.

Driver Safety in the Front Seat at Springmoor

On Monday, October 18th, Springmoor will host the AARP Driver Safety Class from 9:30am-3:00pm.  Anyone is welcome to attend, all you need is a driver's license and AARP card, if you're a member.  The cost is $12 for AARP members and $14 for non members, which includes course workbook and pizza lunch, sponsored by CapTel.  Please contact Leah Willis at (919) 848-7075 for more information, or to sign up. 

Why Take a Driver Safety Class?

AARP

Cars have changed. So have the traffic rules, driving conditions, and the roads you travel every day. Some drivers age 50-plus have never looked back since they got their first driver's licenses, but even the most experienced benefit from brushing up on their driving skills.

What Will I Learn by Taking the Course?

You can expect to learn current rules of the road, defensive driving techniques, and how to operate your vehicle more safely in today's increasingly challenging driving environment. You'll learn adjustments to accommodate common age-related changes in vision, hearing, and reaction time. You will learn the following:

•How to minimize the effects of dangerous blind spots
•How to maintain the proper following distance behind another car
•The safest ways to change lanes and make turns at busy intersections
•Proper use of safety belts, air bags, anti-lock brakes, and new technologies used in cars
•Ways to monitor your own and others' driving skills and capabilities
•The effects of medications on driving
•The importance of eliminating distractions, such as eating, smoking, and cell-phone use

After completing the course, you will have a greater appreciation of driving challenges and of how you can avoid potential collisions and injuries to yourself and others.

What Else Do I Need to Know?

•The course is available in classroom and online settings.
•You may be eligible to receive an insurance discount upon completing the course, so consult your agent for details.
•You may be eligible to receive a discount on roadside assistance plans.
•The AARP Driver Safety Program has helped millions of drivers stay safe on the roads since its inception in 1979.
•Although it is geared to drivers age 50 and older, the course is open to people of all ages.
•AARP membership is not required to take the course.
•There is no test to pass.

Annual Health and Wellness Fair Biggest, Best Yet

Springmoor’s Annual Health and Wellness Fair, last Thursday, was perhaps bigger and better than any in years past. Typically held in the Auditorium, this year’s twenty five vendors, as well as the over 200 staff and resident participants, easily filled up that space and the Great Room too!

At each entrance to the Health and Wellness Fair, residents and staff were greeted with a list of all twenty five participating vendors. In scavenger hunt fashion, participants were encouraged to visit at least fifteen of the vendors’ booths, have the representative mark their lists, and once completed, turn them in for a chance to win a prize. So, during the process of qualifying for the prize, participants learned a lot about health and wellness resources at Springmoor and throughout the Triangle area. Various other door prizes were announced throughout the day.

As if the opportunity to win great prizes wasn’t enticing enough, Health and Wellness Fair participants were also welcome to take part in a variety of health screenings and wellness services for free. The massages were a popular attraction, as well as the blood pressure, blood glucose, and bone density screenings. The healthy spread of snacks and various literature packets available at each of the vendors’ booths were popular with the crowd as well.

Thanks to AVADA Audiology & Hearing Care, Carolina Cardiology Consultants, Continuing Care Rx of NC, Inc., Feeling Great! Sleep Medical Center, Healthtrax Fitness & Wellness, Healthy Numbers, Home Instead Senior Care, Hospice of Wake County, Kroger Pharmacy, Legacy Healthcare Services, MAKO Surgical Corp., Massage with Giselle & Jim, NC Assistive Technology, North Carolina Audiology, Piedmont Foot & Ankle Clinic, Prosource Fitness Equipment, Rex Healthcare Cancer Outreach, Rex Heart Burn Center, Sodexo, Springmoor Chaplain, Springmoor Physical Therapy, Trager, Triangle Medical Research, Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, and Wake Radiology for spending the day with us!

Financial Times Have Changed. Your Retirement Shouldn't Have To.

Here at Springmoor, we want you to enjoy the retirement you’ve worked so hard to achieve. One of the ways we’re making that possible is, for a limited time, eliminating the initial entrance fee that’s typically associated with continuing care retirement communities in our most economical residences, the alcove.

This means all the services like weekly housekeeping, prepared meals, maintenance, and security, amenities such as the bank, salon, library, pool, croquet and bocce court, and even our full continuum of care, including on site clinic, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, are all available at your fingertips, for one affordable monthly fee.

Your future is important and you deserve to enjoy it, so call or visit us today to see how you can benefit from this one of a kind offer!

The Greatest Generation

Professors, doctors, scientists, attorneys, journalists, clergy, and the homemakers that kept life going while these members of The Greatest Generation were off serving the country in World War II, have all taken root at Springmoor, enriching our community with their diverse, unique and wonderful histories. 

Two of our residents played a first hand role in one of the major events of World War II: the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, an event that occured just a little over 65 years ago, but changed the world forever.  The News & Observer featured these residents as part of their recap on this day in history, so read on in case you missed it!

"RALEIGH -- Sixty-five years ago today, high in the mountains of northern New Mexico, the public address system at a secret facility called Site Y - now known as Los Alamos National Laboratory - crackled to life.

Worth Seagondollar paused, along with hundreds of other scientists, engineers and technicians who had been working for years to figure out how to create the first nuclear bombs.
"Attention, please. Attention, please," the announcer said. "One of our units has just been successfully dropped on Japan."

That was it. No details about the destruction or even the name of the city that had been struck, Hiroshima.

But Seagondollar, 89, who now lives at Springmoor retirement center in North Raleigh, was one of only a handful of people who had seen an atomic bomb blast firsthand, and he knew that the world was suddenly much different.

Thousands of people had probably died in an instant, and a new weapon had been unleashed that allowed humans to kill each other in vast numbers. But it also surely meant the end of the most horrific war in world history and of the global march of fascism.

"I didn't have any feelings of regret at all," he said in an interview this week. "My feeling was that it was the beginning of the end of the Japanese war, and it was."

Later that day at another Manhattan Project site, Oak Ridge in the Tennessee mountains, Raymond Murray came home to his hastily-built government house where his wife had learned a secret he had been keeping. She had heard about the bomb on the radio.

"I finally know what you've been doing all this time," she said.

Read more...

Beating the Heat at Springmoor!

The summer heat is upon us, but just because it’s too hot outside, doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to keep Springmoor residents busy and active!

S.I.P.O.S.E. Wellness will be offering Body Benders, Strength & Stability, Flexibility & Balance, Walk it Out, and Aquatics all summer long! Set a goal, attend a class and watch as you experience the many benefits of consistent exercise. In addition, several Springmoor favorites will be making an encore appearance. Gisele is back for another yoga series, the Memory Man will pay us a visit, and dermatologist, Dr. Matt Flynn will answer all your questions on healthy skin and aging.

Game nights, Wii competitions, book clubs, movie screenings, shopping excursions and even an evening of ballroom dancing are all great ways to beat the heat, so check the Springtimes activities calendar for the dates and times of all your favorites!

Don’t forget, if all of you gardeners are wondering what to do with all of the abundance of the season, we are still participating in the Plant A Row for the Hungry program in conjunction with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to provide fresh foods to those with limited resources. Two crates are located near the garden shed for all of your excess produce. Let’s help those in need and beat last year’s donation of 535 pounds!