November 1, 2024
Aging and You
What’s Special About November
By Julie Arndt
Marketing Director at Ridgecrest Village
November is an action-packed month. All Saints Day (November 1), Election Day (first Tuesday), Veterans Day (November 11), and Thanksgiving (November 28) are all hallmark dates for the month. Daylight savings ends on November 3. It is also the month for recognizing National Family Caregivers; Antibiotic Safety Awareness; COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); and the National Health Observance for Diabetes. In some respects, much of what is celebrated in November centers around thankfulness, appreciation, and preparation of another year ending… and of course all the holidays that lurk just around the corner.
Korean war veteran Herman Bredar
Veterans Day. Interesting how election day and Veterans Day are so close together. We owe recognition to our veterans who have fought for all the freedoms that we enjoy today, including the freedom to vote. Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military, both in wartime and peacetime… and to acknowledge that their contributions to our nation’s national security is appreciated. (department.va.gov) Ridgecrest Village is home to the Honor Flight of the Quad Cities with their local office located in the Hub of the Ridgecrest Campus. Lorrie Blumberg, Senior Campus Director for Ridgecrest, said, “Ridgecrest Village will once again be hosting the Art Peterson’s Veterans Appreciation Program on Monday, November 11, 2024. It’s a wonderful way of showing our appreciation, pay tribute to our veterans, and honor those departed.” Resident Herman Bredar, who is spearheading the event, expects a packed house again this year. When talking about what Veterans Day means to him as a Korean War Veteran, Bredar said, “In a word, it’s about patriotism and being American.” With a tearful eye, he went on to add, “99% of Americans wake up to enjoy the freedoms that exist in this country today, while the other 1% wake up to defend it.” There are currently forty veterans residing at Ridgecrest.
Family caregiving awareness is something most of us do at some point in our life. Many of us do not recognize ourselves as a “caregiver.” Being a caregiver can present in different ways: from sporadically helping to get a loved one to doctors’ appointments and providing light errand work to providing full blown care and bedside assistance. Family caregiving is at the backbone of informal healthcare, is vital to quality of life for older adults, and should be celebrated. The National Council on Aging has designated this time to honor and recognize caregivers nationally and raise awareness around family caregiving. At Ridgecrest we see this daily from the point of contact with our organization. It’s often a family caregiver that places the first call and guides the path for their loved one as they transition to retirement living. Our families are very much part of the Ridgecrest experience.
Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday each November. It means different things to different people, so I will share what it means to me. As I’ve commented before, I grew up on a farm in northern Iowa. I attended a country school early on and this holiday was focused on the founding of our country, thankfulness for the bounty of the harvest, preparing a meal, and breaking bread with family and friends. I’m sure turkey and football fit in there somewhere for some of us as well.
There are so many things to be celebrated during the month of November and I’ve named only a few, but in a nutshell, I’d say it’s a month celebrating thankful.
