Category: Senior Living

Is it time for a lifestyle change?

Twining Village resident Barbara DiEuginio’s favorite form of exercise is water aerobics.

“I exercise five times per week; sometimes I exercise multiple times a day,” she says. “I used to exercise because I needed it, but now I have reached the point where I actually enjoy it.”

We have all heard phrases such as I have a family history of… or I am genetically predisposed to…  and don’t get me wrong, these are legitimate facts proven by modern science. However, one thing we don’t hear as often is the fact that—regardless of family history or predisposition—we are not destined to suffer from any form of chronic disease. As the famous cardiologist Dr. Dean Ornish said, “There are two ways … you can control how long you live, one is to change your genes and the second is to change your lifestyle.”

If you eat healthier, manage stress, exercise, and love more, you can change the way your genes are expressed. In other words, your body can act as if it is suppressing the “bad” genes and activate the “good” ones.

Sad occasion prompts a “Happy (Hollisters)” recollection

I can still remember the excitement as the package arrived each month.

I’d come home from school to find a small brown cardboard mailer on the kitchen table. I’d rip it open and out would slide a book—another in the Happy Hollisters series of family-based mysteries.

While I still have all of the books I received packed in a box in our basement, I had not thought of them in quite some time—even though I would credit the series with instilling in me a love for reading that helped to launch my own writing career—until today.

That’s when our news-clipping service emailed an obituary to me. The obituary was of Helen Stroud Hamilton, a resident of Diakon’s Twining Village in Bucks County, Pennsylvania—and the illustrator of the Happy Hollisters books!

For Valentine’s Day: A pair of happy campers

Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. ~ Franklin P. Jones

Ed and Norma Whetstone may be the ideal embodiment of Valentine’s Day. The residents of Luther Meadows on The Lutheran Home at Topton campus celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past fall. An active and happily married couple, they share love not only for each other but also in their genuine care for others.