An Early Happy Veteran's Day

Come meet the Vets who were in the parade this weekend! Just reach out to us to set up a time - @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving, our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

Our Dog Jingles Rules the Roost

Some Guys Have all the Luck!

Want to be pampered? Move into @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving. Just reach out to us via our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

The History of Surprise, Arizona

Most of our assisted living homes are located in Surprise, Arizona. We love the community and family feel of Surprise. People around Surprise really seem to take pride in their town. So, we thought our friends and family would like to know more about the history of Surprise.

Early History of Surprise

Originally, like most of Arizona, the history of Surprise starts with the Hohokam Indian people. They lived and farmed most of Arizona from about 300 AD to 1400 AD. Then they suddenly vanished. In fact, Hohokam is a Pima Indian word meaning ‘those who have vanished’.

Various other Indian tribes moved into the Surprise area until about the 1930s. In 1938 a lady named Flora Mae Statler owned a 1-mile square piece of farmland that became a town. She had a few houses and a gas station on the land at that time. She went on to build a few small houses for agricultural workers on the land. This was the start of expansion for the town.

The name for the town of Surprise came from the founder, Flora Mae Stadtler. Flora Mae allegedly said that she “would be surprised if the town ever amounted to much”. It would be great to be able to show her what her town has done between then and now.

The history of Surprise is also intertwined with the military. In 1941 the US Government established Luke Air Force Base just south of Surprise to train Air Force fighter pilots. The Air Force also put an auxiliary runway in Surprise for pilots to practice. The Surprise City Hall sits on top of the site for those old runways. You can still make out the runways on aerial photos of the area.

Modern History of Surprise

Surprise grew slowly from the 40’s to the 60’s as a small agricultural community and suburb of Phoenix. In 1960 Surprise decided to become an incorporated town. They set the boundaries at Greenway Road to the South, El Mirage Road to the East, Bell Road for the North and Dysart for the West.

Then the Del Webb company came in. The history of Surprise became very much tied to Del Webb’s development of active adult communities. In 1960 Del Webb decided to build out Sun City about 5 miles Southeast of Surprise. Then in 1978 they started building Sun City West right next to Surprise to the East.

Thanks to Golfat55.com

Del Webb followed both of those developments by starting Sun City Grand in 1996. Sun City Grand is right next to Surprise as well and really contributed to the growth of the town. The population went from about 11,000 to about 75,000 in 2004.  The population continues to grow and is up to about 138,000 estimated for 2019.

Who can blame them? We sure can’t. The beautiful weather, friendly people and lots of fun things to do made us eager to locate our assisted living homes in this wonderful town. Surprise is a great place to retire for lots of reasons.

Today Surprise continues to grow. If you live in Surprise, you probably see it all the time. Lots of great shops and businesses are moving into the area. If you’re thinking of moving into the area, we believe you will really enjoy what you see.

Want more detailed information about the history of Surprise? Check out the Surprise History Project that volunteers have put together.

For this post on our website, just click over to here.

Our Availability Week of November 4th

Come check out our opening. Just reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call 623-295-9890.

Trip to a Gospel Concert

Come join us at the next one! Just reach out through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

Happy Birthday to One of Our Residents!

We love birthdays! Come and join us for one. Just reach out through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call 623-295-9890

Fun and Games

Come play with us! Please reach out to us @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving, our website, email or call 623-295-9890

Don't Mess with our Centurion

This lady is 100 years old and still fighting strong! Come meet her. Reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

We had a Visitor!

Come meet Pecan for yourself! Just reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call 623-295-9890

A Solution for ‘Sandwich Generation Overwhelm’ – GTD!

We see a lot of families come to our assisted living homes experiencing ‘Sandwich Generation Overwhelm’. They are caught between taking care of elderly parents and growing children at the same time. Did I mention that most of the families we see are also working full time? For many people, the burden becomes too much. Women seem to take the brunt of all these duties. Two weeks ago we tried to help with our articleon how to make the assisted living transition as easy as possible.

This week we want to provide information on how someone caught in the Sandwich Generation can help organize the multitude of tasks that face them.
Before we go any further, let me just say how inspiring it is to see people take on all these challenges. The tremendous amount of love these sandwich generation families show to each other is incredible. There really should be a national holiday to salute these caregivers!
This blog post is my personal tribute to these wonderful people. People who care deeply about their families and do everything they can for them. Everything, however, doesn’t seem to be enough. I hope it can help.

Why Sandwich Generation Overwhelm Exists

You would think that the Sandwich Generation would have to ‘get things done’ out of necessity. They have tons of ‘To Do’ lists that they are constantly crossing off. They probably do.
Here is one Caregiver's tale from the Sandwich Generation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHTh9C9qviw
The trouble is Generation Sandwich tries to get EVERYTHINGdone. All at once practically. Because it may be due right now. That’s where the Sandwich Generation ‘Overwhelm’ comes in. Not only do you feel like you can’t get it all in. You also have this nagging feeling. There are many things you should be doing that are falling through the cracks.
Some of them can be very important:

• Making sure your parents take their medicine
• Making sure your sick kids take THEIR medicine
• Putting parent’s finances in order
• Feeding both parent’s and kids
• Completing that project at work by the deadline
• Childproofing your home
• Parent-proofing your home
• Creating that ‘critical’ presentation for your boss
• Oh and still spending some time with your spouse

Any of these important tasks and more can slip through the cracks when the demands mount up.

A ‘Getting Things Done’ Solution for the Sandwich Generation

There is a system that may help. It is based on human psychology and how we process information. The whole idea is that our brains are not meant to hold a list of ‘To Do’s’. Our brains are much more efficient at coming up with ideas. The brain is much less efficient at keeping track of the idea until we implement it.
Once we have the idea, we should put it in a list. We shouldn’t just try to remember it. Sounds simple enough.Just make a ‘To Do’ list. Has that worked for you Sandwich Generation families out there? The list just keeps growing. You cross one task off, and add three more.
Let me introduce you to another system. The system’s creator, David Allenhas spent a lifetime coaching high-performers. From CEOs to movie stars, Mr. Allen has helped them become much more organized and effective. Those high-performing people probably have about the same (or maybe less) to do than members of the Sandwich Generation.
His system overall is simple. He believes in getting everything out of your head and putting it down on paper. Or in a computer through software. Or on your phone on an app. That includes EVERYTHING.

Implementing ‘Getting Things Done’

What follows is just a summary of the ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD) system to see if it would be right for you. I highly recommend buying David’s book, Getting Things Done, to fully implement the system. They also have coachingworldwide. You can access the coaching from David’s website.

Ideally you should take a day to start implementing the system. Preferably a weekend or Friday night when the distractions are minimal. It probably seems like many of you in the Sandwich Generation never seem to have a day off. All the more reason to find some time to implement this system. It will help keep your sanity in the long run.
Ask your spouse to watch everyone for a day. Or hire a babysitter or a home care provider. See if other family members will help. It’s time to take a day and get organized.
There are five steps to begin implementing this system:

1. 1. Collectthings that command our attention (Feel like you have a few?)
   2. Processwhat they mean and what to do about them
   3. Organizethe results, which we..
   4. Reviewas options for what we choose to…
   5. Do 

Collecting

On the implementation day, gather EVERYTHINGthat needs attention (not including your actual relatives).  Put it all together into an ‘inbox’. It could be a wire basket on your desk, or just a big pile of ‘stuff’. Take a stack of computer paper and put it by the inbox as well.
The whole emphasis of the system is to get everything out of your head, and down on to paper. It's your list of things to do you keep in your head that creates that overwhelming feeling. If you have any doubt as to whether to include any item in your inbox, INCLUDE IT!
Write down all your ideas – one idea per piece of paper. Then put it in your ‘inbox’.

Print out emails as well. Or at least have an ‘electronic inbox’ for them. Anything that is floating around your house, your office or your head should be put in the inbox. This includes but is not limited to:

• Papers that need to be filed
• To Do lists
• Bills to pay
• Stacks of business cards
• Family birthdays and special events coming up
• Shopping lists
• People you need to call
• Tasks that have been sitting out there or been pushed off
• Long range plans (college savings, vacations – maybe not for the sandwich generation, etc.)
• Stuff you’re waiting for other people to do

Collect everything you consider ‘incomplete’. The system calls these ‘open loops’. Everything that has not been finalized, organized and put away so you don’t need to think about it anymore is an open loop.

Tips for Collecting Everything

David recommends three requirements to make this collection phase successful:

1. Every open loop much be in your collection system and out of your head
2. You must have as few collection buckets as you can get away with.
3. You must empty them regularly.

Process

Here is where the system differs significantly from the traditional ‘To Do’ lists. You may have done something similar as the ‘Collect’ step and created a To Do list from it. All that does is create a list of all that stuff. With GTD you actually process the list to determine how best to attack it.
There is a workflow diagramto show how the system works. The boxes highlighted with bold shadows behind them indicate the ways to process the information.
The first action you should take for each item in your inbox is to ask yourself ‘What is it?’ Once you understand what it is, ask yourself

‘Is it Actionable?’

The answer should be a simple yes or no.
If it’s ‘No’ there are three things you can do with it:

1. It’s trash. Throw it away. You’ll need a trash bucket or <Del> key on your keyboard.
2. No action right now, but you might need to do something later (plan a birthday party six months from now). A calendar can store information on these items and due dates. Or just file it as a ‘Someday/Maybe’ item.
3. It’s potentially useful information you want to keep as reference – Time to set up that filing system (which could be one of the items you collected in the first step)

If the item is actionable, you need to determine two things:

1. What is the project or outcome you want and will commit to? And
2. What is the nextaction required?

If you can’t put the action to bed in one action, it becomes a project. Part of this system requires you to put together a projects list. Those are all your ‘To Do’s’ that require more than one action. Each project should have a ‘next action’ you can accomplish. Once all the next actions in a project are complete, the project is complete.

Organize

Once you have processed all your ‘open loops’, it’s time to organize them. If you look at the GTD diagram, the eight outer squares are the possible ways you can organize everything.

We’ve already talked about the ways you can organize the non-actionable items. You can trash it, add it to a calendar or put in the Someday/Maybe file. Or you can just file it away as reference material.
For the actionable items, you will need:

• A list of projects
• Storage or files for project plans and materials
• A calendar
• A list of reminders for next actions and
• A list of reminders of things you’re waiting for

As you can see, you organize the overall ‘To Do’ list into several different lists. You can do this either with a pen and paper, or electronically. Here is a breakdown of each ‘list’:

Calendar

Reminders fall into two categories – things that need to get done at a certain date and time, and things that just need to get done as soon as possible. The calendar is for the former. The following are things to put on your calendar. Don’t put ‘Daily To Do’ lists on your calendar. They don’t work. They only make you feel bad that you didn’t get them done by a certain date:

1. 1. Time-specific actions – Basically appointments. Something where you need to be somewhere at a specific time.
   2. Day-Specific Actions – Tasks you need to do sometime on a specific date, but not a specifictime.
   3. Day-Specific Information – Put information on your calendar that will be helpful on a certain day, but not necessarily something directly actionable. This category may include directions to appointments. It also could be information you want to discuss with someone on a certain day. Or activities other people may be doing on a certain day.

The Next Actions List

This is the list where you might have put ‘Daily To Do’s’ on your calendar in the past. These are actions you will do as soon as you have the chance. They should take longer than 2 minutes. If you have an action in your inbox that will take less than 2 minutes, just do it. Don’t bother organizing it. If you only have 20-30 actions on this list (doubtful for you sandwich generation folks), just keep one list. For those people with significantly more, you should consider dividing the list into categories such as ‘Calls’, ‘Errands’, ‘Topics to talk to Parents’ etc. That way you can knock out a whole bunch of items at once if you are in the right place to do them.

‘Waiting For’ List

This list can be a huge help for people suffering from Sandwich Generation Overwhelm. If you are experiencing an overwhelming about of things to do, see if you can delegate them. Sorry about the shameless plug, but that is why we have an assisted living business. Feel free to delegate the care of your aging parents to us or someone like us. Or at least hire some in-home help. Your kids are probably too old to have babysitters if you’re caring for your parents. Maybe the kids can help take care of your parents for a while. Or run errands. Or take them to the doctor.

The ‘Waiting For’ list is the one where you keep track of all the tasks you have delegated. Or maybe you are waiting for someone else to get something done before you can do your part. The list ensures these tasks don’t slip through the cracks.
Two tips for the ‘Waiting For’ list. Number 1 is to write down the name of the person who is responsible for doing it. This is especially good for electronic lists. You can then sort by their name when you go talk to them and make sure you cover everything. Number 2 is to write down the date you started waiting for the item. Then you can remember how long you have been waiting.

Someday/Maybe

There is one category of non-actionable item that needs a list. It’s your Someday/Maybe list. This would include things like ‘Vacation in Bora Bora’, ‘Learn French’ or ‘Retire’. You should keep this list up to date because ‘Someday’ may be here much sooner than you think.

Review (Maybe the Toughest Part for the Sandwich Generation)

In order for your brain to be clear and trust the GTD system, you need to keep it up to date. That means setting some time aside each week for reviewing your lists. I’m sure that seems impossible right now for someone taking care of several generations. Many people have found that once they set this system up, you will have more free time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZEVX0hXm4
You’ll find with this system that you will be doing mini-reviews all week. Many people check their calendar in the morning or night before to plan their day. Or if you have some free time and a phone nearby, you can review your list of calls and knock out a bunch at once. This should help you knock out potentially large amounts of tasks at once.
Take a couple hours on the same day each week for the big review. It could be early Saturday morning. Or Friday afternoon at work when work is slow. There is an advantage to doing it Friday. If you find something you can do quickly, many businesses are still open to help when you contact them. If you review Saturday morning and need to set up a Doctor appointment, for instance, you’ll have to wait until Monday.

How to Conduct Your Review:

1. Look at your calendar – Review the past weeks calendar for follow up actions and next weeks for what is coming up. Do you need to prepare anything for upcoming events?
2. “Empty Your Head” – Just as you did when you set this system up. Try to write down everything that you need to take care of. Then put all these things into your inbox.
3. Review ‘Projects’ and larger outcome lists. Make sure you have one action step in each project that is on one of your action lists.
4. Review ‘Next Actions’ list – Check off the completed actions and think about other actions that should be added.
5. Review ‘Someday/Maybe’ list – Transfer anything that could now be an active project. Delete anything that is no longer interesting.
6. Pending or Support files – Files that go with your projects. Are there any new actions they trigger?
7. Think about new ideas or projects that you would be good to accomplish. Add them to the lists.

Do

Once you have everything organized, you will be able to ‘Do’ your ‘To Do’ list much more effectively. When you’re near your phone, you can pull up your call lists and make lots of calls. Out running errands? Pull up your errand lists and knock them all out at once. Eating breakfast by yourself? Review your ‘Waiting for’ list to see who you need to bug to get their task done.
You’ll find you will be completing your lists much faster and more effectively when they are managed according to the GTD system. Software is wonderful for pulling up lists of similar tasks like phone calls or errands. You can purchase books at the GTD websitefor a very low cost (around $10) that help you implement GTD with a host of software programs.
We know how difficult it can be to manage several generations at once. And you are a saint for doing so. We see it every day with families coming to our homes looking for help. Hopefully this system will help you overcome those overwhelming feelings. If we can contact you in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out for further help.

You can see the original post on our website.

Our Latest Availability for this Week

We'd love to show our homes and see what this Hospice Nurse is talking about. Just reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email us or call 623-295-9890.

We Love our Nurses!

Would you like to come meet some of them? Just reach out to us on Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

The Weather is Becoming Gorgeous

Now that the weather is becoming cooler, we will be spending a lot more time outside. Why not come join us? Reach out to us @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving on Facebook, our website, email us or call 623-295-9890.

Our Availability Week of September 30th

Come see our homes! We'd love to show you. Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

Conversations among friends

Feel free to stop by for fun and conversation anytime. Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Solidarity with our residents!

We have a hairstylist that comes to our homes and provides all kinds of services to our residents. Want to meet her? Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

We Really Appreciate Our Transportation Partner!

Mobile Dentists that Serve Surprise and Goodyear Arizona

Mobile Dentists can really help the elderly and others who have trouble leaving their homes. To learn more about mobile dentists and other resources around Surprise and Goodyear, please reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Our Latest Availability

We had a great time going out to eat at Fiesta Mexicana in Goodyear this weekend. We'd love for you to join us some time. Please reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Happy Birthday Todd!

We'd love to have you join us for one of our birthday parties. Just reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Haircuts for our Residents

Our caregivers are multi-talented. Want to meet them? Just reach our to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email us or call 623-295-9890.

Recognize Lyme Disease in your Pets

Come see our pets at our assisted living homes in Surprise and Goodyear. Please reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Commemorating our Resident's Flight!

We recently coordinated a sightseeing flight for one of our residents out of the Deer Valley airport. We would love to have you stop by and see what other activities we have going on. Just reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

We Finally have an open room

We have some fun at a Paradise for Parents. Care to join us for some fun? Reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Today's Health Hack (sort of)

We're always looking for healthy alternatives for our resident's. But we also look for fun! Stop by and check us out. Reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

The Arizona Summer Heat is not Plant Friendly

Come in from the heat and tour our homes! Reach out to us @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving, our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Time to Party

Come party with us! Reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email, or call 623-295-9890. Thanks!

Scams We have heard about in our assisted living homes

Do you know of any scams targeting seniors? Please let us know. Reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email us, or call 623-295-9890.

This is the most full we've ever been..

What a fun surprise to have this surprise birthday party in where else..? Our house in...Surprise! Come meet these wonderful caregivers. Reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Time to Check the Medications

When we take the time to backup each other, we can make sure we are providing our residents with exceptional service. We would like to show you all the things we do to provide the best care we can. Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

6 Delicious Senior Meal Delivery Services Near Surprise and Goodyear

As we age our ability to get around decreases. Many elderly people find it more and more difficult to make food in their home or ear out in a restaurant. That’s where senior meal delivery businesses come in. We are blessed in the Surprise and Goodyear, Arizona area to have a wide choice of senior meal deliver services.

Senior meal delivery businesses can bring delicious and nutritious meals right to a senior’s home. They come ready to eat. All the customer has to do is sit down and enjoy them. In this blog post we thought we would list out some of our favorite meal delivery services. Some of them are local to the Surprise and Goodyear area. Others are nationwide. We hope it helps you or someone in your family.
Senior Meal Delivery Services – The List

This list isn’t in any particular order. All services will provide an excellent choice of food at very reasonable prices.

Something Special Meals

These guys recently started out as a small family-run business in the Phoenix area. Their family has over 28 years in the food catering business however. They knew what they were doing. Over time they have grown Something Special into a solid business in Phoenix.

Although their website shows that they concentrate a lot of school lunches and corporate lunches, they also do senior meal delivery to people’s homes. They believe in high-quality, eco-friendly meals.

They are located in Cave Creek, Arizona. However, they can deliver all over the Phoenix Valley. You can see a list of towns where they deliver here. Currently they deliver to Goodyear but not Surprise. The delivery charge is only $10. If you are a regular customer and you order more than $100 from them at a time, they may waive the delivery fee. They normally deliver to people’s homes on Wednesdays from 6-9pm and Sundays 12-4PM or 4-8PM.

For senior home delivery, they can provide both individual and family style dinners. They can also deliver meal packages of several meals at once. All their food is organic or grass-fed. If you would like to set up a consultation with them, you can email them or call 480-600-1521. Here is their menu for senior meal delivery.

Meals On Wheels America Senior Meal Delivery Service

Most of you have probably heard about Meals on Wheels. It’s a wonderful charitable service that makes sure lower-income seniors don’t go hungry. The senior meal delivery service is run by thousands of volunteer groups and non-profit agencies across the country.

Homebound seniors receive the highest priority for this program. There are restrictions in some areas. The senior has to be unable to prepare their own meals. Sometimes the requirements include certain medical conditions, mental impairments, or physical disabilities.

When Meals on Wheels delivers to a home, they also do a safety inspection of the home and check the senior for any changes in their health. That way they may be able to identify medical problems before they become more serious.

To find a provider near you, just go to this page on their website and put in your zip code. They will give you the contact information.

Unfortunately, the demand for these services are great and the resources are limited. If you would like to donate to this great cause, you can do so here. If you can’t donate money, you can also volunteer your time.

My Errand Ally



My Errand Ally is very aptly named. They are an errand-running service for people who don’t have the time or the inclination to do it themselves. Located in Chandler Arizona, they serve all of Maricopa County and Tucson. Although they are not specifically a senior meal delivery service, they can deliver fresh groceries to a senior’s home. They can also help pick up prescriptions or any other day-to-day items a senior might need.

They also offer the Electronic Caregiver services that will monitor the senior in their home. By keeping track of vital signs and a give them a way to notify someone if there is a problem, the senior has a better chance of living at home longer.

In addition, if the senior is going out of town, they can watch the senior’s home while they are away, bring in the mail or put out the trash. That can give a senior a good piece of mind while they are visiting the grandchildren.

You can reach My Errand Ally through their website or give them a call at 602-499-5042.

Sunfare

Located in both Phoenix and Los Angeles, Sunfare prepares and delivers personalized healthy meals to homes. They are not only a senior meal delivery service. The company wants to deliver meals to all sorts of people. The meals are part of plans to help people lose weight and become healthy.

They have both weekly and monthly programs depending on the needs of their customers. Although they have several programs, they will make custom adjustments depending on the tastes of the person who is ordering. Some examples of the meal programs they sell are:
Signature Diet – Diet-focused specializing in customization and great variety
Paleo Program
Fat Burn
Optimal Cleanse
Family Dinners

They rotate the meals over a month or more, so you have a very large variety. Each day’s meals are packaged up in a cooler to stay fresh. They are delivered to a person’s door by 7am each morning. All your loved one will have to do is heat them up when ready.



You can reach out to them through their contact page on their website, or call them at 866-786-3273.

Meals of Joy Senior Home Delivery

Started in 2014, Meals of Joy is a non-profit located near our assisted living home in Goodyear, Arizona. They are a non-profit organization in the Southwest Phoenix area committed to helping seniors who can’t make meals on their own.

Meals of Joy delivers meals to Buckeye, Estrella, Goodyear and Litchfield Park. The company believes in bringing the kinds of meals to seniors that they remember from Sunday dinners growing up.

Fees for this senior meal delivery service are based on the senior’s ability to pay. They just want to make sure no senior goes hungry in their area.
Martha’s Senior Gourmet

Serving many cities in California and now in Phoenix, Martha’s Senior Gourmet provides a gourmet senior meal delivery service. They tailor their meals to the nutrition needs of seniors. Their meal plans can accommodate special diets such as:
Diabetic
Renal
Low Potassium
Low Sodium
Pureed foods
Gluten sensitive
Vitamin K restrictive
Congestive heart failure

And other diets. They can deliver all meals of the day or just dinner. They even have a dessert menu. You can also sign up for ‘Martha’s Monitoring Service’. With this service, the delivery driver will provide a report on how the senior is doing. They will note any apparent changes in the person health to see if they can do anything to help. This service is free of charge with the meal deliveries. You just have to sign up for it.

We hope this helps you find a good senior meal delivery service around Phoenix. Our first priority is to help seniors live in their homes for the rest of their lives. If for some reason that becomes too difficult, we hope you consider one of our assisted living homes in Goodyear or Surprise Arizona. Feel free to check out our homes in Surprise:
Banff Lane
164th Lane
135th Drive

or our home in Goodyear. We wish you the best of luck. If we can help in any way, please let us know.

Making Friends...

We'd love to include you as a friend. Feel free to reach out to us on Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call 623-295-9890

How to Fight Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff)

There’s a big bad bug running around the United States. It’s called Clostridium Difficile. People call it “C Diff” for short. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), C Diff infections caused over half a million infections in the United States in 2015. What is particularly worrisome is that 100,000 of those cases occurred in nursing homes.

Of those cases, approximately 29,000 patients died within a month of the diagnosis. 15,000 of those 29,000 deaths were directly attributable to the C Diff infection.

C Diff is a bacterium found in many people’s intestines. Normally it is held at bay by healthy gut bacteria. However, when antibiotics for another condition wipe out the good gut bacteria, the C Diff can grow. Left unchecked, C. Diff will cause lots of problems.

People with C Diff infections will have watery (and smelly) diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite, nausea, and abdominal pain. It is much more common among the elderly who already have a compromised immune system.

Once people have C Diff infections, they can release spores into the air through a bowel movement. The spores are very contagious. They can infect other people in the area very quickly.
Solutions to C Diff Infections

When someone starts having diarrhea, doctors will often suspect C. Diff. If you don’t have diarrhea, you can be pretty sure you don’t have C Diff. The doctor will normally take a sample of your stool and run it through several lab tests.

In rare cases they might also want to examine your colon with a colonoscopy. They are looking for:

• Inflammation
• Thickening of colon wall
• Expansion of the bowel or more rarely,
• A hole or perforation in the colon

The first step in the treatment of C Diff infections is (kind of obvious) to stop taking the antibiotic that caused the infection. Then the doctor will, if you can believe it, prescribe another antibiotic that will kill off the C. Diff bacteria. Normally they will prescribe one of three medications:

1. Vancomycin
2. Fidaxomicin or (in rare cases)
3. Metronidazole

People with severe cases of C Diff infections may have other conditions including severe pain, organ failure, toxic megacolon or inflammation of the lining of the abdominal wall. In these cases, the doctor may need to do surgery to remove the infected part of the colon.
Recurrent C Diff

People with the following conditions are more prone to have to deal with C Diff infections on multiple occasions:

• Elderly with a weakened immune system
• Taking antibiotics for another condition while taking C. Diff antibiotics
• Have another serious medical disorder with the kidneys, liver or bowel

To help people with multiple bouts of C Diff, the doctor will start with more antibiotics. Then they may move to a procedure called Fecal Microbiota Transplant or FMT. Yes it is what you think it is. A doctor will take a stool sample from a healthy individual and transplant it into the infected person’s colon. They will use either a colonoscope or nasogastric tube. The idea is to introduce healthy bacteria back into the unhealthy gut to contain the C Diff bacteria.



Although it’s still an experimental procedure, FMT enjoys about an 85% success rate when tried one or more times.

Along the lines of restoring healthy bacteria into a sick person’s gut, doctors may also recommend the patient take a probiotic. The sooner those healthy bacteria move back in, the sooner they can control the C Diff.

Here’s also an alternative way to potentially cure your C Diff infections:

Preventing C. Diff Infections

By now it should be obvious that staying healthy and keeping your immune system intact is the best way to prevent C Diff infections. Most of the time if you’re not using antibiotics, you probably won’t experience an infection.

Recently C Diff infections have been found more and more outside of hospitals and nursing homes. It seems to be spreading into communities. Investigators have found up to 42% of meat products contain C Diff. Many farm animals have the bacterium in their gut. They can pass it along to humans through eating the meat.


The trouble with C Diff is that cooking doesn’t kill it. You can cook chicken for 2 hours and still not kill the bacteria. Neither does alcohol-based sanitizers. That’s why it’s advisable to use gloves when handling raw meat.

Studies are also showing that C Diff thrives on the standard, sugar-rich diet that many Americans eat. Scientists have known for a long time that sugar can have an adverse affect on your immune system. But now it looks like bacteria like C Diff are evolving to use sugar as fuel.

If you have an elderly loved one in your family that has a big sweet tooth, you may want to help them recover from their addiction. We wrote another blog post on how to lessen or even eliminate those sugar cravings.

Anything you can do to improve your immune system and gut health will lessen the chances of contracting C. Diff. There are articles all over the internet that describe foods that are packed with antioxidants and immune system boosters.
C Diff and Assisted Living Homes

C Diff really hits home for us. There is a large retiree population around Goodyear and Surprise. They are prime candidates for the infection.

We just had a C Diff scare in our assisted living home in Goodyear, Arizona. One of our residents returned from the hospital with a large amount of antibiotics. Then we noticed the resident had a lot of diarrhea. Some of the other residents quickly started showing signs as well.

Our well-trained staff took immediate action. They worked with one of our mobile doctors to take diarrhea samples back to the lab. Then they quarantined the house and cleaned all the surfaces they could with a bleach solution. Everyone donned gowns and masks to avoid breathing in the spores.

Fortunately, the lab tests came back negative. Our doctor attributed the diarrhea to some Chinese food one of our resident’s families brought to everyone the night before. We were glad it wasn’t C Diff, but we are remaining vigilant. With the rate of increase of this infection, you can never be too sure.

We're still full, but....

When I wrote this latest update to our availability, we were still full. Since then one of our families has decided to place their loved in another home closer to them. So if you know anyone who would like to have a male roommate, please reach out to us. You can reach us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call 623-295-9890. Thanks!

New Nametags for our Caregivers

It's just easier for the families of our residents when our caregivers wear nametags. We just ordered new ones for our employees. If you want to come out and meet the caregivers, just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving) our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Music can make all the difference

Check out what effect a simple song can have on our residents. Would you like to join in the singing? Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

It's Puzzle Time

Our caregivers and residents have fun solving challenging problems and playing games together. Please come and check it out. Reach out to us on Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

As of August 12th, We're Still Full...

We love having several generations of families visiting our homes. Care to join us? Just reach out through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Our Caregivers Do Great Birthday Parties

We'd love to have you come for one of our celebrations. Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Hugging is what we do!

Need a hug? We give them out for free. Feel free to reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

Our Partnership with Hospice of the West

Hospice of the West does a great job working with our families during a very traumatic time. We wanted to give them a shout out for all they do. If you need Hospice services, please reach out to us. We can put you in touch with these wonderful ladies. Just contact us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, our email or call us at 623-295-9890

Assisted Living Music Video Parody (Lyrics)

We made our first assisted living music video. Three of our homes (the ones on Banff Lane and 135th Drive in Surprise and Campbell Avenue in Goodyear) participated in making the video. Everyone had a great time. Our video production company – Voyage Pro Productions – did an outstanding job.

Assisted Living Music for a Cause

We tried to use the video to raise money to help treat our residents who have Alzheimer’s. If you like the video, it would be great if you would donate. Even if you could like and share the video, we would really appreciate it. We’ll try to make some more. If nothing else, our residents really liked making the assisted living music videos.

So without further ado, here are the lyrics for our first official assisted living music video..

Assisted Living Rhapsody

Is this my rehab?

Is this just my bum knee?

Caught in a taxicab

No escape from my family

Open your eyes

Look all around Surprise and see

I’m just an old boy, I need some Vitamin C

Because I got the runs, need to go

(Blood) Pressure’s high, Iron’s low

Anyone win bingo? doesn’t really matter to me, to me

Mama, just had a scan

I laid down in a bed

Results came back, and I’m not dead

Mama, we have tons of fun

At the assisted living where I stay

Mama, oh, oh

For Hospice I qualify

If I forget your name again tomorrow

Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters

Too late, my bedtime has come

In my chair I will recline

Dentures soaking all the time

Goodbye everybody, I’ve got to sew,

I sure could sew so much more in my youth

Mama, oh, oh (Can I win at bingo?)

I’m not really shy

Sometimes I don’t wear any clothes at all

I see them cooking an omeletto in a pan

Chocolate Moose, Chocolate moose with a side of fresh mango

Thunderbolt and lightening, very, very frightening me

Lisinopril, Lisinopril, Lisinopril, Lisinopril, Lisinopril, Seroquel, So many pills

I’m just an old boy and somebody bathes me,

He’s just an old boy with a large family,

Spare him the move to a big facility

Nurses come nurses go can I watch the show?
This pill-a, no you cannot watch the show, watch the show
This pill-a, you cannot watch the show, watch the show
This pill-a, you cannot watch the show, watch the show

(cannot watch the show) watch the show (off to bed you go) watch the show (Doctor told us so)

Oh oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia watch the show

The cooler tub never has a beer for me for me for me

So will you walk me and share with me some pie

So you think you can dress me and tie my tie?

Oh babies, can’t wait to see grand babies

Just gotta get it out just gotta get it right out of my ear

Oh oh oh yeah, oh oh yeah
My family really matters
Anyone can see
My family really matters
My family really matters to me
Anyone win at bingo?

Come Join Us for the Next One

We are starting to brainstorm the next video. We may need some extras. Would you like to join us? Please reach out to us to see what we can do.

We're Totally Full, but would still like to help..

If we can answer any questions or talk to you about other homes, feel free to reach out to us. You can reach us through our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Our Bible Study Program is Alive and Well

Please come join us. Just reach out to us @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving on Facebook, our website, our email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Nurses are Among our Favorite People

We work with a lot of nurses - and they are so wonderful!. Come meet some of them. Please contact us through our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

11 Important Health Guidelines We Follow in our Homes

Our motto at A Paradise for Parents assisted living homes is that we “put the living into assisted living”. People who move into our homes in Surprise and Goodyear Arizona may be there for several years. Some of them have become well enough to move back to their homes. We really want to see people improve their health while they stay with us. So we follow some health guidelines to help them.

The guidelines come from a very popular natural health website on the internet run by Dr. Joseph Mercola. Dr. Mercola and his associates offers all sorts of tips and advice for living a long and healthy life.

We’ve had a lot of success using his health guidelines to help our residents:

• Increase their mobility
• Lose weight
• No longer need some of their medication
• Decrease their blood sugar
• Decrease their blood pressure
• Improve their happiness

We are not trying to make any medical claims about anything we are doing in our homes. We just think that helping our residents lead a healthy lifestyle will help them do better. And many times it shows.

Please don’t get the impression that we force any of these health guidelines on our residents. We call them guidelines for a reason. If our residents don’t want to follow them, we accommodate their choices. We just encourage them and support them in any way we can. And we do stray from them occasional when holidays or other special occasions roll around.

Dr. Mercola’s Health Guidelines

 Many of these guidelines would seem to be common sense. Yet a lot of them are not in common practice. We thought we would show you how we have implemented them in our assisted living homes.

Eat a Healthy Diet – #1 on our list of Health Guidelines

This can be a tough one for a senior. There are all sorts of reasons why an older person can succumb to all the food temptations:

• They can have a lifetime of bad eating habits they are trying to break
• Grandkids visit for birthday parties, Christmas or Thanksgiving
• Many junk food varieties are easy to eat
• Healthy meals can take a long time to prepare
• Processed foods are addictive
• Many restaurants don’t have a lot of healthy choices

Our Wonderful Manager Laura at our Banff Lane home

Even many assisted living homes advertise beautiful deserts. Or lots of other food that taste great but may not be the best for you.

That’s why we take a lot of pride in the meals we feed our residents.

We take the time to prepare nearly all our meals from scratch. Occasionally we will take our residents out to a restaurant. Or we may order from a restaurant. Most of the time, however, we cook at our homes in both Goodyear and Surprise Arizona.

Our meals emphasize lots of vegetables. Fruit is also plentiful – especially as a desert. We really try to avoid sugar. Besides having residents with diabetes in our homes, our general health guidelines for our cooks include little to no sugar. You wouldn’t believe how much low sugar intake can help someone.

Drink Lots of Water

We’ve found many residents in our homes don’t feel the need to drink much water. Seems like as we age, our thirst decreases.

That doesn’t mean the need to drink water doesn’t decrease. Our health guidelines push water. Without being too obnoxious about it. We know that many of our residents enjoy their coffee. That’s a morning ritual that just has to stay. The water just keeps them hydrate.

Some drinks we really discourage in our homes. We generally discourage sodas and other sugary drinks. The sugar really attacks the immune systems of our residents. That sure doesn’t help when they’re already in a weakened state. Alcohol is a no-no in our homes without at doctor’s orders. Believe it or not, some of our residents have been prescribed a beer or glass of wine in the evening. Some studies say it helps.

A Little Divergence in Health Guidelines for GMO Foods

#3 on Dr. Mercola’s health guidelines is to avoid all Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and food. We look at it more like avoiding a lot of processed foods. Mostly we stick with whole

Our Homes Need Coconut Oil in bulk!

foods as much as we can.

For instance – in each of our assisted living and memory care homes in Surprise and Goodyear, we try to cook with coconut oil. We try to avoid the processed vegetable oil or Canola oil. As we said above, we try to emphasize whole foods such as fresh foods and vegetables. We’ll also stay away from foods that are heavy on the carbs, especially right before bed.

Sugary snacks are another issue. We try to avoid them. Nuts make a great snack. Or fruit. And our residents seem to enjoy them just as much once they kick their sugar habits.

Gut Flora Optimization

Medical researchers are finding more and more that our gut health is an important factor in our overall health. There have been links found between our gut and lots of other systems in our bodies. Everything from our brain to our immune system needs a health gut. That’s why we’re seeing more and more health guidelines emphasizing gut health.

Many of our residents take a daily probiotic to help with their gut. It also counteracts the effects of the antibiotics some of them have to take.

We also try to serve foods such as Sauerkraut and yoghurt, which are natural probiotics.

Consume Healthy Fats

In addition to being healthy, good fats help your body absorb nutrients better from other foods. It used to be thought that a low-fat diet was the healthiest. More recent research is showing that saturated fats are really healthy. Un-saturated fats, also known as trans fats, are not.

We use a lot of saturated fats in our meals. That includes nuts and coconut oil that we already mentioned. Our homes also cook with healthy butter, avocados, eggs and healthy meats.

The fats help to:

• Provide fuel for your brain and heart
• Act as antiviral agents
• Provide building blocks for new cells
• Increase your sense of being full
• Help prevent cancer

Eat Plenty of Raw Food

Have you noticed this in previous health guidelines above? With all the talk about food so far in this article, I think we covered this one.

Many otherwise good foods can lose their nutrient content when exposed to heat. Raw whole foods will

Lots of Raw Food in our Fridges

provide the best health bang for your buck. Dr. Mercola recommends eating about 80% of your food raw. We’re probably not up to that level. We just try to make sure our residents maintain the best nutrient levels they can. Those veggies, fruits, and nuts sure help.

Don’t get us wrong though. Some foods are meant to be cooked – like eggs, beans and meat. We make sure we provide heat to the foods that need it.

#2 on Our Health Guidelines List – Exercise Regularly

Next to eating right, we really try to emphasize exercise for our residents. We have a personal trainer who works with the residents who hire him. In addition, our caregivers and managers work with each resident for at least 15 minutes a day.

Our personal trainer

Even the bedbound residents can perform some kind of exercise. For the healthier people, we’ve installed bars in our hallways. People can use them for leg lifts or to raise themselves out of their wheelchairs. We also take people on walks in our neighborhoods. Or encourage our residents to walk on the walking tracks we have behind each home.

We’ve seen some great results. We’ve seen people move from bed to wheelchair. Or wheelchair to walker. Or walk-er to walk-ing.

The Surprise and Goodyear AZ Health Guideline

There’s a reason the area around Surprise and Goodyear is called the “Valley of the Sun”. The towns around our assisted living homes receive about 260 days of sunshine each year. Vitamin D is in abundance at our homes.

Even when they’re not exercising, we try to have our residents spend at least a little time outside each day. We try to keep it to just 10 or 15 minutes in the heat of an Arizona summer. Then we lengthen the time outdoors when we have those spectacular fall, Spring and winter days. Many nights our caregivers will provide dinner outside.

It doesn’t take much time under the sun to really charge up your Vitamin D levels. Not to mention our residents love spending time outside in activities.

Limit Toxin Exposure

So much of our environment these days contains toxins. From pollution to mold to bad things in our food. According to some studies, toxins can be a real contributor to chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

That’s why we put our homes in small towns with clean air and a dry climate. Our cleaning staff don’t use harsh chemicals and our landscapers don’t use chemicals such as Roundup. The caregivers are careful to clean up any spills quickly to prevent mold formation. Of course, the dry climate helps!

Healthy eating will also limit the toxins our seniors might ingest.

One of the Toughest Health Guidelines for Seniors – Sleep

Seems like as we age, it becomes harder to sleep. Many of our residents have a tough time sleeping. Prostrate issues, Urinary tract infections, Sundowner’s syndrome and other conditions of old age contribute to lack of sleep.

We work with the personal physician of each resident to come up with a plan to help them sleep. If they need it. Focusing on the other health guidelines helps as well. Healthy eating and exercise conditions your body to sleep better at night.

Better sleep leads to better overall health!

Last but Not Least – Stress!

We really try in our assisted living homes to have as stress-free an environment as possible. Our activities such as music, bible study, exercise and outings are meant to be stress-free. There’s always a little stress when people move into our homes. But we really try hard to minimize it and let our residents just have fun.

As you can see, our health guidelines generally line up with Dr. Mercola’s. Hopefully everyone is doing at least some of these to live a long, healthy life!