Heritage of Green Hills enjoys a summer of wellness
This summer was full of activity, connections and a focus on wellness in the personal and memory care neighborhood at The Heritage of Green Hills in Cumru Township, Berks County.
Highlights have included live outdoor performances, drumming along to hits of the 1950s, chucking water balloons at the staff on Splash Day and petting baby goats and sampling honey on the BARNopoly Tour.
“It’s been an amazing summer full of fun here in personal and memory care,” said Arts and Entertainment Coordinator Heather Setley. “We work very hard to come up with creative and interesting ways for residents to enjoy themselves while staying healthy, safe, and engaged and connected with the world around them.”
Now in its second year, the neighborhood’s weekly outdoor concert and performance series remains very popular.
“We started the series because of COVID, but it’s proven to be so much fun that we plan to keep going,” Setley said. “Being outside allows us more space to interact. Resident Don Westley even got the opportunity to conduct the Exeter Community Band when they performed for us, and we did a cool drum circle with Mark Seaman of Earth Rhythms.”
Actually, drumming has become an unlikely favorite pastime at the community. Started as a way to bring residents together in an activity while still maintaining distancing, weekly drumming has become a very popular activity in both the independent living and personal care neighborhoods at The Heritage.
“We use wooden spoons and bang along to the beat
on balance balls while we listen to oldies,” Setley said. “It’s amazingly fun, social, reduces tension and anxiety, and secretly is a good safe and low-impact cardio workout, too! We end up laughing a lot.”
Splash Day
Another relatively new tradition in the Personal and Memory Care neighborhood is Splash Day, which was held for the second time in August. Residents were armed with water balloons, water pistols and super soakers and encouraged to take aim at the staff.
“The Second Annual Splash Day was full of smiles, and it was a great way to beat the heat, too!” Setley said.
Scenic drives and BARNolopy
As part of this summer’s weekly scenic drives, interested
residents got on the community’s bus and played BARNopoly by visiting various spots on the Berks Agricultural Resource Network (BARN) farm trail. Dove Song Dairy in Jefferson Township, Berks County, brought an adorable 4-day-old goat on the bus for everyone to pet while Funny Farm Apiaries let residents taste-test their raw honeys.
Each week, the scenic drive started with a swing by the new Health Care Center’s construction site and residents discussed their brand-new home, which is set to open in summer 2022.
New health center
Construction of the Health Care Center is well underway and hard hat tours are slated to begin as early as November.
Each of the state-ofthe-art building’s 70 spacious one-bedroom and
studio suites will include a private bath with topof-the-line fixtures, and the personal care suites will include a kitchenette with deluxe finishes and be among the largest assisted-living-style homes available in the market.
“We have several future
residents and their families interested in the new Health Care Center, but there’s no need to wait to get the deeply personalized and expert care we’re known for,” said Marketing and Admissions Liaison Melissa Oley. “People who move to the Heritage
now will have first choice of suites in the new building and will be eligible for $6,000 in savings.”
Learn more about life in personal and memory care at The Heritage at https:// heritageofgreenhills.com/ senior-care-options-shillington-pa