Thirwood Place News: Assisted Living Resident Celebrates 100th Birthday

There’s always something to celebrate at Thirwood Place!Yesterday at The Cove, residents gathered in the Activities Room to celebrate Mrs. Doris Colgan’s 100th birthday. Doris sat at her own special table with her daughter, where she enjoyed strawberry shortcake. How lucky are we at Thirwood to be able to say our residents are celebrating birthdays in the triple digits!

Fun Facts About Doris

Doris was in Times Square on V-J Day celebrating the end of World War II. It was also the day that photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured his famed photo of a US Navy sailor kissing a nurse. When our Activities Coordinator, Maureen Boyce, asked her if she kissed a serviceman that day, Doris replied, “Of course I did!”

She  was once asked what she thought was the greatest invention that came about in her lifetime and, according to Doris, it was the washing machine!

The Cove at Thirwood Place

Parties like these are important for many reasons. They boost morale and allow our Assisted Living residents to have a little more fun than their regularly scheduled activities. Additionally, they’re a testament to Thirwood’s commitment to providing residents with a happy and healthy lifestyle.

We all know the importance of physical health and understand what we must do daily to keep our bodies healthy. Drink lots of water, see your doctor regularly, take your vitamins. You may not realize that mental health can have a huge impact on your physical state as well. You can be the healthiest person on Earth but if you’re cooped up inside all day with no human interaction it can take a toll.

That’s why we have such an extensive activities calendar with a wide variety of things to do. It keeps our residents engaged, socializing, and out of their apartments.

Here’s what a study published in 2023, by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health discovered: “Scientists evaluated the health, lifestyle habits, and self-reported social activity of more than 28,000 people (average age 89) whose survival was tracked for an average of five years or until death. Within the first five years, the more people socialized, the longer they lived. Each of the following groups lived longer than the one before it: those who socialized occasionally, monthly, weekly, or every day. People in any of these groups lived longer than those who did not socialize at all.”

If birthday parties and activities allow for our residents to thrive and live longer, we’ll never stop celebrating at Thirwood Place!