ENLIGHT at The Heathers
If you check your modern dictionary for the word enlight- you probably won’t find it. The closest you will get today is enlighten. But if you look back a little further in the old English language, you will find the curious verb ‘enlight', meaning to illuminate. The idea of illuminating someone’s life is what inspired our team at The Heathers to create our ENLIGHT program for Seniors’ Lifestyle Enrichment. In this article we discuss the goal of Enlight and explain further each letter.
I sat down with our Executive Director, John Apostle, to discuss what inspired The Heathers to create this unique program. “No two humans are alike,'' he explained. “When it comes to activities and programs to do with our Seniors, we want everyone to feel involved and to be passionate about what we are doing.” This passion leads to the E of Enlight for Empower.
E- EMPOWER: It is the effort of engaging people to stay active by providing a suitable setting and the necessary tools to perform various tasks, projects and hobbies
Put simply, not everyone at the Heathers will enjoy doing the same activities. Instead of forcing participation in a given activity, it is our job to provide the tools for a variety of activities different individuals can enjoy. If one person likes movies but another preferes trivia, how about a trivia night focused on everyone’s favorite movies? We want our residents to feel as if they always have the power to learn new skills and practice their favorite hobbies.
N- NURTURE: It is the process of encouraging individual growth and development of the human mind and soul in a healthier state of existence.
Our N for Nurture is inspired by the Latin phrase “Mens sana in corpore sano,” most commonly translated as “a healthy mind in a healthy body”. We want our Seniors to know that both their mental and physical health is important to them and to us. We provide a variety of activities to encourage mental wellbeing and mindfulness, and have walking paths, and gardens and other options for physical exercise.
L- LEARNING: It is the perennial source of achieving the highest level of intellectual excellence.
We want our Residents to always feel encouraged to continue lifelong learning. An important part of staying healthy as we age is continuing to use our brain. Acquiring new skills and knowledge helps our residents stay mentally fit. Our Residents know that they don’t need to view their life as a passive receiver and can instead take action learning new skills and knowledge.
I- INSPIRE: It is the ability to influence an individual to become motivated and creative for a better life.
“Inspiration is attained by accepting that another human being can influence one to become better,” says John, with a smile. At The Heathers we want the feeling of inspiration to be mutual between our Residents and our Care Partners. We can all learn and grow from each other.
G- GIVE: It is the act of kindness of providing someone valuable time, useful resources, ideas, and an appropriate environment to hold events that promote socialization and enjoyment.
Our Care Partners give from the heart at The Heathers. There is so much to be said for lending someone a sympathetic ear, giving your time freely, or providing a moral boost to someone when it's most needed. Our Residents provide the same in return and everyone mutually benefits. There’s a lot of truth to the classic wisdom, “It's far better to give than to receive.”
H- HONOR: It is the outcome of respecting one’s epic life, contributions to humanity, beliefs, culture and origins by staging relevant activities to support one’s unique choices and tastes.
Current culture often prompts the idea that you need to be on paper or tv to be important, but that is not what we believe. We believe that every human being has an epic life and an amazing story to tell and we want to hear about it from you. We can all honor each other by listening to each other's stories and support each other even if we all come from different backgrounds and have different life experiences.
T- THRILL: It is the ultimate goal of our Life Enrichment program to offer many opportunities to excite the body, the mind, and the human heart through clear understanding of personal needs and desires.
Regardless of your stage in life, your life should be exciting in a way that best suits you. Just as our Seniors have led an enriching life before, as well as enriched the lives of others, we want this invaluable thrill to carry on. At The Heathers, we strive to make certain seniors to continue to be enriched, to enrich, and thrive.
With ENLIGHT, we at The Heathers want our Residents' lives to be vibrant and exhilarating. We can’t wait to join you on your journey.