The residents of the personal and memory care neighborhood at the Heritage of Green Hills, a healthy life plan community in Shillington, celebrated the 1940s during the month of January.

Through crafts, games and discussions, the residents explored the decade's fashions, trends, famous boxers, architecture and other topics, often while listening to music from the period.

Residents were also kept up-to-date on today's headlines. For a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the residents participated in a talk about his legacy and read the historic "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

The personal and memory care neighborhood offers its residents a variety of different activities every day no matter the month's theme, including daily gentle exercise classes and clubs. Simple cooking classes, parties, games, movies, sing-alongs and art activities are all regularly offered. Eagles and Phillies games are shown on a large screen.

Both the independent living and personal and memory care neighborhoods use the Heritage of Green Hills' signature Well By Design program. This mind, body and spirit initiative offers activities, classes, events and services focusing on eight dimensions of wellness - social, physical, intellectual, emotional, vocational, spiritual, environmental and health services.

Though COVID-19 has proven challenging, the staff at the Heritage has gotten creative in order to keep residents engaged and spirits up. Staff members hosted an outdoor concert series in the parking lot, and they occasionally print out pictures of silly mouths and attach them to their masks to get everyone smiling.

In warm weather, families and residents met together safely in a large tent. Now that it is colder, the conference room has been set up in such a way that loved ones can visit residents inside comfortably, but still at the recommended distance.

Resident and employee vaccinations were expected to begin recently.

February's theme in the personal and memory care neighborhood will be the city of Venice, complete with crafts, trivia, Italian poetry and an olive oil tasting. Also planned is a masked ball in honor of Venetian Mardi Gras.