November is an action-packed month. All Saints Day (November 1st), Election Day (first Tuesday); Veterans (November 11th); Thanksgiving (November 28th) are all hallmark dates for the month. Day light savings starts on November 3rd. It is also National Family Caregivers Month; National Health Observance for Diabetes, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and Antibiotic Safety Awareness Month. In some respects, much of what is celebrated in November centers around thankfulness, appreciation and preparation of another year ending…and of course all the holidays that lurk just around the corner.
Veterans Day. Interesting how election day and Veterans Day are so close together. We owe it to our Veterans who have fought for all the freedoms that we enjoy today, including the freedom to vote. Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military, both in wartime and peacetime…and to acknowledge that their contributions to our nation’s national security is appreciated. (department.va.gov) Ridgecrest Village is home to the Honor Flight of the Quad Cities with their local office located in the Hub of the Ridgecrest Campus. Lorrie Blumberg, Senior Campus Director for Ridgecrest, said, “Ridgecrest Village will once again be hosting the Art Peterson’s Veterans Appreciation Program on Monday, November 11, 2024. It’s a wonderful way of showing our appreciation and pay tribute to our veterans and honor those departed.” Resident, Herman Bredar who is spearheading the event expects a packed house again this year. When talking about what Veterans Day means to him as a Korean War Veteran, Bredar said, “In a word, it’s about patriotism and being American.” With a tearful eye, he went to add, “99% of Americans wake up to enjoy the freedom that exist in this country today, while the other 1% wake up to defend it.” There are currently forty veterans residing at Ridgecrest.
Family caregiving awareness is something most of us do at some point in our life. Many of us do not recognize ourselves as a “caregiver” and being a caregiver can present in different ways; from sporadically helping to get a loved one to doctors’ appointments and providing light errand work to providing full blown care and bedside assistance. Family caregiving is at the backbone of informal healthcare, is vital to quality of life for older adults, and should be celebrated. The National Council on Aging has designated this time to honor and recognize caregivers nationally and raise awareness around family caregiving. At Ridgecrest we see this daily from the point of contact with our organization. It’s often a family caregiver that places the first call and guides the path for their loved one as they transition to retirement living. Our families are very much part of the Ridgecrest experience.
Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday each November. It means different things to different people, so I will share what it means to me. As I’ve commented before, I grew up on a farm in northern Iowa. I attended a country school early on and this holiday was focused on the founding of our country, thankfulness for the bounty of the harvest, preparing a meal, and breaking bread with family and friends. I’m sure turkey and football fit in there somewhere for some of us as well.
There are so many things to be celebrated during the month of November and I’ve named only a few, but in a nutshell, I’d say it’s a month celebrating thankful.
Julie Arndt is a licensed social worker and Director of Marketing at Ridgecrest Village with over 30 years’ experience working in the field of geriatrics and senior advocacy. She can be reached at jarndt@ridgecrestvillage.org.
