“I just flew in from Miami and boy are my arms tired”
Bob Hope used this joke for many years and always got a laugh from his audiences. Laughter makes us all feel good. For seniors in our care, laughter is especially important to their health and well-being. Research at California State University, Long Beach has studied the impact of humor on seniors and concluded that seniors exposed to humor showed significant improvement in life satisfaction scores. Additionally, their outlook changed significantly as a result of their participation in a humor program.
Are these results shocking? Hardly. We all recognize that laughing makes us feel good. For seniors who often feel isolated, daily laughing is critical to their wellness, engagement and satisfaction.
So how do senior living communities make people laugh? VoiceFriend, the leading provider of activity, care plan and emergency reminders for senior living communities, has found the solution. We have initiated a joke of the day program. Seniors are told a joke via their phone, email or text (depending on how each recipient wants to receive their messages).
Initial feedback to the offering is extremely positive. VoiceFriend is now including the joke of the day program as part of our base solution to all senior living communities. It is an easy way Senior Living Communities can keep their seniors laughing ….and healthy.
"I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport."
It make you chuckle, but for a senior, it also may be just the what the doctor ordered.
Bruce Baron is CEO of VoiceFriend, LLC. He can be reached at 781-996-3123 or email sales@voicefriend.net.