BeeHive Homes of Rio Rancho

What a fun afternoon with our friends at Rio Rancho Center! 🎃🐝🍬

Rio Rancho Center, one of our valued community partners, hosted a wonderful Trunk or Treat and kindly invited BeeHive Homes of Rio Rancho to join in the celebration.

We were so happy to come out, show our support, represent our BeeHive family, and enjoy an afternoon filled with costumes, candy, smiles, and plenty of Halloween fun.

Community means showing up for one another, and we’re grateful for the relationships we share with organizations throughout Rio Rancho that care deeply about the people they serve.

Thank you to Rio Rancho Center for the invitation and for putting together such a sweet celebration! 🧡👻

Ask someone who grew up in the 1940s about their best Halloween costume, and there's a good chance it was a bedsheet ghost with the eyeholes cut a little too low.

This week we're celebrating the old memories and making a few new ones. If you're visiting, ask your loved one about their favorite costume. You might hear a great story.

Bingo time for the ladies at BeeHive Homes of Rio Rancho! 💛🎉

A little friendly competition, plenty of conversation, and lots of smiles around the table made for a fun afternoon together.

Sometimes it’s the simple things — a favorite game, good company, and a few laughs — that make the best memories.

The clocks fall back on Sunday, November 1. For a lot of our older friends, that one hour shows up as early mornings, long evenings, and a little extra restlessness when the sun goes down.

A bit of morning sunshine, a steady supper time, and a night light in the hallway go a long way. We shared a few more ideas for New Mexico families on the blog this week.

Most families start looking for one person. Dad's balance has gone, or Mom's been forgetting the stove.

Then, somewhere in the second or third phone call, the real question shows up. What happens to the other one?

Often, without anyone calling it caregiving, the spouse at home has been doing all of it. The shower in the morning. The cooking. Getting up at two and four in the night. And he's eighty-some himself.

Many of our New Mexico homes have couples rooms. Meals come from the kitchen. Caregivers handle the bathing and the medications. Someone is awake at night. They still wake up in the same room and still argue about the thermostat. What's gone is the part of the marriage that had turned into a job.

What to ask, and what to think about when their needs are different: https://assistedlivingcarenm.com/senior-living-for-couples-in-new-mexico/

The clocks fall back on Sunday, November 1. By the middle of that week it'll be dark before supper.

For a parent living alone, that changes more than the view out the window. October is when the house changes: the heaters and the cords come out, the rugs go back down, wet leaves pile up on the step, and somebody still has to climb up on the roof to cover the swamp cooler.

The CDC says more than one in four adults over 65 falls each year, and fewer than half tell their doctor. Falling once doubles the chance of falling again.

The CDC also says falls can be prevented, and most of the fixes are small. Nightlights in the hallway and bathroom. A lamp she can reach from the bed. Rug pads. A brighter porch bulb. The cord moved off the path to the bathroom. And the swamp cooler cover handled by you, before he gets to it.

Then two phone calls: a medication review and an eye exam.

A room-by-room walk-through for New Mexico families, before the time change: https://assistedlivingcarenm.com/fall-prevention-for-seniors-in-new-mexico/

The decision gets all the attention. Then it's made, and a different set of questions shows up almost the same afternoon.

What does she bring? What's the first night like? How often should we come? How long until it feels like hers?

Those questions get far less airtime than the decision did, and they're the ones that decide how the first month goes.

A few things we've learned. Bring the ten things that make a room hers and stop there. Ask if you can set the room up before she arrives. Stay for the first meal, then leave before the evening routine. Expect the first week to be uneven. And know that somewhere around week two the guilt spikes for no reason at all. That's not information about the decision. It passes.

The first real sign is usually small. She mentions someone by name. She has an opinion about the green chile.

A week-by-week guide to moving to senior living in New Mexico, including the page for every one of our homes: https://assistedlivingcarenm.com/moving-a-parent-to-senior-living-in-new-mexico/

What does “senior living” actually mean? 🏡

For some families, it means a large community. For others, it can mean something much more familiar—a real house, a shared kitchen table, private rooms, and caregivers who know Mom or Dad by name.

Our newest guide explains the different types of senior living in New Mexico, what families should compare, and where BeeHive Homes fits.

👉 Read the guide:
https://assistedlivingcarenm.com/senior-living-in-new-mexico/

Beautiful Autumn Day 🍂