Gift ideas for seniors

Faith & Family

Gift ideas for seniors

Here are our top suggestions for gift ideas for the older people in your life.

Faith & Family

Grieving the loss of a loved one over the holidays

After losing a loved one, the Christmas season can be a challenging time to grieve and heal. You may experience a wide array of emotions that become especially difficult to process amid festive holiday décor, gatherings and activities.

Faith & Family

7 ways to connect with your grandkids

You can be so much more to your grandchildren than just candy givers, toy buyers and kid spoilers.

Faith & Family

How to stay connected with God during your retirement years

Retirement can bring ups and downs, requiring people to adjust as they look for meaning and purpose. Staying close to God is especially important during this season of life.

Faith & Family

How to start preserving your family history

Our family narrative tells the stories of who we are. When we look back on memories from birthday parties, graduations, weddings and other special moments, we are provided with a greater sense of self.

Faith & Family

Healthy meals to cook with your grandkids

Cooking with grandkids can be a fun, rewarding and memorable experience. Learn how to make the most of your moments in the kitchen together.

Faith & Family

Thinking about forming a Bible study? Start here.

Trying to start a Bible study? It’s easy to get lost in the logistics and feel overwhelmed.

Faith & Family

Questions for grandparents to ask their grandchildren

When talking to your grandkids, help them express a range of emotions — happy, sad, frustrated or amused. And be open to listening to any topic.

Faith & Family

What staff members need to know about family caregivers

Family members and friends who are responsible for looking after and helping their loved ones are an extremely valuable part of the care team for Good Samaritan Society residents living in long-term care.

Faith & Family

What feels like the end is often the beginning

On a Monday back in March of 2020, I was clocking back in after lunch at Cedar Lake Village when I noticed a sign on the wall that caught my attention.

Faith & Family

Talking to your parents about home-based medical services

Use the following conversation starters to help you talk about how home care could benefit your mom or dad — and you.

Faith & Family

The Good Samaritan

March 13 marks Good Samaritan Day – a fitting time for the Good Samaritan Society to celebrate our namesake.

Faith & Family

How to cope when your spouse is facing health issues

Cathy Rosch’s relationship with her husband, George, shifted when he suffered a traumatic brain injury and she became his caregiver.

Faith & Family

A Christmas devotional

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” John 1:14 (NRSV)

Faith & Family

Do I need advance care planning?

Not sure if you need to outline your healthcare preferences and end-of-life wishes?

Faith & Family

What are advance directives?

The more information you include in your advance directive, the easier it will be for your family to honor your wishes. This will also help lessen the stress on your family in a time of crisis.

Faith & Family

Alzheimer's and the holidays: 7 tips for coping

Although the holidays are a time for rejoicing, this time of year can be stressful for those with Alzheimer's. Read how to make the holidays more comfortable for people with memory loss.

Faith & Family

Renew your strength in the Lord

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts ... and be thankful.

– Colossians 3:15 (NIV)

Faith & Family

Coping with the holiday blues

Everyone has a unique mix of life experiences, cultures, traditions and memories surrounding the holidays. Take time to acknowledge and value your perspective and the perspectives of others.

Faith & Family

How do you know if you’re a caregiver?

You check the mail for Mom since you're already at the post office.

Faith & Family

Challenges stack up for sandwich generation caregivers

With the population of Americans over 65 growing steadily, the number of adults who care for an aging parent while also caring for their children is increasing, too.

Faith & Family

10 ways to boost your mood

We all face times in our lives when we feel overwhelmed by worry, uncertainty, loss or loneliness. To cope with life’s ups and downs, use these 10 tips to boost your mood and stay positive.

Faith & Family

Signs your parent needs help at home

Read about potential signs that your loved one needs assistance at home as well as five things you can do to help.

Faith & Family

Coping with grief

When someone you love dies, the grief can feel overwhelming. Take steps toward healing while remembering and honoring your loved one with these five strategies.

Faith & Family

Long-distance caregiving brings unique challenges

Caregiving from a distance can be complicated. Whether the task is big or small, helping from a distance adds layers of complexity to any task. But you're not alone.

Faith & Family

The Ultimate Gift

In the midst of Christmas busyness this year, take a moment to remember God’s Ultimate Gift to you: his one and only Son.

Faith & Family

Fear is knocking — do not open the door

Have you ever had someone knock on your front door and when you peek through your peephole, it's someone you don’t want to see? You hope they didn't hear you coming to the door or the kids talking or maybe the dog barking. You wait to see if they will go away, but they knock even harder. So you open the door and let them in. They settle in and make themselves at home. You wish they would leave, but they won't go — after all, you let them in.

Faith & Family

Mother’s Day gift ideas

This year might still look a little different, but it’s important to take time to celebrate the women who make your life better.

Faith & Family

The power in acceptance

When you’re dealing with challenging circumstances, there’s a power and freedom that come with acceptance. We asked the Rev. Greg Wilcox, senior pastor at the Good Samaritan Society, to share his insights.

Faith & Family

Amid COVID concerns, plan ahead and consult family when contemplating a change of address

There are always going to be at least two parts to the decision to move.

Faith & Family

Advance care planning begins with conversation

Advance care planning involves making decisions about health care before you actually have to make them.

Faith & Family

Are you ready to ‘fare well’?

Too often, if a health crisis occurs, we do not have a power of attorney, an advanced directive, or the reassurance of prior conversations with our family about our wishes in case of illness or death.

Faith & Family

Preventing elderspeak when addressing older adults

While many caregivers feel like speaking in a cheerful, simple way or using terms of endearment shows they care, many older adults are less than receptive to this manner of speech.

Faith & Family

4 ways to grow in your faith

As people of faith, it’s important to nurture our spiritual side. But many of us tend to get comfortable doing the same type of faith practice year after year.

Faith & Family

Simple ways to pay it forward

Hebrews 10:24 (NIV) encourages us to be an example for others to follow.

Faith & Family

7 encouraging Bible verses

Rev. Dr. Julie Berndt of the Good Samaritan Society and Sanford Health shares Scripture verses to bolster your spiritual health if you are living with a long-term illness or caring for someone who is.

Faith & Family

5 ways to be a better listener

Research shows that social isolation takes a toll on health, well-being and quality of life, especially as we get older. That’s why the Good Samaritan Society developed Kin Ministry, an innovative program that coordinates in-person, phone and video-chat connections between isolated seniors and volunteers from their faith community.

Faith & Family

A lesson in grace

I have 8-year-old twin boys, Jeremiah and Joshua. They look completely different from each other, and yes, they act completely different, too.

Faith & Family

Tips for building a prayer

Have you ever been asked to lead a prayer, out loud, in public? Were you prepared?

Faith & Family

How do you talk to someone who has Alzheimer’s?

No matter how deeply we care about friends or family, Alzheimer’s disease or dementia can make us uncomfortable — especially when we don’t fully understand it.

Faith & Family

Break the silence around domestic violence

Any incident of domestic violence is unacceptable.

Faith & Family

6 fun ideas to bring children, older adults together

Want to help your children interact with older adults? Want a better relationship with your grandchildren? Consider these ideas as you brainstorm fun activities.

Faith & Family

The best states for family caregivers

Caring.com says 10 states are doing the best job of easing the financial burden on caregivers of older adults and providing mental, emotional and physical support.

Faith & Family

What about prayer?

These days we schedule almost everything. There is a system or methodology for almost every aspect of our lives.

Faith & Family

God’s love endures forever

Researchers who study such things say it usually takes at least five times before you begin to remember the information. Of course, the longer the list or sentence, the more times it can take for even those with great abilities to commit it to memory.

Faith & Family

Death does not have the final word. God does. [slideshow]

A life well lived includes dying well; that is, having spiritual, emotional, physical and social needs met at the time of a loved one's death.

Faith & Family

Missionaries wherever we are

Scripture teaches us that we can be a witness to Christ no matter where we are.

Faith & Family

Making time for God

We live in a society that is obsessed with time, and we never seem to have enough of it. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, how do we make time for God?

Faith & Family

26 questions to spark great conversations

Whether it’s strangers at the table, family members at a reunion or new co-workers in the hallway, we all have people we struggle to make conversation with.

Faith & Family

Let prayer outshine worry

In the book of Philippians, Paul is writing to people in a church in Philippi. The Philippians are struggling, and Paul himself is in prison.