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MAY WAS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

Assistance to the Elderly promotes strategic synergies with corporations and invites them to become ambassadors in the community to give a voice to those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related disorders.

Miami, Florida, June 7, 2019, /- Mental health is essential to everyone’s overall health and well-being, and mental illnesses are common and treatable. So much of what we do physically impacts us mentally – it’s essential to pay attention to both your physical health and your mental health, which can help you achieve overall wellness and set you on a path to recovery.

Since 1949 Mental Health America (MHA) founded May is Mental Health Month, which means this year marks MHA’s 70th year celebrating Mental Health Month! Assistance to the Elderly is expanding its focus and raising awareness about the connection between physical health and mental health, especially for those that are the most vulnerable in our community, low-income older adults.

At Assistance to the Elderly’s assisted living community, Residential Plaza, all activities are geared towards the connection between physical health to mental health; promoting activities that engage our residents with pet therapy, spirituality and religion, humor, recreation and social relationships as ways to boost mental health and general wellness. This approach is true for all of the residents at Residential Plaza, especially for those at the Memory Care Program which provides an affordable 24-hour specialized care, based on the Montessori for Aging and Dementia Program, in a home-like environment for adults with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia-related disorders.

As a society, we still have many paradigms to overcome, and much education still needs to happen at all levels of our community to demystify mental health and turn it into a conversation in our daily life.

“One-way Assistance to the Elderly contributes to creating awareness about mental health is through its Volunteer Program where we engage with corporate partners in our community to have activities in our facility,” said Luisana Hung Salazar, Development Director for Assistance to the Elderly. “We recently joined forces with United Way and Deloitte to build a stringer Miami-Dade and have an impact that matters in our community. At first, volunteers don’t know what to expect, the invitation is to do community hours with low-income older adults, but when they come, share with our residents, put a face and a story behind the term, low-income older adults, it hits home and makes a difference in their approach. They always leave our community touched and eager to advocate for the needs of this very vulnerable population in our community,” said Hung Salazar.

Assistance to the Elderly wants everyone to know that mental illnesses are real, and recovery is always the goal.

About Assistance to the Elderly
Assistance to the Elderly, Inc. is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization that owns Residential Plaza at Blue Lagoon, a licensed assisted living and memory care community. Assistance to the Elderly, Inc. enables low-to-moderate income vulnerable adults to lead meaningful and dignified lives by providing safe supportive housing, quality services, community education, and advocacy.  For more information visit: www.atteinc.org

About Residential Plaza at Blue Lagoon
Residential Plaza provides an affordable home with assisted living services allowing 350 older adults to live in a safe, caring and supportive environment while maintaining their dignity, independence, and purpose. For more information visit: www.residentialplaza.com

About Mental Health America
Mental Health America (MHA) – founded in 1909 – is the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans. For more information on May is Mental Health Month, visit MHA’s website at www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may