SOUTH BRUNSWICK — The Park Place Genesis Eldercare Center, on Route 1 in Monmouth Junction, recently presented the first of many planned seminars on arthritis.
"Park Place is always looking to get involved," said Patti Castellano, regional marketing director for Genesis Eldercare. "We are looking to have the center as a community outreach. We will try to help out anyone in need."
The South Brunswick center, which has been open for five years, is a 96-bed nursing facility and is currently 96 percent full. The center tries to offer special services when it can, Castellano said.
"At many of our centers, we try to offer help to any group that has to deal with arthritis," Castellano said. "We want to educate people on this illness. We want to make them aware of what they can do."
Castellano said that this is something that has been in the works for about a month.
"This has been a work in progress for several weeks," Castellano said. "We are hoping for a good number of people to attend the seminars we hold. We have 44 centers in New Jersey alone. We want to keep reaching out to the community."
It is important to make people aware that individuals can live a full life with arthritis, Castellano said.
"There is help for arthritis," Castellano said. "We want to tell people how to live a full life. We also try to provide an outpatient program. We try to help people when can. We even try to have the therapy on weekends."
The main goal of the center is to help the community, Castellano said.
"Our goal would be to get community support," Castellano said. "If more people are aware, then we can help them and help ourselves. Community awareness is very important."
Castellano said the people will learn how to live with the illness.
"That will be the only thing that will be discussed," said Castellano. "We want to teach people how to live with it. We want to show them the preventative measures that can be taken. It would be great to prevent any problems down the road."
This help is provided for anyone who can benefit from the service, according to Castellano.
"These seminars can be for anyone," Castellano said. "There are often times when we don’t have the actual patient. Sometimes we have friends or family who know of someone affected by arthritis. They are welcome to attend and learn how a full and happy life can be possible."
The seminars are free and open to the public, Castellano said.