Trends and Tools for a Desirable, Engaging Senior Living Community
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Senior living communities face greater demands than ever before. With changing times, evolving needs, and new technology, assisted living communities are exploring and offering new options to provide residents with more dynamic living arrangements that meet their needs and exceed their expectations. Introduction As senior living communities look for insights, strategies, and tools to make their facilities more desirable and engaging for residents, they continue to face a persisting challenge. That challenge is finding the right balance between optimizing residents’ enjoyment, safety, and comfort while keeping the business profitable. Additionally, senior living communities have been confronted by new challenges, from improving collaboration across the continuum of care to bringing in new technologies to support and advance the quality of care provided, as well as the quality of the overall living experience. As facilities across the nation step up to meet these needs, they have changed and updated nearly every aspect of their operations, from the actual living quarters and physical infrastructure of communities to staff training, facility policies, communication strategies, security features, and much more.
Experts predict that the evolution of senior living communities will only continue in the coming years. In fact, some expect increasingly rapid changes as resident populations surge over the next decade— and as these residents continue to expect more from their communities with the desire to live life to the fullest for as long as possible.
Senior Living Community Trends in 2019 For well over a decade, senior living communities have been bracing for the onslaught of the Baby Boomer generation. While that is not a new trend for 2019, it is certainly still relevant. Adding a relatively new and distinct dynamic to this long-standing trend is the fact that senior living communities are also seeing significant increases in younger resident populations. This has triggered a skyrocketing demand for more flexible, versatile, and personalized offerings from assisted living facilities. According to Senior Housing News, this challenge is driving all types of innovation and responsive solutions in the industry. One of these changes lies in infrastructure, with aging campuses across the nation being focal points for renovation and major restructuring. While these updates are bringing new technologies and advancements into senior living communities, they are also making these facilities more integrated and personalized. This marks a distinct move away from the one-size-fits-all approach of the past, which was centered on institutional care and living. That approach failed to address individual residents’ physical, mental, and emotional needs, often having negative impacts on quality of life.
Instead, senior living facilities are reinventing themselves, moving towards a more customized, responsive approach that better serves residents and enhances their quality of life while also offering more robust staff support. This remarkable shift has led to a number of innovations, touching everything from how facilities are designed and operated to their amenities, activities, programs, and more. As senior living communities across the U.S. continue to evolve, they are making significant strides towards attracting new residents and maintaining their appeal and relevance in today’s demanding world.
Another impact of this trend is the shift in more seniors looking forward to the move into assisted living communities, if needed. For their families, there’s added peace of mind and comfort knowing that their elderly loved one is living in a nice, private place where professional assistance is readily available whenever needed. This truly exemplifies what assisted living is and how it can significantly enhance residents’ quality of life when they want to live independently and still enjoy privacy and dignity while knowing that they have the assistance they need whenever needs arise.
Respecting Resident Privacy and Dignity Are Essential
Facilities Need to Feel Like Home
Bradford Perkins, the renowned founder of New York-based architectural firm Perkins Eastman Architects, has long understood the value of progress in the context of improving care and living facilities for seniors. Perkins recognized one of the major problems with senior living facilities was that they reduced residents’ level of dignity and privacy. Specifically, residents would often be required to share rooms with people they didn’t know or like, commonly forcing them to do personal things, like dressing, with another person in the room. The beds in nursing homes may serve as one of the best symbols of this issue. According to Statista, there are nearly 1.7 million registered beds in nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term care facilities throughout the United States.¹ Many of these have been operated on a low-tech hospital model, where dignity and privacy were not priorities. In recent years, enhancing and respecting residents’ privacy has been a growing priority, with an increasing number of facilities moving towards private room options, instead of forcing residents to share rooms. This trend has yielded a couple of major benefits, including minimal costs to switch to private rooms and a skyrocketing demand for them. While proving to be a better business model, the shift towards private rooms also enhances residents’ quality of life and lets them preserve their dignity. As of 2015, the most recent year for which complete, verified data is available
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Unsurprisingly, the transition to a senior living community can leave new residents feeling displaced. What is also unsurprising is the fact that optimizing comfort by making facilities homier is pivotal to helping new residents feel at home as soon as possible. Across small to large assisted living facilities, administrators and caregivers are taking an array of different, forward-thinking steps to help new residents adjust faster so they feel part of the community sooner. The Green House Project has made great strides in this area, creating an innovative program that helps launch and support small house senior living projects. Facilities that are part of the Green House Project typically have eight to ten bedrooms, with a shared dining and living space. There are caregivers available 24 hours a day, and skilled nursing options make it a very safe and cozy option for residents. The communal
Choice and Freedom of Movement Are Important Among the most important changes taking place in the senior living industry today is the concept of individual choice. In the past, the choices have been almost exclusively controlled by the facility, with very few options left in the control of the individual residents.
nature of the shared space can be comforting, but residents also have plenty of privacy in their own bedroom and aren’t asked to share their personal space with others. The Green House Project has gained a lot of recognition for its revolutionary approach, even receiving a featured profile in a 2017 New York Times piece, entitled A Better Kind of Nursing Home. First gaining traction in 2004, the movement toward smaller senior facilities has only grown since then. Many senior citizens find this type of living arrangement more desirable than some of the larger facilities that can have a more clinical, institutional feel. Larger facilities, however, can be made to feel homey as well. Today, many larger senior living communities are designed to look and generally operate like apartment complexes. Meals are prepared, but there are multiple options for meal choices and dining times. While choices will be more limited than in a restaurant, they won’t be so limited that people with dietary restrictions or someone who just wants something different won’t have any good options. The apartments can be painted, decorated, and styled to fit residents’ tastes. The ability to make their space feel like home, which can go a long way towards supporting and enhancing seniors’ mental and physical health, is a significant trend in modern senior living.
Without options and choices to consider, residents can lose their sense of control and independence. While it is not possible to provide every senior citizen living in a facility with all the choices they want all of the time, more options are becoming available every day. When a facility makes plenty of individual choices available, residents can feel empowered, confident, and more independent. Another important factor to consider is that many of today’s seniors are not forced to move into assisted living communities. Instead, they usually choose to move on their own. With that choice, they tend to take the time to do their research and check out different facilities, so they can choose the facility they feel is the best option and fit for them. Giving them a choice of community—and the community giving them further choices once they are a resident—can make it much easier for them to choose to move to a facility instead of staying at home. For facilities that want to see success and be in demand with seniors looking for a community to move to, individual choice and freedom of movement have to be carefully considered because they are highly valued by the majority of people today, regardless of age. Keeping residents safe is vital for any facility that wants to keep a good reputation with its residents and their families, but that desire for safety has to be understood in the context of allowing senior citizens to make as many of their own choices as realistically possible. The more opportunities the residents have for individual choice, the more they will feel comfortable with where they live. How they dress, what they eat, and how much time they spend involved in activities or interacting with other residents should be largely up to them, in keeping with the concept of respecting their choices and
independence. The key is to find the right balance between providing assistance and protecting residents while allowing for as much freedom of movement and choice as possible.
Staff Size, Training, and Expertise Is Critical As senior living facilities evolve, their staff must also change to adapt to the new dynamics, needs, and demands that arise. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care published by the Institute of Medicine has emphasized the importance of staff training and expertise regarding the quality of care provided. After analyzing various data and numerous published studies, the conclusion of this trusted textbook was that “efforts to improve the quality of long-term care require a workforce that is sufficient in size, with the necessary skills, competence, and commitment to provide the needed health and personal care services and to manage the delivery of this care in a supportive environment.” Fundamentally, this means the number and expertise of the staff, as well as how the staff views the residents, the facility, and the job are crucial.
Communication Is Key
While doctors may not be at a facility at all hours of the day and night, they can certainly be on call for serious issues, and nurses and support staff can also be present. Shift work, ensuring that nurses are available around the clock, is common in senior living communities.
Communication is important not just when a facility is undergoing a change but also whenever staff or residents need to be notified. A mass notification system can be an excellent way to help residents and staff remember important dates, be alerted to scheduling changes, or be notified of upcoming events. When residents are included, and when communication happens in ways that work for them, they’re much more likely to want to participate in the activities, events, and gatherings the facility puts on. As more senior living communities offer more activities and events, alerts and reminders can be helpful to and appreciated by residents with busy social calendars. In general, good communication is always valued, and the inclusion it provides can have significant impacts on mental health and quality of life.
When a facility undergoes a big change—like converting communal rooms to private rooms—there can be a significant adjustment required in the way staff members operate and perceive their job. This can be particularly true in facilities providing specialized or round-the-clock care, rather than minimal assistance. In these facilities, big changes may require policy changes, as well as staff training (or retraining) on the facility’s policies, procedures, and requirements. Additionally, schedules may have to be adjusted, and staff may need to be shifted to different positions or be ready to adjust to different job duties. Consistent, clear communication between management and staff can be an important part of adapting to new changes, as well as making lasting changes that will benefit the employees and the residents in major ways.
Having a mass notification system available to residents and staff members means more people showing up to events and fewer people missing out because they forgot something, they didn’t remember what time an event started, or they weren’t aware of it in the first place. Residents enjoy inclusion, and they often want to get out, be social, and participate in activities they enjoy. The more they do things with others at the facility, the more opportunities they have to make friends, stay active, and get involved, all of which are key to fostering their sense of being part of a community. Today’s senior living facilities acknowledge this reality and are discovering tools they can use to make sure residents are kept abreast of everything going on at the facility, so they can pick and choose the activities they’re interested in.
The need to communicate with residents and staff goes beyond whether the facility thinks residents or staff need to know about some event or issue. When the facility allows residents to opt in (or opt out) of what they want to be advised about, residents who aren’t interested in specific activities or notifications won’t be bothered by communications regarding those things. For the things that do interest them, residents can stay on top of what’s happening, so they don’t miss out on something they want to be involved with. The same is true for staff, who can be notified of only the most important issues, such as schedule changes, or who can request that more information be provided to them about the seniors in their care.
Cleanliness, Habitability, and Amenities Should Never Be Problems Nursing home models of the past have been associated with a lack of cleanliness and questionable habitability. That has long since changed, as modern senior living facilities now understand that seniors want more amenities, nice living conditions, and a greater sense of independence and privacy. Part of this change has provided niche housing, lifestyle perks, and a number of amenities to seniors who have chosen to move into assisted living communities. Some communities are also now catering to specific segments of the senior population, like communities that cater to those of certain ethnicities and those for LGBT seniors.
Recreational opportunities are also significant parts of many newer facilities, with exercise classes, educational opportunities, and cultural events valued by residents who may need the extra help a facility provides and who still want to stay active and do as much as they can to enjoy life. With the way today’s facilities operate, residents can easily find ways to socialize, stay active, and engage with other residents. The level of amenities seen at many senior living facilities today is impressive, rivaling top hotels and high-end apartment complexes in many cases. Keeping seniors active and engaged is the goal, and there are numerous ways to do that. Hiking and walking, gardening, swimming, attending community events, doing crafts, using exercise equipment, doing activities online, trying yoga, enjoying a spa day, and more are all options, depending on the facility. The amenities offered by senior living facilities are generally those that are most in demand in the community or that competing facilities don’t offer. If current residents want a new amenity, they can also work for change right there in their own facility.
Keeping People Busy Can Keep Them Feeling Younger One of the best trends in senior living communities today is the trend toward revitalization, youth, and staying active. People are living longer, feeling younger, and doing more at advanced ages than they ever did in the past. That’s great news for active seniors who might need a little extra help. They can get involved in plenty of great activities at a facility and get the level of assistance they need. When seniors stay active, both their mental and physical health is generally improved, so keeping them moving and thinking is important. Whether there’s truth to the cliché, “you’re only as old as you feel,” there’s definitely something to be said for having the opportunity to remain active. Naturally, there are limits on what many seniors can do. Some get around better than others, and some may have cognitive issues that limit the types of activities in which they can participate. Despite that, with enough options, there will be something for everyone to
participate in and enjoy. Keeping residents busy is an excellent way to keep them healthy longer and to encourage them to make friends at the facility so they enjoy and gain a sense of community. Not every senior who comes to an assisted living facility has family who can visit, so making friends and developing relationships can help mental health and also get the senior involved in more physical activities. While it’s not possible to turn back the clock, it is possible to help seniors stay active and young for as long as they can. For some ideas on how to keep your residents young at heart, click here.
Keep Educational Options Open Part of staying active as a senior is keeping the mind sharp. One of the best ways to do that is through continuing education. Whether they’re taking a class for college credit or learning how to perform a new skill, seniors often still want to try new things. Facilities that allow seniors to attend classes and learning programs, as well as those offering educational or instructional programs on community grounds, can give their residents a lot more to think about and a new way to express themselves. Educational options can include a number of different things, from traditional course work to more abstract opportunities. Painting, drawing, sculpture, writing, and other creative activities are now offered at many facilities. Depending on the number of seniors at the facility and the amenities, senior living communities can tailor activities to nearly everyone so that each senior can participate in something he or she enjoys. The important thing to consider for any facility providing educational opportunities is to be aware of what residents want to do versus what they actually can do. Considering activities in these terms can help assure that the most inclusive activities are chosen by staff, so more residents can participate in activities of interest to them.
Technology is a Growing Part of Senior Care With the opportunity for education comes technology, which is a growing part of senior care in a number of ways. Not only is technology used to help seniors learn, but learning about technology is another way seniors can keep doing new things. While some seniors are extremely tech-savvy, there are also plenty who aren’t comfortable with computers, smartphones, and the internet. This can be a great way for seniors to learn a new skill, find new ways to interact with family and friends, or even make new friends through social media and online message boards. The technological advances that can help seniors don’t stop there. They also extend to what the facility can do in order to make sure seniors are kept up to date on what’s taking place in the community. Mass messaging, mentioned in the communication section, is being used at more and more assisted living facilities because it keeps everyone in the community—management, staff, medical professionals, and residents—connected. Residents can choose whether they want to be notified by email, through text, or through a phone call, so they have choices they can feel comfortable with. Senior care is much more than just making sure the residents of the community are safe, fed, and cared for in that their basic needs are met. Technology is helping countless facilities make advancements that residents can appreciate and enjoy.
Wellness Programs Are Keeping Seniors Healthier Longer Another prominent trend in assisted living facilities today is the inclusion of wellness programs. The American Association for Retired Persons reports that about 45 percent of seniors living in assisted living facilities or nursing homes in the U.S. are at least 85 years old. That seems to be a strong indication that more seniors are waiting for a longer period of time before they leave their homes and make the transition to a senior living facility. They may have another caregiver before then, or family and friends may have helped them along. Regardless of the reason why seniors are waiting longer to move to a facility, that reality, coupled with longer lifespans, indicates that there is a place in assisted living facilities for wellness programs that can help residents feel better even into their nineties and beyond. Multi-dimensional programs developed by senior living communities include exercise opportunities, healthy meals, education, and spirituality. With so many different aspects of health and wellness to be considered, there is certainly something that can benefit everyone. While wellness programs can encourage seniors to take better care of themselves, they can also get them more focused on helping others, providing further purpose in life. When seniors have mental and physical health options, they can live better lives and enjoy a good quality of life for a longer period of time. Massage therapy is one of the options found in many senior citizen communities today. Getting a massage can increase blood flow, relieve aches and pains, help a person relax, and give them a sense of wellbeing. All of those factors can benefits seniors who may have circulation problems, as well as those needing relief from pain and stiffness in the muscles and joints. Focusing on overall wellbeing has also been shown to contribute to better overall health because stress, worry, and anxiety can take a toll on a person’s mind and body. Seniors may be concerned about failing health and related issues, but a massage can help reduce those cares, at least for a period of time.
Many facilities have specialized exercise equipment designed for seniors. A lot of senior citizens must be more careful about exercise and how much weight they lift, especially when mobility, balance, and falling can be issues. With the proper equipment, seniors can still get exercise without putting themselves at significant risk, allowing them to keep their body as healthy as possible for as long as they can. Seniors of any age can gain important benefits by finding the right exercise routine and regularly practicing it. For those with joint problems, senior yoga and other types of exercise, including swimming, have also become popular at a number of assisted living facilities. The bottom line is that, as long as a doctor clears them for the activity, it is really never too late to start getting some exercise and focusing on health and wellness.
Going Green Matters Another undeniable trend in modern senior living is going green. According to the New York Times and Forbes, green living will become the standard in senior living communities over the next 20 years. One of the major ways this trend has emerged in senior communities around the country is through vegetable gardens, recycling programs, and sustainability programs. Other communities have taken the green movement steps further. Like Pennswood Village in Newtown, PA, where a geothermal heating and cooling system was installed in some common buildings to promote energy efficiency. This community also devised an award-winning storm management system beneath a natural meadow, benefiting both the senior living community and the surrounding community.
Conclusion From bigger apartments and more amenities to new technology, learning opportunities, and green programs, senior living facilities are far different from the nursing homes of the past. Today’s senior communities have rapidly evolved to accommodate the needs of their residents, as well as changing social views and longer lifespans.
As the green movement continues to flourish and communities themselves advance, there will likely be more opportunities to engage residents in going green, like finding ways to harness and generate power from wind, water, and solar sources. While some facilities are more interested in going green than others, most senior living communities do have some green options residents can get involved in, even if it’s just the city’s recycling program. Providing residents with opportunities to be part of this movement can empower them to do something good for the planet they’re leaving to their children and grandchildren. The green movement in senior communities can also be integral to helping seniors organize others, feel useful, get exercise, and eat healthier foods, all of which can mean big benefits for seniors who are looking to enjoy life and live to the fullest in their golden years. As demand for green senior living communities increases over the next couple of decades, there will likely be more options—both in terms of green facilities and the green programs at these facilities—in the near future.
With the recognition that seniors want to preserve their dignity, privacy, independence, and wellbeing as much as possible in their golden years, senior communities have transformed their business model and their facilities. While senior living communities have evolved remarkably over the past 20 years, there’s still more change to come. Over the next 10 years, the expectations of and demands on senior living facilities are only expected to increase, according to predictions from A Place for Mom, an online assisted living referral service. This is largely due to the focus on providing a more personal experience for a growing number of seniors with versatile needs. As senior communities continue to evolve, one thing is clear: today’s seniors want to remain active and engaged in life for as long as they possibly can. With the right facility, dynamic offerings, and clear communication, seniors will have that opportunity and be empowered to focus on the joy they can find in exploring all that life still has to offer to them.
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