Moving with Forever in Mind

MOVING WITH

IN MIND

gym in Palm Coast, they’ve added tai chi and total body fitness classes to their exercise routine.

“With the 'five years too early rather than being five minutes too late' sort of thing, particularly with a place like Oak Hammock when you're still fit and active, there's so much to do,” Bill says. “If you are here five years too early, so what? There’s [a lot] going on and things to do.” The Connor had a smooth transition at the retirement FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER community. It’s given them peace of mind. No longer do they have to worry about having to upkeep their yard or cook dinner.

story by Kacey Finch photos by Sarena Seeger

“Now, everything's just taken care of,” Mary says. “I didn't know how I would adjust to not preparing meals, but I just did really quickly.”

Moving can be emotional at any age. But choosing to move for the last time in life is a completely different ballgame that can mean downsizing, packing up a lifetime worth of items and even facing one’s mortality. There’s a lot for someone to consider when deciding a place to live out the rest of his or her days. For the residents of Oak Hammock, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) at the University of Florida, the biggest consideration is care.

While living in their Palm Coast home for about 20 years, the thought of downsizing constantly loomed over Bill and Mary Connor’s heads. They thought about downsizing to a condo nearby, something with less maintenance. But they knew it would be pushing off the inevitable.

“With that, it was postponing another move later on,” says Bill, who is retired from the computer software industry. “We were introduced to the idea of a CCRC. So we decided, ‘Let's just get it over with right off the bat.’”

A few people they knew in the retirement community industry told them it was better to move five years too early rather than five minutes too late. With that in the back of their minds, the Connors, who were originally from Pittsburgh, took the leap and looked at CCRCs in Florida. “I’ve heard some people here use their oven for storage,” Bill jokes.

But what’s really brought peace of mind to the Connors is knowing they will be taken care of when they need it.

Oak Hammock offers all levels of care for seniors at a CCRC, including independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing.

“People come to us, and they pay an entrance fee that is basically the purchase of a long-term care contract,” says Nickie Doria, the director of sales and marketing for independent living at Oak Hammock.

Entering the community at the independent-living level locks in a resident’s health care rate. It gives the resident first rights to a space in the next level of care.

“The idea is that you will continue to age and move through the continuum of care with your community, with the people you know, with your neighbors, with your friends, with your dinner mates,” Doria says.

When making the choice to move to a CCRC, residents are intentional with their decision. They are buying into an insurance policy that will provide them with care for the rest of their lives.

They first heard of Oak Hammock while visiting another CCRC. They made a phone call, visited within a few days and were sold.

“We liked it because of all the amenities, activities and the proximity to UF Health,” says Mary, who was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. “My hope is that when people make the choice to move into a community like Oak Hammock, they have a level of comfort and peace because they have everything laid out for them,” Doria says. “I'm proud to work for a place that can give that opportunity to a couple or to a person that's moving up in age to have something like this as an option.”

Since moving to Oak Hammock in March, Mary and Bill have become more physically active, she says. While they worked out at their home Oak Hammock has given that comfort and peace to Satya and Pushpa Kalra, retired UF professors and researchers. The Kalras,

who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, have lived in Gainesville since 1971, retiring from UF in 2006. After retirement, they didn’t want to leave Gainesville and the community they’d made for themselves. When it came time to downsize, they needed somewhere to call home for the rest of their lives.

“If we were going to move, then we needed to move where we could be taken care of,” Pushpa says. “This has every level of care available. They'll take care of us. We don't have to worry, and our family doesn’t have to worry.”

However, moving was exhausting for the Kalras. Physically, they had help, but packing the home they had lived in for decades was a feat.

“I have to say the downsizing part was rough,” Pushpa says. “Just going through a lifetime of things and deciding what you're going to take and what you can do without, that was the hard part.”

Now having lived at Oak Hammock for over a year, they don’t miss the house or the material things they left behind. However, there’s one thing Pushpa wishes she could have taken with her.

“I’ll tell you what I miss,” she says. “We had a wall in our kitchen, and we had lived in the house for 35 years. I used to mark the height of the children – our son, then daughter-in-law and then our grandsons and my nephew. Everybody's heights were there in pencil.”

Pictures didn’t do the wall justice. While they had to leave the markings behind, it didn’t take long for the Kalras to feel at home at Oak Hammock or begin making their own mark. On their first day, they felt overwhelmed by the friendly welcome dinner. Now, the Kalras have involved themselves in multiple activities and are well known and well loved in the community.

“The first thing I do in the morning is look at the community calendar,” Sitya says.

Both participate in the Institute of Learning in Retirement, and Pushpa has taken on a full schedule, including Pilates, pickleball, stained-glass class and library committee.

“We get busier here than we did in the house,” Pushpa says. “Except there are no chores to do.”

For residents like the Connors and the Kalras, Oak Hammock is home. And it will be for the rest of their lives. O&B

Bill and Mary Connor at their home in Oak Hammock.