'COMMUNITY CRUCIAL FOR SUCCESSFUL SENIOR LIVING'

After living in the family home for decades, moving to a senior living community can be a bizarre (기이한, 특이한)and stressful experience. To make the transition meaningful and easy, communities are working on facilitating(가능하게 하다) a home-like experience for their residents. Whether that is in programming or amenities(생활 편의시설) feeling comfortable lies in community development.

“Our reason for being here and serving our residents, as well as our mission, is to enable them to live independently and really have a high quality of life,” Dawn Nero, executive director at Wallick Communities’ Oakleaf Village said. “To have that quality of life at any age, but especially for seniors, you need community, relationships and the socialization to engage yourself. I don’t care how old you are, everyone needs a purpose. So, it call comes down to the community.” Nero also said that it’s about creating a lifestyle. After working and raising kids for decades, senior living is all about a different lifestyle. With

some communities built like apartments and others more dorm-like, she explained residents are meeting different people and doing different things everyday.

So, creating a community that residents feel they’re part of allows them to thrive. For residents at Oakleaf, Nero noted its about making residents feel at home and not just a health care setting. With staff longevity(장수) ,residents know everyone available to help them. “We have people who have loved here for years and they see the same staff daily and that is a plus for our community,” she stated. “They consider staff as friends and family. And our staff gets to know residents and their family. That is very important for them to share things and have someone to talk

with.” Being part of a larger community while living senior residence makes aging adults feel

independent. “No matter where you are in your aging journey, you want to promote independence and engagement, and those things are important to all of us,” Cirillo said. “We believe that social connections are important in every aspect of life, and seniors especially want friends with whom they can relate, provide mutual support and share common interests with. We’re all social creatures, regardless of our degree of being an introvert (내향적인 사람) or extrovert(외향적인 사람).”