When you hear the term “senior living facility,” what comes to mind? Does it conjure up images similar to those of a “SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY”? Despite the fact that the terms are frequently used synonymously, they are actually very different.
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A senior living community is so much more than just its facilities, though most of them have on-campus spaces for things like dining and exercise. A senior living community offers a wide range of dynamic resources, far more than what is typically associated with a “senior living facility.” A lively, friendly home where seniors form new friendships, make memories, and take part in interesting activities is what is known as a senior living community.
Let’s talk about how senior living has changed significantly over time and what distinguishes a “senior living community” from a “senior living facility”.
The Focus of Senior Living Culture Today Is on Community
Your parents might surprise you if you believe they are too independent or even too obstinate to enjoy a senior living community. When considering what could come next in the life of your elderly parent or other loved one, be open-minded.
Your parents’ lifestyle can be improved by moving into a senior living community, giving them the assistance they require to keep doing what they love, but with more time to do it. Senior living provides a maintenance-free lifestyle, allowing residents to devote more time to their passions and hobbies as well as cherished memories with their loved ones. When they move into senior living communities, many people even discover new hobbies and interests.
Obviously, various people need different types of care. Perhaps your loved one is still entirely independent and just wants to stop doing housework and yard work. They might still be self-sufficient, but they could use assistance with some everyday duties. While it may be difficult to envision your loved one living in a senior living “facility,” it may be less difficult to accept the fact that they are moving into a thriving, healthy community.
Residents of SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITIES today have access to much more. They give seniors a simpler, more liberated way to lead the best lives possible. They can take advantage of an amazing campus with lots of indoor and outdoor areas for hanging out with friends, going to interesting events, and meeting new people who share their interests, depending on where they are.
A Senior Living Community: What Is It?
A senior living community is essentially for people over 55, but the benefits don’t stop there. Since they were primarily focused on providing medical and healthcare services back then, people first began referring to the locations where seniors received a specific level of personal and medical care as “facilities.”
Difference Between Skilled Care and the “Community”
A skilled nursing facility is a patient-centered medical setting that offers different levels of clinical care, and many people still need them today. A SKILLED NURSING FACILITY can be the best option if your loved one requires 24-hour medical attention. But a senior living community and a skilled nursing facility are not the same thing.
High-quality senior living communities should prioritize care efficiency, staff skills, and residents’ health outcomes. Modern communities typically offer a variety of on-campus amenities, such as physical therapy suites or medical offices. It’s understandable why people believe that senior living occurs exclusively in “facility,” but the word “community” is actually the key component of senior living as it exists today.
You’ll never be able to get rid of outdated preconceptions if the community’s amenities are the only thing on display. Senior living has changed significantly over the years from what it was.
Adventure Living: Context
The private nursing homes of the 1950s, which were prescriptive in nature and treated residents more like patients in a hospital than like members of a community, are the source of today’s senior living communities. It was probably because of this general but popular strategy from decades ago that the unfavorable perception of senior living facilities in pop culture spread widely.
The real story of senior living is one of positive and progressive change, despite the stereotype of “nursing homes” in movies, books, and TV shows that typically depict them as depressing, impersonal, and generally unpleasant places. A senior living community can now offer its residents more than just what is traditionally referred to as a “senior living facility.”
Aging in Place: The New Actuality
There is much more to contemporary SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITIES than just medical facilities. Senior needs and attitudes have changed, and senior living has changed with them. The care and consideration that come with becoming a member of a contemporary senior living community is simply too much for the term “senior living facility” to fully capture.
THE OLDER ADULTS OF TODAY HAVE AN ENTIRELY NEW PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT “retirement” MEANS AND WHAT THEY WANT FROM THIS NEXT STAGE OF LIFE. They are still following their passions, and many plan to carry on with their chosen careers. They seek to broaden their horizons, discover uncharted territory, and give themselves and others around them purpose.
Senior living communities, which provide a plethora of benefits for residents, have to match the new consumer expectations of the senior living lifestyle. These benefits include:
valuing and cultivating both new and old friendships
Engaging in leisure activities, even if they only consist of power walks
Acquiring new abilities because curiosity never goes away
Taking up new interests and revisiting old favorites
Having celebrations and holidays with family and friends
savoring every moment they had not had time for before
Making use of facilities, such as chef-prepared meals
The Landscape of Senior Living Has Changed Due to Boomers
The baby boomer generation never imagined themselves growing old, but now that retirement is upon them, they want to go out on their own terms. As a result of their radically different lives from their parents’, baby boomers’ retirements also appear to be different.
Their first departure from their parents’ behavior is that they are working longer and retiring later. Although baby boomers are the largest generation to retire in American history, they do not consider themselves “old” until they turn 75. The Greatest and Silent Generations, on the other hand, had no trouble acknowledging that they were getting older.
In so many good ways, baby boomer attitudes toward senior living are different. They want an elevated experience that will uphold their way of life, to start. More precisely, they care about sustainable living and wellness, want the newest technology, and want to remain active. It is improbable that residents could accomplish these objectives in a conventional senior living community with a healthcare-only focus.