In our Flourishing Communities webinar series, we have the privilege of interviewing leaders at top-performing senior living communities around the country, gaining insight into their first-hand experiences and strategies that have driven success in their communities. Now, in this Flourishing Community Best Practices blog series, we’re bringing their top insights directly to you. Read on for actionable advice on how to help your community flourish.
Conversations about the senior living industry often gravitate toward helping older adults maintain physical health. While it’s critical for senior living residents to get the healthcare they need, an underestimated facet of wellness is mental and social stimulation.
Research has shown that strong social connections significantly impact both physical and mental well-being. For example, one study found that individuals with robust social networks have a 43% lower risk of developing disabilities compared to those with fewer social interactions, and about half the rate of cognitive decline. Other studies have shown that mental stimulation can be an effective way to delay or prevent cognitive decline, and lessen the severity of Alzheimer’s disease.
Knowing this, how can senior living communities foster residents’ social and cognitive well-being? The answer for many years has been life enrichment programs. Calendars filled with varied, personalized, and interactive activities not only help residents feel mentally stimulated, but also can help fight social isolation by connecting seniors with each other.
Not all life enrichment programs are created equal. Low participation and engagement are common in senior living communities without proper activity planning and communication practices.
In our Flourishing Communities webinar series, we sit down with leaders of senior living communities who maintain high levels of resident engagement to find out what strategies they use to facilitate programs with strong participation and satisfaction. Read on to gain actionable advice on cultivating strong resident engagement in your own community.
Personalize content to resident preferences
When older adults join a senior living community, they come in with their unique background and set of experiences. An activity that appeals to one resident may not resonate with another, so it’s crucial for activity professionals to be able to cater programming to residents’ individual preferences.
One strategy the staff at The Watermark at Napa Valley uses to personalize engagement programs is to prompt residents to fill out a "Let Us Get To Know You" form before moving in. This form gathers details about their past professions, interests, hobbies, and aspirations. Kendal Buffington, Community Life Director at The Watermark at Napa Valley, explains, "with that form, what my team does is we take all the information and then we curate and cultivate programming that meets the wants and needs of our existing population." By tailoring activities based on residents' preferences, The Watermark is able to offer meaningful and enjoyable experiences, such as cultural outings like trips to see The Phantom of the Opera or visits to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Another way communities can personalize programming without spending hours of time researching content is to have access to a library of pre-recorded, evidence-based content to engage residents. Kimberly Greco of The Heritage Memory Life Community emphasizes the importance of having access to a resident experience platform, noting, "not everybody is the same... So it's nice to have that variety for them... being able to offer them the things that are familiar to them because it's very flexible."
When considering resident engagement technology, it’s important to ensure that it can cater to different levels of cognitive ability. As Verna Law of The Pearl at Jamestown mentions, "we do these cognition exercises exercising their brain...iN2L and LifeLoop offer so many options that we can support a crowd of various levels of acuity." Having engagement content that offers interactive games to memory exercises for varying acuity levels can help staff engage residents in meaningful ways, regardless of their cognitive ability.
For residents with higher levels of cognitive decline, personalized engagement often requires more one-on-one interaction. Law continues, "we can reach those who maybe don't come out of the room as often because of their cognitive decline, and we can go in there and show them photos of their loved ones even, or things that would really reflect on their past and just get them more engaged." This individualized approach ensures that even the most isolated residents receive the attention and stimulation they need, enhancing their quality of life.
Having flexibility with how programming is delivered can also help all residents feel included. Constance Brasher of Franciscan Ministries emphasizes that residents are not "cookie-cutter" and that engagement should be tailored to their individual consumption preferences. She notes, "when there are residents that just don't thrive or they don't feel as comfortable...they can take out their own device, or we can provide them with the device, and they can have it in their room if they want to."
By noting resident preferences and dedicating resources towards content and devices that cater to each residents’ unique needs, senior living operators can help each resident feel seen and integrated into the community.
Boost participation with reminders
There’s nothing more disappointing than planning a calendar of engaging activities, and being met with low to no attendance. To ensure residents are aware of and want to engage in your thoughtfully planned activities, it’s essential to effectively promote engagement opportunities and prompt residents to attend.
Traditionally, senior living communities promoted activities through bulletin boards in communal areas or reminding residents during individual check-ins. Now with the advent of technology solutions, communities can scale their event communication efforts with minimal effort.
Kendal Buffington praises Watermark’s use of LifeLoop communication tools to promote their events and activities: “you can do a monthly newsletter and calendar. You can have displays throughout the building. There is the app for the smart devices. And then here we also have an in-home channel, so all our members in their apartments can go to a specific TV channel and see all the programming for that day. They can see flyers for the upcoming activities.”
Choosing a resident engagement solution with calendar design and distribution capabilities can make it easy for staff to plan and promote activities seamlessly, reaching residents through multiple touchpoints and increasing their probability of attending events.
Involving family members is another effective strategy for boosting activity participation. Buffington notes, "By introducing the family members to LifeLoop and giving them the access to see the daily activities, to see upcoming events, they're able to engage with their loved one, and also to help lessen the burden on our wellness team with our assisted living members because they're prompting their loved one: ‘Mom, the word games are today at 12. That's in about 15 minutes. Are you going to go?’ or ‘Hey, grandpa, you love going to museums. Did you sign up to go to the SF MoMA?’”
Not only does having a family connection portal help boost resident participation in engagement programs, but it also has the benefit of providing a conversation starter for family members to connect with their loved ones. In this way, residents can integrate into the community while still feeling connected with their families.
Collect and incorporate feedback
Residents want to feel seen and heard. A part of making sure residents feel acknowledged is to gather their feedback about activities.
Joseph Villanueva, Executive Director at The Kensington at Walnut Creek, highlights the value of a feedback loop for activity planning: "it's really proper planning, attention to the small details, and then feedback after each event... our goal is to really execute as best we can, and then, particularly, what's important is after the event, circling back with our team and our residents." This approach ensures that the community can identify what worked well and what didn't, allowing for necessary adjustments and refinements to enhance future experiences
Aside from collecting qualitative feedback about activities, a resident engagement software can facilitate attendance tracking and make it easy to analyze trends for different activities over time. Villanueva notes that incorporating technology helps the community "gather a lot of data in order to again see what's working, what's not," which is crucial for refining their approach.
A data-driven approach to resident engagement can help operators proactively monitor and adjust programming to optimize staff bandwidth and maximize resident participation.
Help older adults flourish in community
Our Flourishing Communities guests demonstrate that a thriving, engaged resident population is possible in senior living communities. It takes efficient allocation of resources, data-driven strategy, and a healthy dose of dedication and empathy to facilitate a life enrichment program that residents are excited to engage in.
As these community leaders have demonstrated, an effective resident engagement program is one where residents not only want to participate, but also organically involve their family members and resident peers. In this way, a successful resident engagement program helps strengthen ties between residents and the community at large. By fostering a network of mental and social engagement, senior living communities can help residents live meaningful and purposeful lives.
