The heartbeat of senior living communities isn’t its buildings or amenities—it’s the people. Executive directors, life enrichment teams, caretakers, and countless behind‑the‑scenes staff members weave together experiences that help older adults feel known and connected to the people around them.
Our annual Communities That Shine Awards celebrate these teams who use LifeLoop to strengthen engagement, spark joy, and create meaningful moments every day. Their stories, shared throughout our Flourishing Communities webinar series, offer an inside look at how purposeful technology can elevate engagement and wellness. And while each community maintains its unique culture and people, their top takeaways demonstrate powerful common ground.
Read on to explore the ideas, inspiration, and real‑world examples shaping the future of aging.
Prioritize engagement that fights isolation
Isolation often builds quietly; a missed activity here, an isolated meal there, a gradual withdrawal from daily routines. Loneliness is one of the leading causes of decline in older adults, linked with health issues ranging from depression to heart disease.
Leaders at top-performing senior living communities understand the importance of proactive engagement that prevents social isolation before it escalates into health decline. The communities we interviewed share a common emphasis on this type of engagement, investing in systems that facilitate personalized programming to foster purpose and connection in the their residents.
This is exemplified by the Social Wellness-oriented titles of our guests from American Senior Communities: Janean Kinzie, VP of Social Wellness & Enrichment, and Kristen Flynn, Social Enrichment Director. Throughout our webinar, they spoke about ways in which they foster social wellness. For example, Kristen Flynn shared how LifeLoop’s digital content allowed her team to provide meaningful one‑on‑one experiences for residents whose primary form of communication is sensory-based. She described using reminiscence content such as familiar music and nostalgic photos to meet residents where they are, saying how LifeLoop “allows staff to play music that residents love, look at pictures from the past, reminisce about important events in their lives—with little to no preparation.” This shift gives her team more time to be present with residents instead of spending hours searching for dynamic activity ideas and content pairings.
Similarly, Ashlea Smalley, Vice President of Resident Experience at Grace Management, shared a powerful example of how technology helped uncover a resident’s personal purpose. After noticing through LifeLoop that a resident wasn’t attending group programs, her team reviewed his profile and found that he used to be a farmer. They invited him to tend the raised garden beds, where he flourished. As Ashlea described, “He became the community gardener… harvesting produce for the kitchen and taking so much pride in his work.” Without the visibility into the resident’s engagement trends and unique background, she noted, “he likely would have been overlooked.”
Through the strategic use of clinically-backed content, activity planning tools, and resident profiles and attendance tracking, these communities demonstrate how personalized engagement helps residents experience comfort and joy.
Connect residents with loved ones
When older adults have a way to stay in touch with family and friends while making new connections with staff and fellow residents, something shifts. They light up, and the community shines brighter.
Martina Wessels, Life Enrichment Manager at Pine Haven Christian Communities, recalled one daughter saying she called her mother and asked about the hymns she sang that morning because she saw it in the family portal, made available to their family via the LifeLoop app.
Several of our Communities That Shine Award winners shared touching stories of how technology helps them bond residents with family members over old memories. Sherrie Salinas, Memory Care Specialist at Carillon Senior Living, described using Google Street View in LifeLoop to take a resident back to her childhood hometown. As Sherrie shared, “She saw her old street and said, ‘I never thought I’d go home again.’” Her family later told staff it was the first time in years they’d seen her light up like that.
By having an easy way to stay in the know and share experiences, families can connect over old memories while creating new ones.
Embrace innovation for impact
While technology can be intimidating to adopt, forward-thinking leaders know that embracing innovation is key to continuously improving the community experience.
At MorningStar of Billings, for example, Life Enrichment Director Laura Smith shared how she and her team use AI-enhanced Resident Onboarding to quickly capture residents’ stories and preferences. They then use that information to tailor calendars and instantly connect residents with peers who share their passions—something that previously took days of manual work.
At Immanuel, Cameo Rogers, Corporate Life Enrichment Manager, also described how staff use resident profiles to personalize interactions instantly, even when covering for one another: “If I go into memory support, I can pull up a resident’s interests and know exactly how to connect in that moment.”
Other communities shared that streamlined tools helped them reclaim hours each week. At Westminster St. Augustine, Kori Montague, Director of Activities and Volunteer Services, shared how centralizing recurring activities, transportation requests, and communication allows her team to shift energy toward programs like therapeutic LEGO sessions, resident‑led prayer groups, and expanded sensory programming. As Kori noted, “It lets us spend more time on what actually matters—creating moments that light residents up.”
At Rouse Estates, Reyd Martin, Director of CORE Services, explained that consolidating seven different calendars and maintenance workflows into LifeLoop “saved hours every week,” allowing staff to spend more time interacting with residents instead of sorting paper forms.
Each of these communities demonstrate how technology doesn’t replace face-to-face relationships, but rather frees up staff time to deepen them.
Empower purpose by honoring unique identities
Having a strong sense of purpose is associated with increased longevity, with some studies showing 46% lower risk of mortality in purposeful individuals.
Award-winning communities embrace the opportunity to foster purpose in their residents, connecting them to old and new interests.
At MorningStar Billings, Laura Smith invited a resident who was an accomplished quilter to teach a class as part of their lifelong learning program—an opportunity that, as Laura described, “made her face light up with pride.”
At Grace Management’s Dallas community, Cami Barclay spoke about forming their resident‑led “League of Men,” a group that helped previously isolated male residents form deep friendships. Residents also created clubs like the “Artsy Fartsy Group” and the “Naughty Knitters,” entirely based on shared interests.
By providing opportunities to contribute skills and experience, communities can help older adults rediscover what lights them up—supporting vocational wellness and longevity.
Amplify impact
In each of these stories, LifeLoop merely acts as an amplifier of human impact. By reducing administrative burden and opening space for staff to be fully present, technology expands teams’ capacities for more curiosity, care, and connection. The result is a ripple effect that touches every corner of community life: residents who feel seen, families who feel reassured, and staff who feel energized by the work they’re able to do. This is what it means to be a Community That Shines—where human compassion leads, and technology simply helps it reach farther.
Want to celebrate a flourishing community? We’re still accepting submissions for our 2025 Communities That Shine Awards. Nominate your community here for a chance to be recognized: https://lifeloop.com/awards/communities-that-shine-awards
