Personalizing community experiences using resident profiles

A personalized senior living experience starts with understanding your residents. We shared the best practices for resident onboarding in our last blog post, discussing ways operators can efficiently capture a comprehensive picture of each resident. Now, we explore the next step: transforming this rich information into personalized experiences that empower residents to lead fulfilling, meaningful lives. 

Create a personalized care plan

Central to a person-centered care strategy is ensuring that medical information gathered during resident intake is used to develop customized care plans. This is especially crucial for residents in assisted living and memory care settings, where they may require more individualized assistance.

Capturing key medical details—including health conditions, medical history, and assistance needs for activities of daily living (ADLs)—ensures that staff can provide tailored support and deliver appropriate medical interventions. When this information is digitally stored, all team members, from nurses to activities staff, can access a shared understanding of each resident’s wellness needs.

Personalized care plans should also incorporate residents’ holistic well-being, spanning the seven core dimensions of wellness: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, intellectual, and purpose. This means understanding a resident’s personal interests, social connections, and engagement preferences just as thoroughly as their medical needs.

For instance, a resident with a history of anxiety may benefit from mindfulness activities, while another with a strong faith background may find comfort in spiritual gatherings. Ensuring these aspects are woven into care plans fosters a more fulfilling, engaged, and meaningful living experience—one where residents don’t just receive healthcare but thrive in a supportive, enriching environment.  

Offer engagement tailored to resident interests

In addition to offering care that reflects residents’ medical needs, senior living operators also have an opportunity to offer personalized experiences through engagement programming. When a community’s resident intake process captures each resident’s holistic profile—complete with information on their past careers, hobbies, family life, and goals for their time in the community—staff can be equipped to create activities and offer experiences that align with residents’ unique passions and aspirations.

Technology can play a critical role in helping staff personalize resident engagement programming. Starting with the resident onboarding process, having an AI solution that transcribes resident interviews and categorizes their likes and dislikes can help create comprehensive, digitally-stored resident profiles with their complete information. Then, having resident profiles integrated with a calendar management tool means staff have the resident information they need to create personalized programming.

An AI-enhanced calendar management solution can reduce this burden by recommending creative activity ideas based on resident interests. Have several Francophile residents? An AI-powered activity generator solution can suggest a French-themed cooking event or charades night, complete with a pre-written description, facilitator instructions, and materials needed. Have bird watching enthusiasts in your midst? Planning a bird watching excursion paired with bird species trivia can engage existing bird watchers, and maybe even get others hooked on a new hobby.

By integrating AI-enhanced solutions with resident data, operators can simplify planning, save staff time, and offer activities that residents are excited to attend.

Foster meaningful connections

Strong communities thrive on meaningful relationships. Before joining a senior living community, residents likely formed social connections in churches, at the workplace, on sports teams, and at social gatherings like book clubs. Senior living communities are no different—they can serve as fertile ground for developing new friendships and deep connections.

Digital resident profiles can facilitate these connections by storing and categorizing resident interests and social preferences. Staff can use this information to match residents with like-minded peers, fostering organic relationships through shared activities. For example, if multiple residents enjoy historical fiction, a staff-organized book club can serve as an organic opportunity for connection. Intake processes can also include questions about residents’ socialization preferences, ensuring that engagement opportunities respect their comfort levels and communication styles.

When residents have access to a digital platform where they can view and update their profiles—similar to a social network like Facebook—they can also connect with each other virtually between activities. This digital engagement helps sustain relationships and provides another layer of personalization to their community experience.

Staff can also leverage resident profiles to enrich one-on-one interactions. Remembering details like a resident’s grandchildren’s names, career background, or favorite pastimes allows for more meaningful conversations and reinforces a sense of belonging.

Honoring residents’ individuality

When staff have the tools they need to efficiently and accurately capture comprehensive resident information, and then use that information to enhance care, engagement, and connection, they can better personalize resident experiences without unnecessary additional workload. By adopting AI-enhanced technology, operators can maximize opportunities for human touch—fostering flourishing communities where residents feel valued and staff feel supported.