Vitalia Active Adult Community – Montrose Understands the Importance of Socialization and Building & Maintaining Relationships

No matter our age, building relationships with others is fundamental in enriching our lives. Research has shown that people who enjoy healthy relationships, live longer and happier lives. Maintaining relationships as we age has numerous health benefits such as increasing our physical and mental health, increasing mental acuity, promoting laughter and more!

At Vitalia Active Adult Community – Montrose, I, as the Resident Services Director, play a pivotal role in helping to create opportunities for our residents to build relationships with their peers as well as helping to maintain these relationships through daily events. Oftentimes, aging adults are afraid of senior living settings. They see it as an end to their independence. Most fear being isolated from family and friends. One of the stigmas associated with senior living is, “I’m too young and active to be in senior living.” Therefore, many avoid it as an option all together. Unfortunately, this means they also lose out on the abundant opportunities to create new friendships and memories that this setting provides.

In our community, we have a group of residents who are professionals at welcoming new residents and helping them to feel at home as they settle in. We also ensure that new residents are invited to join all events, based on their preferences. Once our residents take advantage of these events, they often find themselves meeting new people or even connecting with old friends or neighbors. Through our daily events and programs, we often see close friendships form that continue. Residents begin having meals together or even take trips out of the community for shopping and family get-togethers.

It is my goal to help build and foster these relationships and break the stigmas associated with senior living communities. Connecting residents with those they may not interact with day-to-day through various events and activities in the community is so important. Noticing their individual strengths and talents they may share with another resident is a great way to make the connection. Providing all our residents with a robust events program assists in this by allowing everyone to get involved daily, making new connections that may turn into lasting relationships. During these events, Resident Service Directors play a huge role in fostering conversation and assisting in making these connections. Some residents may be a bit timid and need that extra little push with questions about their job history, the reason they named their child what they did, or even just asking the basics to get a good understanding of who they are.

We all dream of having this big, luxurious house with multiple rooms, large bathrooms, and a tall foyer, but having to take care of such a space can be tiring or stressful. This could lead to a lesser social life, less opportunities to enjoy your years after retirement, and so many other things. Moving into a senior living community does not mean that you have less of an opportunity to live your life, but rather, it provides an opportunity to enjoy what you have worked so hard to achieve! Getting involved within a community and allowing staff to take care of the monotonous tasks gives residents a whole new outlook on life and frees up time to go to that event, make new friends, go on that outing to see an art exhibit, or sit back and enjoy a day of just relaxation. The realization of a move to senior living is to take advantage of and enjoy what you worked so hard for is an important one, and one many don’t recognize early enough. Helping current residents make this realization, and hopefully passing it along to their friends, who will in turn do the same, is what we are here to do!

Sources: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316

https://www.eddyseniorliving.com/latest-news/the-importance-of-senior-friendships-for-healthy-aging/