Subscribe by Email

Let’s say you go out for an evening with friends or your significant other to dinner, a concert or another social event. The waiter asks how you enjoyed your meal, and you diplomatically respond. Afterwards you take a cab to your next destination. That’s when you might confess to one another your real thoughts and feelings about the delicious or not-so-delicious meal, outstanding or not-so-outstanding service, exciting or not-so-exciting entertainment, and fun or not-so-fun social gathering. And the cab driver usually gets an earful of your reviews.

The same is often true in senior living communities.

At one community I recently visited, I discovered drivers who shuttle people from point A to point B on campus had a good pulse of what’s going on within their community. The shuttle driver, just like the cab driver, many times gets an earful from residents about how they feel about community amenities and services. For example, after dinner residents may offer feedback on the new dining staff and service or changes in the menu, or after attending a social event they may share the highlights of the event and recommend having more similar events in the future.

As a leader, do you make it a point to talk with the shuttle drivers and other grounds staff, occasionally invite them to meetings, or have some other method of collecting feedback? If not, it might be something to consider, as they really do have a good pulse on your community, and can share valuable insights into the feelings of your residents.

Print-Friendly Version

Over the holidays, I was able to spend a great deal of time with my grandma – my role model and dear friend – who I’ve sadly watched as her memory has slowly been stripped away from her. She is one of the millions of people whom have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Like many, I’ve seen firsthand how devastating this disease is and what a toll it can take on an individual and his or her caregiver.

That’s why I found this video recently featured on CBS News to be interesting and enlightening. A nontraditional therapy for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease is bringing smiles to both caregivers and their loved ones. The new program uses improvisational theater to help remind those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease about the roles they used to play in life, and revive old memories as more recent ones fade away.

I find improv classes for Alzheimer’s to be exciting and an alternative approach with the potential to help many people by improving their quality of life and allowing them to reclaim some dignity this awful disease is taking from them.

Do you offer improv classes or other innovative programming for memory support residents at your community?

Print-Friendly Version

As marketing, advertising and communications professionals, we’re constantly trying to put ourselves inside the minds of our audiences. Having my own grandmother and grandmother-in-law in different independent living communities, I get regular insight on what it’s like to live as a senior.

So, when I saw what the good folks at MIT are doing to simulate the full physical experience, I was completely fascinated.

MIT’s Agelab has created AGNES, an exoskeleton specially designed for the user to experience what it’s like to be 70 years old. AGNES dims the user’s sight, stiffens joins, alters grip, shortens the gait and much more. You can read about it and watch a video at Fast Company’s blog.

AGNES is intended for designers to understand the needs of older adults, but I think anyone striving to accommodate that demographic could learn a thing or two from this smart innovation.

Print-Friendly Version

This time of year many of us reflect on the past and start planning ahead for the upcoming year. GlynnDevins recently provided you with a great deal of insight when it comes to marketing to seniors. From best practices in direct mail to powerful senior living statistics, we hope you can use these as a resource to help you reach your goals in 2012. We know the holidays are a busy time, so here’s a recap of our 2011 Top 10 lists, in case you missed some of them.

10 Tips for Successful Event Marketing

Top 10 Thoughts to Consider about Social Media  

10 Keys to a Successful Direct Mail Marketing Campaign 

10 Powerful Senior Living Statistics

10 Digital Trends to Look for in 2012 

10 Must-Reads for Senior Living Professionals 

10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2011 

Senior Living in the News: 10 Fascinating Stories from 2011 

10 Fresh Ideas for 2012

Print-Friendly Version

The day they handed out GlynnDevin’s December “Top 10” blog topics was my day to stir the wassail. So I was outside in the driving snow wielding the stir paddle and didn’t get assigned a Top 10 blog topic. But not to worry. Because today I’m pleased as p – uhh – wassail to present the ’11 Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists.

Top 10 Senior Housing Trends for 2011. See how we did. These appeared last January, predicting how the year would go. Were they accurate?

The 20 Unhappiest People You Meet in the Comments Sections of Year-End Lists. Offering a real slice of humanity, it’s actually got 20 spots, making it twice as good as a regular old top 10 list.

Top 10 Most Common Consumer Complaints. I’d think a senior living community could make good use of the insights revealed here. You might work up a couple of educational luncheon chats for boosting residents’ savvy.

Top 10 Dessert Trends. Another retrospective. But you can see where 2011 was supposed to be headed, dessert-wise, and draw your own conclusions about our success. I give an extra dollop of whipped topping to number 11, because I have spoon-swapping sensitivities. It’s personal, and I don’t want to talk about it.

Best of TED 2011. With 18 to choose from, plan to spend a couple of evenings sifting through the comments of thought leaders. If you’re not already familiar with TED, consider this is your introduction.

Top 10 Senior Characters in Movies. A very nice collection of very nice roles. Get your Netflix on.

Top 10 iPhone Apps for Post50s. Huffington Post has been posting largely useful and often insightful pieces in their Post50s section. Like these iPhone apps.

11 Best Psychology and Philosophy Books of 2011. Offering scads of insight into the human condition, these books range from playful to somewhat stern. I’ve always assumed GD Blog readers are intellectual giants. So I have no qualms about this being anything other than right up your alley.

The 10 Best Novels of 2011. It’s NPR’s perspective on great new fiction – it could be just the thing for loading up that new ereader you got over the holidays.

Top 10 Books Lost to Time. You can’t download these to your Kindle, but thanks to smithsonian.com, you know that you and the rest of humanity are missing out on something presumably very special.

Top 10 Things Readers Loved on thisiscolossal.com in 2011. Don’t know This Is Colossal? Prepare to be amazed. And don’t miss the trailer for “One Day on Earth”.

That’s a total of 11 Top 10s. But then, it’s the holidays, and by golly – you just deserve a little extra.

Print-Friendly Version