Vitalia Active Adult Community – Rockside Understands the Importance of Socialization and Building & Maintaining Relationship

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 – Rockside, 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. As the Resident Services Director it is so important that we help all individuals feel welcomed when they visit on tours or move in. Our residents love to do the same as well. We have a very social group of residents who love to help everyone feel welcomed and included in everything, whether it be sitting with them at meals, inviting them to activities, or just being a friendly face while on a tour. Having crossover events with all three neighborhoods also helps build relationships with residents. If the time comes when a resident needs to move to another neighborhood there are already relationships made. These formed relationships help with participation with daily events and outings, as they always encourage each other to participate.

Many people still have a stigma of what senior living looks like, which might deter them from moving into communities like ours. Staying active, socially, physically, and cognitively is so important as we age. While people may be capable of staying at home, they might not be able to get all their psychosocial needs met. They can in communities like ours! We show our touring visitors and viewers on our social media pages they can still have fun and stay as active as they were at home, even more so! 

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