Why Are vibrant seniors choosing retirement living?
So many factors come into play when looking at downsizing from your family home to something smaller. Some choose to make a move to a smaller house or condo, knowing that there is likely another move down the line. Others choose to stay in their home as long as possible, even when caring for the home becomes a daunting and time consuming task. Others have decided to make the leap to retirement living while still vibrant, active and in good health.
Moving is an enormous job. The most organized and energized person often still finds this job one that adds a lot of pressure to their lives. Seniors in their mid-late 70s or older often look at the idea of making two more moves as too much and start to look at Retirement Residences as an option for making one final move.
Retirement living no longer carries the stigma as a place that “takes care of old people” but instead conjures the vision of a safe, and more importantly fun, place to enjoy retirement. Pearl and Pine Retirement Marketing Managers, Megg Markettos and Brenda Sutherland, refer to their residence as a “Stationary Cruiseship” with everything from fine dining and live entertainment to cocktail hours and exciting excursions. Just like a cruiseship, the facility boasts a medical centre with 24 hour nursing care, onsite doctor and personal support workers.
Social isolation and depleted nutrition tend to be the leading reasons families would like to see their parents living in a retirement residence. Particularly with extreme weather in the winter and extreme heat in the summer, seniors tend to leave the house less. Nutrition tends to deteriorate as cooking for one or two is just as much work as cooking for a family yet much less satisfying. Retirement living addresses these issues by providing nutritional meals and snacks and the ability to be social in many different ways without ever leaving the house. Retirement living even offers the opportunity for meals to become social experiences again.