Category: Seniors Housing

The secret to keeping residents engaged in the dining experience is to invigorate and empower your chefs. Here are a few ways that communities around the country are energizing their culinary team:

1. Holding Food Network-influenced chef competitions where dueling culinarians must use offbeat ingredients or face other tough challenges
2. Asking chefs to conduct cooking demonstrations, and letting residents taste the results
3. Adding chef recipes, interviews and demos to their website or newsletter
4. Sending cooking staff to culinary training or bringing noted chefs in to share their expertise
5. Having chefs cook dishes, such as omelets or stir fries, out in the dining room
6. Planning unusual-themed events with menus that go beyond the typical holiday brunch
7. Changing the menu often — and allowing residents input
8. Compiling a cookbook of favorite in-house recipes
9. Celebrating the farm-to-table movement with fresh, locally sourced ingredients
10. Working creatively with dietary restrictions to offer healthy food with a gourmet flair

How is your community keeping things fresh in the kitchen? Let me know at wlangley@varsitybranding.com.

As we ring in the New Year, the phone is also ringing at retirement communities. Often, adult children notice a change in a parent during a holiday visit, which can lead to a post-holiday spike in inquiries. But is your community dropping the ball?

Let me tell you about the experience my friend Pam had. She, her two siblings and their families visited with mom over the holidays and noticed signs that she is not okay to live alone…not eating well, clutter piling up when mom had always been a fastidious housekeeper, unsteadiness on her feet, signs that the comfy chair in front of the TV is the hub of her daily life. These observations were a wake-up call they couldn’t ignore. Pam’s sister prolonged her stay with mom, while Pam got on the phone to find resources, contacting home health agencies and several senior living communities.

Unfortunately, when Pam called and visited the communities, the reception she received didn’t leave her feeling very confident. She was confronted with unskilled staff who didn’t know the answers to her questions, unreturned phone calls and general disinterest in helping during a situation that, to her, was a crisis. Here are five resolutions you can make to ensure that your community makes a positive first impression that can convert inquiries to move-ins.

#1:  Answer the phone and/or return calls promptly. Even though Pam contacted communities during business hours, the phone would ring and ring, or her call went to voicemail. More often than not, she called back rather than waiting a day or more for a return call.

#2: Be welcoming. Often, when Pam finally reached a live person, it was a receptionist who seemed almost surprised at her inquiry (during the holidays when everyone was off) and didn’t seem to know what to say. Train front line staff to enthusiastically greet the caller, ask the right questions, be empathetic and reassure the caller that the appropriate person will return their call that same day.

#3: Know the facts. The person on the phone often gave inaccurate information, such as saying the community provided “Life Care” when it was not a Life Care community in its true definition. Educate all staff on what your community offers and the benefits of living there. Craft a positioning statement that clearly conveys your community’s unique brand in the market and require everyone that works at your community to learn it and be able to recite it.

#4: Meet everyone’s needs. During community visits, make sure that you address the needs and questions of both the adult child and parent. Sometimes an adult child might be doing all the talking for mom or dad, either because he or she is trying to be helpful, has a controlling personality, or is overcompensating for a parent that may have some memory impairment. Always direct questions to both the child and the parent to make sure everyone is heard, all questions are answered and all wishes are being met.

#5: Don’t be pushy.  When you push people, they naturally push back. Instead of making statements like, “You need…”, ask questions of both the potential resident and the adult child that get them to state their own challenges, issues and needs. It’s much more impactful to have them come to realizations about their situation themselves rather than have someone else tell them what they need to do. Some questions you might ask the person who says they’re not ready: “What would have to happen in order for you to feel like you’re ready?” “Do you think it will be easier or harder to make a move a year from now?”

Keep these New Year’s resolutions, and make sure that post-holiday spike in inquiries leads to lots of move-ins. If you’d like to talk more about selling strategies, email me at jstone@varsitybranding.com.

Adventures like these prove that life in a retirement community is anything but dull. At Varsity, we salute all of the seniors who never let age stop them from growing, changing and challenging themselves, whether they’re freezing in motion or dumping a bucket of ice water over their heads, like these Ohio community residents did.

When kids are out trick-or-treating, they might want to hit up some houses over others.

84% of people 60 years and older give out candy on Halloween — more than any other age group, according to one study.  Seniors love answering the door to superheroes and pirates. But what if they live in a retirement community? There’s a simple answer: Welcome trick-or-treaters to your campus.

You can invite residents’ grandchildren, staffers’ children and even local neighborhood kids to trick-or-treat. The experience will not only benefit residents, but candy hunters as well — they won’t have to face the risks of crossing high-traffic streets at night in their black costumes. Residents can affix pumpkin- or bat-shaped signs to their doors to signal that they welcome trick-or-treaters.

So that residents unable to participate can still join in the fun, you can throw an all-age celebration with decorations, costumes and refreshments. Halloween is also the perfect time to invite prospective residents in for hot cider and pumpkin cookies.

Happy Halloween, all!

Elderly, frail, uneducated and with a lower income? Surprisingly, no. Those most at risk are actually younger, more educated and well off. According to a new study by the Better Business Bureau, 69 percent of scam victims are under 45, and 78 percent are college-educated.

Other surprising facts:

• Eighty-nine percent of seniors approached by a scammer recognized the scam in time, and only 11 percent lost money.
• Three times as many 18‒24-year-olds failed to recognize a scam, and 34 percent reported losing money.

A few reasons for this:

• Younger people think they’re invulnerable to scams.
• They are more likely to shop online.
• Seniors are more scam-savvy.

Another stereotype about age debunked.

We’re all vulnerable to scams, at any age. Find tips on protecting yourself here.

At a time when Taylor Swift is having all kinds of aggravation with Kanye and Kim, here’s something that could cheer her up. Residents of the Julia Wallace Retirement Village in New Zealand, average age 82, have paid tribute to Taylor by recreating her video “Shake It Off.” The video, which took a week to film, already has over 100,000 views on You Tube. Enjoy!

Watch video.

Even if you pack your diet with super foods like blueberries and broccoli, you could still be shortening your life if you’re not following the 80% rule. Why does this simple rule help you live longer?

Because it means eating only 80% of the food on your plate, which is one of nine healthy practices shared by people in longevity hot spots around the world. In fact, researchers found that in Okinawa, Japan (aka The Island of the Immortals), residents say “Hara Hachi Bu” before every meal. This phrase, which translates to “belly 80% full,” is their reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full.

We may not see an influx of 100-year-olds walking the earth, but the growing interest in leading a longer, happier life is a mature market trend we should all keep an eye on.

Next week, we’ll reveal what you should be eating.

Once again, Varsity participated in LeadingAge National, which was held last week in Boston. We wanted to share a few key themes we heard from keynote speakers and in conversation with conference participants (or attendees).

• What residents miss in care settings: Friendships, privacy and purpose — three brand attributes organizations should be chasing
• Boomers want to be the author of their  story as they age: An insight that can help communities design their offerings
• When investing in technology, pay for outcomes, not the device: Seems logical, but we’re not sure this is fully embedded in provider strategy
• Demographics are disruptive: More attention must be paid to the impact of demographics on aging service organizations
• Live longer. Live better: Nice tagline, and it reinforces that aging is about quality of life, rather than quantity
• Project Namestorm: “Life Plan Community,” an alternative to the name “CCRC,” was introduced
• Transition of leadership: From the top (Larry Minnix) to individual communities, we need to nurture the next generation of leaders
• The LGBT campground: A bold symbol of inclusiveness at the show
• The role of faith in branding and appeal: It’s about mission and non-profit status rather than specific denominational affiliation 
• The transitional generation is impacting communities NOW: We must appeal to the needs and desires of the Boomer while serving long-time residents from the silent generation 

One last insight to leave you with: According to our new study, “From the Outside In,” 0% of residents used the Yellow Pages to begin their search for a retirement community.

Many senior communities pride themselves on welcoming new residents, but these days, they must roll out the red carpet for another group as well: the furry friends of those residents.

We’ve found through our own research that pets are extremely important to the next generation of retirees. As more and more Boomers turn 65, that trend is only expected to grow. Some communities already go beyond standard pet-friendly policies to offer added services catering to four-legged residents.

Pet-focused programs can also be offered in different forms at different care levels so that residents can continue to reap the important health benefits of interactions with animals as they age.

Here are ten pet-focused services communities may want to consider offering if they aren’t already:

1. Dog park
2. Yappy hour (residents bring pets to socialize during happy hour)
3. Pet-related merchandise in the community gift shop
4. Pet care program (walking, feeding, litter-changing, playful exercise, medication administration, etc.)
5. Pet salon or mobile grooming
6. Vet house calls
7. Day care or boarding for pets
8. Community dogs and cats
9. Pet therapy
10. Pet-oriented events like celebrations and adoption fairs

Marketing Insight:

As animal-loving Boomers enter the senior living market in droves, it’s time to fully capitalize on the health and financial benefits of providing their pets with creature comforts.

It can be a challenge coming up with exciting new activities in senior living, but one community used its swimming pool to offer something truly unique, aqua pole classes. Here are some other creative ideas for your pool activity calendar beyond water aerobics and lap swimming:

• Relay races
• Synchronized swimming
• Water walking
• Inner tube basketball
• Kayak races

Water exercise benefits community residents in many ways, including improving mental health, strengthening bones and boosting metabolism—all without harming joints. And according to the CDC, people report enjoying water-based exercises more than exercising on land. Best of all, swimmers have about half the risk of death compared with inactive people.

What creative uses can you find for your community swimming pool?