Senior Housing Development Story
The Minneapolis Star Tribune highlighted Ecumen’s new senior housing development partnership yesterday. Below is the text from the Inside Track' column:Senior BoomA trio of Minnesota construction heavyweights are joining forces to create a senior housing development team that will take advantage of increasing demand for senior housing facilities built in conjunction with churches and faith-based communities.The Twin Cities-based partnership includes Ecumen, Minnesota’s largest nonprofit senior housing company; Adolfson & Peterson Construction, and Pope Associates.Ecumen will provide management services, Adolfson will be the general contractor and Pope will provide architectural services to the team, which will be known as Team Ecumen as it pursues projects nationwide.This partnership began as an interal partnership for our own projects, but we see how it can be beneficial to others who want to develop senior housing, e.g combined expertise, efficiencies, etc. There have to be a lot of other ways that senior housing, aging services and other organizations can partner to better serve customers.
Aging Series by USA Today and ABC News
Interesting series by ABC News and USA Today begins today. It’s called 'Role Reversal.' Looks at children taking care of their older parents. This 'sandwich generation' presents a great opportunity for senior housing and aging services organizations to serve a much younger clientele and more broadly share its expertise.The first story today looks at how senior care is moving away from nursing homes. Looking at our Age Wave Study, it’s clear that baby boomers want to continue this direction. Another interesting story is about technology, which we are users of here.Also note in this article that people want more options to care for their parents at home. Minnesota has worked hard to get such an option. It’s called Consumer Directed Community Options. Too bad no one knows about it. This needs to change. There are about 11,000 seniors in Minnesota eligible for this program; only about 100 are in the program. You would think that with the power of the internet, we could completely change that and create a culture where we help people meet their desire to live at home and save the state money.
One of the Good Guys
He recently did a story on technology being used at Ecumen. He enjoyed the people he met at Lakeview Commons in Maplewood as part of the story. He is producing a short film called Willie 1.17 that is going to be entered at Sundance and other film festivals. Last week 15 people who live at Lakeview Commons got to participate in the filming of the movie’s closing scene. That was pretty cool, but then according to Wendy Traffie, the leader at Lakeview Commons, there were a couple of other surprises.
Bud Kraehling, (former WCCO-TV weatherman) who is one of Minnesota’s most beloved TV personalities played the main character in the movie. Don Shelby, current WCCO-TV anchor and drivetime radio host on WCCO-AM did the make up and and Dennis and Jeanette Trompeter acted in the film.
Dennis is going to hold a special screening of the movie at Lakeview Commons.
Congratulations to CaringBridge
Technology is such a tremendous opportunity for the senior housing and aging services professionals in helping people connect and learn from each other. The applications are endless -- and they don’t have to be expensive. It’s a great area for our profession to be entrepreneurial. Our Age Wave Study, shows that baby boomers (the next generation of seniors) are all about technology to stay connected. On that note, we want to send our congratulations to CaringBridge, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Millions of people have stayed connected with loved ones experiencing injury and illness.CaringBridge began with one person. Today 250,000 people connect on it every day. It’s a product that is all about the power of human connections, people and personal stories. Elements that are in our profession every day and that we can build upon to make even better and stronger. It’s all apart of 'It' that others have been talking about in Debbie Manthey’s post below.
The It Factor
Debbie Manthey, Director of Operations, Housing
What is it?
Who has it?Why do they have it? How do you get it?
THE “IT FACTOR”
We are on a mission to assure 'it' is present in each Ecumen Community.
“It” has been described in a variety of ways which all revolve around a feeling. Warmth, engagement, energy, emotion, impression. “It” is how you feel when you are at home or with friends and feel good. “It” has a story to tell. “It” revolves around values and choice. “It” is resident centered and resident driven. “It” is about how you feel about living in your home where you are in charge of your life.
At one of our leadership meetings, Mick Finn, chief of operations, talked about a recent visit to one of Ecumen’s communities, Mick walked in and found residents and staff having breakfast together €“ talking, laughing, totally enjoying each other.
Several other dining tables had not been cleared of dishes. There was no sense of hard schedules or time restraints. It was human beings enjoying each other and taking time with each other. One of the residents asked Mick, “Would you like to sit down and havesome toast and coffee”? Mick felt “it”. “It” is all about culture change. We must transform the way we deliver support and services to our seniors if we want to get “it”.
Senior Housing Development in North Branch
Would you want to live in a place called Green Acres Country Care Center?That is what the county nursing home in North Branch, Minnesota was called. Thankfully, the building that looks like a cold war relic will soon be bulldozed. And North Branch seniors will have a brand new housing option.We have embarked on developing The Villages of North Branch, which will include several small neighborhoods. They will include assisted living, memory care, rehab and an area for nursing care that will be much smaller than yesterday’s institutional nursing home. The four key areas in the community are connected by a town center that will be a central gathering area. It will have a coffee shop, and gathering areas for Rotary, chapel services and exercise classes. The Villages of North Branch will open in July and will be a vibrant community within a community.
The Old North Branch Nursing Home Entrance -- Total 1950s 
Not long ago there were … Ugh… four people to a room, Never again.
Gloomy, cramped, loud hallwaysBelow are some photos from The Villages of North Branch, the senior housing development that will replace Green Acres and open in July: A Whole Different Ballgame!
Global Aging
This aging thing is a global thing. Several Ecumen leaders are joining senior housing and aging services professionals from around the world in Malta at the International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (IAHSA) Annual Conference. A few tidbits on global aging from IAHSA:
- For most of human history, until about a century ago, the elderly (people aged 65 and over) never amounted to more than 2 or 3 percent of the population. Today, in the developed world, they amount to 15 percent. By the year 2030, they will be around 25 percent. As recently as 1980, the median age of the oldest society on earth (Sweden) was 36.
- By the year 2030, the median age of the entire developed world is projected to be 45. In much of southern and eastern Europe, it will be over 50. As a whole, the developing world will remain much younger for the foreseeable future. Yet it too is ageing-hence the term 'global ageing.' Several major countries in East Asia and Latin America, including China, South Korea, and Mexico are projected to reach developed-world levels of old-age dependency by the middle of the century.
Want to see some links on discussing aging from around the world? Check this out.We’ll be back next week, have a great weekend.
Future of Senior Housing
Entrepreneur Berry Brunk and blogger (He blogs at Future of Senior Housing) shares a quote from a new study about aging in place and assisted living from the National Investment Center: “The [senior] housing industry (At Ecumen we call it a profession) needs to change its sales and marketing message to place more emphasis on these communities as places that enable residents to get more from life, rather than places to receive care. It is not being suggested that grandiose promises of entertainment and excitement be made, but rather the elements that provide a sense of community, friendship, belonging, enjoyment, fun, education and continuing life need to be stressed more.” The study isn’t available online, but Berry outlines several highlights from it that are interesting to people working to figure out and innovate in senior housing and services. You can also read what boomers are thinking about aging here.
Senior Housing Technology on TV
Technology is already playing a greater role in helping seniors live independently and giving people more control over their lives and enhancing senior housing. The clip above is a great story about technology in use at Ecumen’s Lakeview Commons senior community in Maplewood, Minnesota.Watch this story on technology being used in senior housing. It is courtesy of WCCO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Senior Housing Suburbia Opportunity
David Peterson has an interesting article in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune about how baby boomers are going to create a senior tsunami in suburbia.What a great opportunity this is for senior housing and service organizations to rethink and reinvent what they deliver to their customers. As Rita DeBruyn, coordinator of the Five Cities Senior Transportation Program, which covers western burbs said: 'Twenty years ago it was subsidized senior dining or card clubs. We’d have 100 people a day gathering to play cards. Today they want to go to Panera Bread. We don’t even do 'senior dining.' And instead of card clubs, it’s Westminster Town Hall Forum, or MacPhail for concerts. They want to be intellectually stimulated.'Yes they do. We in the senior housing and senior living profession have to deliver.