Summary of the April 10 Second Wednesday Conversation

There are 24 resident association members of ORANJ. There were 34 residents from 19 communities who participated in the March 13 Zoom conversation: Applewood, Atrium, Cadbury, Cedar Crest, Crestwood Manor, Evergreens, Fellowship Village, Friends Village, House of the Good Shepherd, Lantern Hill, Laurel Circle, Lions Gate, Meadow Lakes, Medford Leas, Monroe Village, Oaks at Denville, Pines Village, Seabrook, Winchester Gardens.

After dealing with issues related to the use of Zoom, we turned to the issue of integrating new members of the community with older long-term residents. Participants from various communities described their welcoming committees, providing written materials, in-person visits, phone calls, invitations to meals, one-on-one tours of the facility, welcome card from the president of the residents association, and personal invitations to the monthly meeting of the residents associations.

The next topic was about the moving of assistive devices when residents come into the dining room or auditorium. In auditoriums, one practice is that people with walkers sit in the front row so they can keep their walkers with them. Those with scooters sit in the back of the room. At Crestwood Manor some residents just need their walker to get into the auditorium, then they are put to the side before taking their seat.  Typically, servers remove electric mobility devices and walkers from the dining room during the meal and then bring them back to the resident at the end of the meal.  Then I (Maggie) asked if there was an attitude of too many devices. I remember that a few years back that seemed to be the case and I wondered if this had changed.  This question brought up the topic of bad driving of mobility devices:  speeding, near accidents, blocking intersections. As to the attitude toward assistive devices, it’s one of acceptance. 

There was an observation that with the increase of over 55 communities, retiring people tend to move into those communities and not consider CCRCs (LifePlan Comunities) until they are older. So now they already need assistive devices and are bringing them with them. This led to comments about the need to educate the public about CCRC/LifePlan Communities. Also, there is a concern that marketing departments are bringing people into independent living who should be in assisted living.

Another topic was the purchase of communities, which has brought mixed results. For example, Fellowship Senior Living has been beneficial for the communities which it has acquired. But Cadbury has been going downhill due to a series of sales from one owner to another.