We’re continually increasing and fine tuning our knowledge about the services that we and our partners provide as we assist seniors through the transition to a senior living community.
Today we had the opportunity to spend time with a group of residents at the Heritage Estates Assisted & Independent Living Community in Livermore who kindly gave their time to be part of a focus group. Our focus group helped us better understand the various aspects of both the physical and emotional challenges they faced during their recent move.
We were overwhelmingly reminded that family help play an extremely important role in helping their family member(s) make that transition. Several residents shared with us that they were not happy about the move initially, however recognized overtime that it was a good move and the right decision.
The biggest frustration residents had was with family members making decisions for them, without their input. Many moms and dads are still very capable of making their own decisions and for the most part don’t like being told what to do, especially when they know they’re already giving up some of their independence.
Another physical challenge with downsizing related to all of the physical belongs collected over a long life. What a number of residents found especially helpful was to know the measurements and layout of their future home so they could plan for what they would be able to take with them and what would need to be given to family members, sold, or donated to a new home.
We truly enjoyed our time with the residents today, not only did we gain valuable insights; we had the pleasure of hearing some interesting stories.
