Scott Sebastian is enjoying a new trend in his daily work as director of activities and programs at Grand Lake Gardens. He’s doing less to initiate activities yet his residents are more involved than ever.
“Residents used to just come to things and now they are leading things,” says Sebastian, the Oakland, Calif., continuing care retirement community’s lifestyle coordinator. “They are more engaged in what’s happening. They’re giving more voice to what they want their community to be like.”
Sebastian says the change began in 2009 when Grand Lake Gardens adopted Masterpiece Living, an initiative for successful aging that today is enhancing life at all 11 ABHOW CCRCs.
Masterpiece Living encourages residents and staff to shape their communities around four dimensions of a balanced life: social, physical, intellectual and spiritual.
“Masterpiece Living has given residents permission to step outside the box and try new things, take risks and see how far they can go,” says Sebastian.
Residents at each community have put their own unique spin on Masterpiece Living. At Grand Lake Gardens residents are exploring artistic, cultural and mindful pursuits.
There’s a weekly excursion to one of Oakland’s eclectic restaurants, a drama club where residents gather to read and study plays, and a nature lovers group that gets together regularly to meditate and view slide shows of scenes from national parks.
Teresa Beshwate, a Masterpiece Living operations specialist, says Grand Lake Gardens has an exceptional commitment to the idea that aging is also growing.
“This isn’t a rocking chair community," says Beshwate. “This is a place of growth and development.”
The Masterpiece Living philosophy has also been embraced by Piedmont Gardens, Grand Lake Gardens’ sister community located just five minutes away. Residents there have taken up physical activity to not only feel better but also improve relationships with their neighbors. In last year’s Walk to Wellness competition among ABHOW communities, Piedmont Gardens finished near the top with a count of more than 8.7 million steps in one month.
“It gets people active. People are more conscious of keeping walking and counting how many steps they take,” says Shelley Tsao, director of resident services at Piedmont Gardens.
All ABHOW CCRC residents receive a mobility review as part of Masterpiece Living, and many participate in Vertical, a program that helps improve balance. Vertical is a big hit with residents, says Tsao, who calls the issue of falls “one hot topic” among seniors at her community.
“Residents don’t want to fall and they’re finding ways to prevent falls," she says.
Residents of both Oakland communities showed their innovative spirit at the recent Masterpiece Living Lyceum, an annual meeting for health and wellness professionals engaged in bringing Masterpiece Living to communities nationwide. The February Lyceum event, held this year in Berkeley, Calif., featured a poetry reading and discussion led by Piedmont Gardens’ resident poetry group.
At a Lyceum reception held at Grand Lake Gardens, residents from a class known as Happy Feet showed off their steps. The class evolved out of the desire for more mobile residents to lead an activity for those who use walkers. Residents with or without walkers move in response to music.
Lyceum participants were impressed and inspired by both communities, each of which demonstrated how Masterpiece Living counters common notions of aging by showing that intellectual interests and physical activity are lifelong pursuits no matter what one’s limitations.
About ABHOW:
Founded in 1949, ABHOW is widely known for its pioneering leadership in senior housing and health care. The company serves more than 5,000 residents in 37 retirement communities in California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington.
To learn more about ABHOW visit www.abhow.com.
This article appeared in the April 2011 issue of ABHOW Words
