The more I read and talk about senior living issues, the more I feel like we’re all standing in the path of an enormous glacier. Working directly in the industry, our readers have it worse: You’re looking over your shoulders to see that glacier coming right for you. Slowly, yes. But probably not slowly enough, and there’s still a degree of finger-crossing that when it arrives it won’t flatten us all.
No doubt many of you can recite the stats on the aging boomer population in your sleep. Are we ready? We’re trying, but then the Wall Street Journal recently reported a glut of senior living development that’s outpacing occupancy in 31 major markets. Senior housing operators know they have to court boomers, but boomers aren’t smiling back just yet. The stigma surrounding a move from one’s home to anything that’s not independent living remains. The general public hasn’t fully accepted the concept of “senior living communities,” despite our best efforts—they still default to “old-age home” terminology and institutional expectations.
My aunt is currently making that move, and she’s unhappy. She can’t afford a high-end CCRC or wait for a radically better model of care and glorious surroundings to become the norm. Even though her family took great care to choose a well-regarded, forward-thinking community, my aunt sees the move as the beginning of the end.
We all know these stories. I’m hopeful that the reality of my aunt’s new life will pleasantly surprise her. And while it can be incredibly frustrating when you think of the big picture—this holding pattern we currently live in, still stuck between the problem and the solution—I’m comforted by the fact that there are so many of you working so passionately to make things better. When I talk to readers and conference attendees, to leaders in this field, I’m amazed by the personal fire that fuels their work.
Different approaches are discussed and debated (households, memory care options, multigenerational housing, the continuum of care). Compassionate change and truly livable environments are on everyone’s mind, and these concepts are beginning to take root.
There’s so much promise, but we’re not there yet. I’m grateful that there are so many professionals willing to do what it takes, to forge a better path to providing homes that no longer feel like the beginning of the end, but like a comforting and welcome next stage of life.
