One of the most challenging issues our seniors face as they age is an ever-increasing lack of mobility. Whether caused by illness, broken bones, or simply deteriorating muscles that come along with advancing age, many seniors are unable to get out and about as they once did. Most often this is the underlying cause for living in relative isolation, but that doesn’t make it okay.
Unless you have ever been forced to live virtually alone for long stretches of time, you may not fully understand what it can do to the physical and emotional wellbeing of the one suffering through it – and suffering they are! If there is anything we can do to enable our elders to become a part of a vibrant community once again, perhaps it’s time we fully understand just why seniors really and truly need community.
1. Emotional Engagement
Even in the nation’s most populous state, California, many seniors lack that social engagement they once had. Whether the surviving spouse of a lifelong marriage or living in isolation due to fears of the pandemic, assisted living Encinitas Belmont Village communities serve California seniors well. They can be part of a community that keeps them engaged with other seniors so that they have a sense of bonding with people of their own generation and similar likes and dislikes. Emotional bonding is probably just as important, and sometimes more so, than health and safety concerns. Assisted living communities provide all that and more.
2. Health and Safety
As noted above, health and safety are priorities as well. Sometimes it’s due to issues that leave seniors vulnerable to sudden onset of illnesses that render them incapable of even calling for help. It could be a sudden fever as was often the case with Covid-19 or it could be from a slip and fall. Being unable to get to a phone or their medical alert device, many suffered the consequences in the past few years. Although they would have their own private residence, they are just one wall (or floor) away from others in the community. Also, a residential setting for seniors comes with support staff that check on their residents regularly, especially within an assisted living environment.
3. Shared New Experiences
Also, there is nothing like sharing new experiences with your peers no matter what your age is. This is something seniors stop looking forward to in many cases simply because there are no contemporaries to share new experiences and adventures with. Even going to the local county or city park with a buddy and a trekking stick can be an adventure as you age, so living in a community presents ample opportunities to do things you’d both appreciate.
There is no denying the need for social interaction even as seniors. We often forget that our loved ones need others even more than we do. The simple fact remains that we are still highly ambulatory, and they aren’t – not so much anyway. If you want to do something wonderful for your loved ones, give them back a sense of belonging. That’s the best medicine of all.
