Change is hard, said Kyla Gower, Independent Living Director at the Quarry. However, she said that as soon as new residents arrive, those concerns just seem to melt away.
“It’s really not as scary as its sounds,” she said. “Everyone has something different that makes it for them. For some people, it’s making some friends. For others it’s finding an activity that they love or realizing, ‘oh, I can still do this.’”
Families, too, feel better knowing their loved one has a community of people around them who care about them and will notice if something isn’t right, Gower said.
The same is true at Glenwood Place Senior Living. Justin Ashley said that what he’s learned from his time as Independent Living Director at Glenwood Place is that as we age, we lose easy access to social opportunities. On top of that, he said, the benefits of a big house slowly become a burden.
“Everything you do takes a little bit more concentration, a little more effort,” he said. “Independent living gives you the option to choose what you want to keep up with and what you don’t, allowing you to enjoy time with friends, significant others, dogs, hobbies, volunteering.”
The a la cart way that Glenwood Place structures independent living, Ashley said, allows residents can to free up their time and energy to do whatever matters most to them.
“If you’re tired of keeping care of your house after 90 years, you don’t have to,” he said. “It gives you the opportunity to choose services to support the lifestyle you want to continue to live.”
While there are logistical reasons to consider independent living – prepared meal options if you dislike cooking, a gym and workout center so you don’t have to drive to exercise classes and on-site medical staff should any health issues arise – Ashley said this isn’t the first advantage that comes to mind.
“The biggest benefit, I hate to sound cliché, but it’s not the journey but the friends you make along the way,” he said. “The stuff you don’t see is the value a community brings to a person’s life. It’s almost a bit of something you didn’t know you were looking for.”
The community is the thing that resident Shirley Hofmeister immediately noticed about Glenwood Place.
“The marketing person who walked us around knew everyone by name,” she said. “We felt like we were home.”
Hofmeister said she worried about finances, but every time she added up all the costs of her home – utilities, taxes, etc. – independent living ended up making the most sense. Even so, her biggest fear of moving from her Vancouver condo into the independent living apartment was having a place to host family when they visit.
“Glenwood offered up the party room to host Thanksgiving, Christmas. I had my 80th birthday here,” she said proudly. Thinking back on the move, she said: “I have to tell you, I wouldn’t go backward.”
