Since I got into this business 14 years ago, I’ve been a firm believer that assisted living residents are basically no different than the rest of us when it comes to activities. I for one hate the thought of spending my day playing Bingo. I recently read an article entitled, “Beyond the 3 basics.” It talked about how the 3 basics of Bingo, Birthdays and Bible are going the way of the dinosaur in long term care. It states that today’s seniors are more sophisticated and demanding in their leisurely pursuits. There are elders who LOVE bingo but by and large we all want to know that we can contribute in some way to society.

At Argent Court we have made it our mission to offer activities that “matter.” What I mean by this is we like to engage our residents in activities that in some way “give back.” We have had groups that made quilts for the crisis pregnancy centers. We had residents that weekly used their time to listen to elementary school children read. And right after the United States went to war in Iraq we even made cookies and sent to the troops. We do still play Bingo and we do have Bible studies because there are those folks who do enjoy these activities but we offer far more. In addition, we like to offer activities that engage the resident with their families. We want to think our residents come here to LIVE; this is not God’s waiting room!

When I was in college we studied about the level of depression in long term care. One of the biggest contributing factors was when a person went to a long term care facility they felt isolated from the rest of society. At Argent Court we strive to engage our residents as much as possible in the community and honor their contributions. All human beings want to know that we matter and today’s seniors and our assisted living residents are no different.