During the pandemic, senior living communities were forced to get creative to keep isolated residents happy and engaged. As the world returns to normal, that commitment and focus on engagement should remain.
Residents are always at risk of social isolation, even in normal circumstances. Staying active and stimulated is critical in maintaining a sense of well-being. Here are a few tips on keeping your residents engaged:
Start with the essentials. Your community’s activities should fall under the three fundamental pillars of engagement: physical, social, and mental. Applying and switching between these three basics will ensure holistic wellness and engagement in your residents.
Implement wellness activities. Get creative with ways to keep residents engaged, or check out Wellzesta’s list of innovative wellness activities to implement in your community.
Provide variety. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to engagement. If all of your community's engagement activities revolve around the same topics or themes, some of your residents may grow bored and stop participating. By offering a variety of activities or events for residents to choose from, they are more likely to stay engaged.
Start off by choosing from the eight dimensions of wellness: physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, financial, social, spiritual, and vocational. For example: if you have done two arts and crafts activities that week, try switching it up and holding a financial wellness seminar next.
Ask. Your residents know better than anyone what they want to do and what will engage them. Give them a chance to share their thoughts and feedback by putting out a survey or asking them directly.
Offer different forms of engagement. While you may not be able to hold events or activities every day, that does not mean that your residents should be left idle. Daily articles and videos can provide just as much intellectual stimulation as physical or social activities and can help residents pass the time until their next event.
Choose the right engagement platform for your community. The right engagement platform will find ways to keep your residents physically, mentally, and socially active, as well as give you ideas on how to do so yourself.
Residents want to be engaged. Providing activities, events, and content that stimulates and motivates your residents is a sure-fire way to keep engagement high and residents happy.
Wellzesta
Wellzesta is an engagement platform that is dedicated to keeping your residents stimulated, active, and living purposeful lives.
Wellzesta’s Life platform is the single source for all things resident engagement. Life offers quick access to event and activity sign-up, daily wellness articles and videos, and goal setting for residents to engage at their own pace. It also provides staff with ideas and suggestions on how to keep residents engaged, and also a simple way of implementing those ideas.
To learn more about what Wellzesta can do for you, visit our website or connect with a member of our Sales team.
