At Bridgewater Retirement Community, the Baby Boomers comprise nearly 40% of independent living residents.
Occasionally, I make in-person new business visits. Recently, I was visiting a Life Plan Community in the Southeast. The campus was undergoing an Independent Living expansion. I suggested that Wellzesta Life would appeal to their existing residents and, in particular, to the Baby Boomers whom they were trying to attract in the expansion.
My suggestion that the community would want to appeal to the Baby Boomers was not well received by the CEO. She had tired of hearing the warnings from industry consultants that the "Boomers were coming." Her sense was that the Boomers had yet to arrive at her campus. This struck me as an outdated mental model of the current demographics of Life Plan Communities.
The Figure above is from the "Resident Demographics" dashboard of the "Data Insights" section of Wellzesta Active---the staff portal for Wellzesta Life. The resident data in independent living (IL) at Bridgwater Retirement Community in Bridgewater, Virginia. The overlayed boxes labeled indicating residents from "Boomer," "Silent," and "GI" generations were added. According to this article, the "Boomers" currently age 60 to 78; the "Silents," also called the post-war generation, currently age 79 to 96; and the "WWII generation" ("GIs") currently age 97+.
Independent Living resident demographics at Bridgewater are:
Average age: 82
Females: 63%
Boomers: 39%
Silents: 58%
GIs: 3%
Bridgewater's numbers are broadly representative of Wellzesta client-partners. Across the US, the average age of an IL resident using the Wellzesta Life platform is 84. At Bridgewater, the average age of an IL resident is 82. Bridgewater's younger-than-average population appears to stem from the community's ability to attract residents age 70 and below. It also should be noted that this community is wellness-oriented and focuses on providing services and amenities that promote individual growth, energy and well-being.
At Bridgewater Retirement Community, the Boomers comprise nearly 40% of independent living residents. Board members, C-Suite and staff can emphatically claim, "the Boomers are HERE!"
To learn more about engaging all of your residents, including the boomers, schedule a brief call and demo with Wellzesta.
