MUSIC Do you have elderly parents?
It's never easy to watch them age.
An emotional topic for every family.
Definitely lots of important decisions involved.
We're about to hear more about the needs of
seniors from some of the most knowledgeable experts and wait
til you see some of the things they're doing.
MUSIC Listen to this, by the year
2050, the number of Americans in the 65
and older category is expected to double, yes double.
And what does that mean for you and your
family?
Here to help navigate all the ins and outs of getting
older, are Jim Pusateri and Carol Cummings, from the largest
senior care expert in the U.S., Brookdale Senior Living.
Jim and Carol, it's so great to have you
here.
Thank you.
It's so great to be here.
Jim, right off the bat, for those of us who don't
know about Brookdale.
Tell us about it.
Brookdale is the largest senior living provider
in the United States.
We serve about 90,000 residents and their
families providing care, and 1100 communities, in 47 states.
Oh my gosh.
And in the communities we really focus on
wellness and aging.
And within those communities we offer
spiritual and emotional and physical programs customized to
each resident's needs to help them lead lives successfully in
the best time of their life with us.
I love that said the best time of their life because
sometimes feel like, oh no it's over for me.
But you're saying open up, come to one of our
centers and things could change for you.
Exactly.
You know Carol, many of us baby boomers
are going to be in that position of caring for our parents, and
making decisions.
What advice do you have for me and our viewers?
Well, it's true Julie.
A lot of people are dealing with caring
for an aging parent.
In fact, most of us are women.
75 percent of people who are caring for an
aging parent are female in the family.
And it's a very emotionally charged stressful
kind of thing.
And, you know, a lot of seniors are afraid.
They have fears about losing their
independence, being cut-off from friends and family.
And of course, a lot of them have the
old stereotypical sterile institutional nursing home in
their minds when they think of senior living.
And let me just stop you right there.
That is a myth, right?
That is no more.
Totally.
Tell me.
Nothing could be further from the truth,
truly, truly.
So what we advise families is start the
conversation with your parents now, before there's a crisis,
and talk about it.
Talk about what their concerned about.
Talk about what misconceptions they
may have and what they value.
And that's really what we do at Brookdale, is listen to people,
understand, partner with them, so we can help them to life to
the fullest.
And there's nothing that I love more than seeing a
resident move in and really find a life that's surprises them.
As Jim said, the best time in their
life!
Now you've actually partnered with Stamford and
you've studied the role of potential and needs of seniors,
and what did you find out from that study?
It was a great study called Rewiring Aging.
And it was really focused on those that
are 80 years of age and older.
Wow.
And it was a tie of social media and technology, and the
impact it has on seniors.
Really!
It was fascinating, and what we really learned was that
that impact of social media and technology gave seniors a better
wellbeing and healthier lifestyle because they were
engaged in more activity with their families, be they across
the country or next door.
But it really helped them understand
how they can be happier and live a more fulfilling lifestyle with
that technology.
Carol, tell us the innovative ways that
Brookdale is bringing new life and technology to some of these
seniors.
Well you know, technology has a tremendous
potential to really positively impact the life of seniors, as
Jim said.
One of the other things we learned in the study
is that 27 percent of seniors are, what we call virtual
shut-ins.
They're isolated.
Because we're in a technological world and one of the things that
comes to mind is the story about a guy named Jim.
Jim moved in our community and he said, like
a lot of people do his age, I don't want anything to do with
it, I'm never gonna touch those things.
But he was encouraged by the staff and he came to the
iPad class.
He did.
Yes.
And before he knew it, Jim had an
iPad of his own, and now he teaches the class.
No!
Yes.
He teaches the class.
Amazing.
I went to meet him and I said what
has this done for you Jim and he said it has opened up the world
for me.
He told me, you know the kids don't answer the phone.
They don't.
My 16 year old, you have to text her.
But he said I video chat with my grandson who's in college 2 to 3
times a week.
Wonderful.
So he gets to see him on the screen.
And we had another lady who saw her great grandchild 15 minutes
after she was born.
No!
On the Skype.
It was amazing.
How special.
It's amazing to see their reaction to what
technology can do to open up the world and connect them.
Tell me a little about brain health at
Brookdale.
It's a great program that we've implemented at
Brookdale where our residents are learning how to map out how
to keep their brain healthy, and so we show them opportunities
for diet, exercise, and some of the things that we talked about,
of social media, that help get their brain into a better shape.
And it enhances their lives and they feel better about
themselves with this brain health activity that we provide
for them.
Well, I'm so glad that we could share this with our
viewers.
Just what a great thing you're doing.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Well, thank you.
Alright, and for more information about Brookdale
Senior Living, go to brookdale.com or simply log on
to thebalancingact.com and don't forget to connect with us on
Facebook and Twitter.