Vital Things To Ask Prospective Green Senior Living Communities

An article from the New York Post showed that 85% of people are making lifestyle changes to be more sustainable. Surprisingly, it found that older people are actually more likely to go green. One of the ways seniors are trying to live greener lives is by moving towards green senior living communities.

Seniors Are Surprisingly Leading the Movement Towards Sustainable Living

Green building initiatives started becoming popular around 20 years ago. Contractors and businesses began developing these initiatives to create sustainable buildings and reduce toxic carbon emissions. Recently, senior living communities have started shifting towards eco-friendly business models.

Senior living communities are transitioning to green energy and building sustainable communities. Advances in renewable energy have made sustainability more accessible. This has set a new standard for the senior living industry. Green senior living communities provide healthier and more engaged lifestyles for residents. Transitioning to green energy can also benefit the success and longevity of communities.

Green living facilities are surprisingly popular among seniors. It is a common misconception that older, more conservative people that are likely to watch Fox News don’t care about the planet. One survey from the UK actually found older people are more likely to recycle and participate in other green living initiatives. Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that they are turning towards eco-friendly retirement communities.

Choosing the Right Eco-Friendly Senior Living Facility

Green senior living communities offer a wide range of different services and facilities, all of which serve to provide their residents with varying levels of care and assistance to suit their own individual needs and desires.

It’s absolutely essential to always take a thorough tour around any potential senior living community (more than once if possible) before signing on the dotted line and while you’re there, asking the following questions is also an excellent idea. You want to find a community that is both green and committed to quality service.

What Steps Have You Taken to Go Green?

You want to find a senior living community that is actually committed to sustainability. This is means that you have to ask what measures they have taken to lower their carbon footprints. You want to see if they have energy efficient buildings, renewable energy or rely heavily on gardening and other eco-friendly recreational activities.

How is the Activity Calendar Planned?

When you move to a thriving community that has things specifically designed for older adults and the elderly, you’ll gain access to a myriad different provisions and facilities, with one of the most celebrated and indeed, the most popular, being the social and activity calendar.

Just a selection of activities that are commonplace in such communities include, to name just a few, the following:

• Animal therapy sessions
• Amateur dramatic performances
• Stand-up comedy
• Ballroom and line dancing
• Trips to the beach
• Swimming
• Flower arranging
• Book club
• Sketching & drawing classes
• Foreign language classes

How Do They Cater for Different Dietary Requirements?

Prestigious and established assisted and independent senior living communities spend an incredible amount of time planning, preparing, and serving delicious meals on a varied, rotating menu basis for their residents.

Particularly in the case of individual living communities, it’s more than typical for professional and award-winning chefs to either advise on the menu, or else even spend several weeks teaching resident cooks how to prepare fresh, healthy, and scrumptious meals every time the menu changes.

How Much Training Do Staff Members Receive?

Naturally, the level of professional medical qualifications that caregivers and team members that work in senior living communities have varies considerably depending on the level of assistance their residents need.

However, you should still enquire into the specific nature of the training provided for any and all potential senior living communities that you’re interested in, and furthermore, speak to current residents if you can to try get an accurate and more realistic view of what it’s like to live there.

How Involved Can Family Members Be?

A reputable and respected senior living facility will welcome as much involvement as possible from close friends and family members, especially in the first few weeks and months of the transition into the community, when everything is geared to getting to know your neighbors and settling in.

Furthermore, you should also enquire whether there are specific family events held periodically throughout the year, which are fantastic ways of ingratiating new residents with old-timers and their families.

What is Included in the Monthly Cost?

By and large, most respected senior living communities are honest and transparent when it comes to stating on their official website and accompanying brochures how much it’ll cost to become a member of their community.

However, it’s absolutely essential that either yourself, or alternatively someone else on your behalf, enquires about exactly what is included and what, conversely, will cost you additional fees.

Choose a Great Eco-Friendly Senior Living Community

There are a lot of great ways that you can go green as an aging adult. You will want to find a senior living community that aligns with your principles. The tips listed above can help.