Environments for Aging Conference: Part II
This blog post was written by architect and associate Jessica Warren. Jessica recently attended the Environments for Aging Conference and we asked her to share some of her experience there. Below is Part II of II. You can find Part I here.
Including our session, the majority of the conference focused on memory care or inter-generational living. Given the recent concentration on Alzheimer’s Disease and aging, this wasn’t a huge surprise. In March, I attended a discussion on UMMC’s latest Alzheimer’s research and learned a lot with specific statement sticking with me: every 68 seconds someone is diagnosed with dementia. This scary statistic proves that research on aging is much needed, and even more so, that it’s our job as designers to ensure that we are creating supportive environments that enhance people’s quality of life.
As always, I learned a tremendous amount and am excited to integrate these ideas into my own, and CDFL’s, elder care practice. The following concepts were of particular interest:
1. We must start designing for everyone; meaning, that instead of segregating our elders, we should incorporate their facilities into facilities typically reserved for younger people. One way in which this was discussed was through downtown senior living developments or CCRC’s that would allow for inter-generational living. Being near an established hub of activity is important, and many sessions focused on this trend within large cities.
2. Affordability was another conference constant. It’s well documented that baby boomers aren’t saving for retirement like previous generations, and it’s going to have a profound impact on the industry. The solution proposed by several sessions was a rental model or a mixture of price points within a complex.
3. I was introduced to an organization called Generations of Hope. This organization seeks to bring two vulnerable populations together so that each population can be uplifted by the others’ strengths. One meaningful example of this was bringing bringing senior adult volunteers to help with children aging out of the foster care system. Amazing!
While I’m glad to be home, I always treasure this experience and this year was no exception. I’m so grateful to have had opportunity to share some of CDFL and St. Catherine’s story, and am appreciative of the knowledge I gained from my fellow presenters. It’s time to get to work!