This week during class we are receiving a virtual tour of senior housing, I’m keen to see what senior housing looks like on the west coast! I grew up in Maine and visited my great grandmother in the nursing home very often. During the several winter months the seniors were cooped inside, therefore I’m curious if the senior housing here will have more outdoor facilities.
I am also very excited because my group and I came up with an interesting Healthy Aging Project! It’s an app that will connect the older generation in a time where they feel isolated and lonely. The hope is that the app will contain a bunch of communities, games, and group classes. The communities would be group chats that they can join based on similar interests, for example: a gardening community, a musical community, an outdoor lover community, a baking community, etc. Within the communities they could solely message each other- for example, about how much sunlight a certain plant needs- or they could join the weekly meeting that each community will have, where they plan a relevant activity and bond. The games would be online versions of bingo, crossword, scrabble, chess, word scramble, etc. Games that they could play together and see each other face to face, almost as if it were in real life. The group classes will be demonstrations via zoom for people interested in learning more about certain topics, for example: knitting class, small art & craft, cooking class, exercise classes- stretching, mindfulness classes, baking classes, painting classes, dance classes, musical class. There may also be competitions on the same topics for the more competitive individuals, like a bake off or dance off! I think it would also be neat to have weekly challenges- like showing a random act of kindness, going for a walk, meditating, go green for a day (no meat), learn something new, etc. Then everyone that completes the challenge can write about it in a certain discussion board-encouraging and inspiring one another. It would also be important to have an entire tab on COVID- updates on the pandemic, resources, information on the vaccine and how to sign up for it, a discussion board for them to display their concerns and worries, and help them connect with others who can help with delivery services- contactless. Older people feel very isolated right now so this would be a great opportunity to give them a sense of belonging and community/support.
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