You can have a low-maintenance life filled with comfort, companionship, and leisure.
So it’s here – you’ve worked hard and you’re ready to retire–from work, but not life. You’re curious about what a senior living community can offer you, what your options are, and how to find the community that’s right for you. And you’re ready to enjoy the rewards of a life well-lived.
If you’re just starting your exploration of senior living options, then you know there is a lot to consider. You want to ensure the best quality of life, but where do you even start? There is so much to research it can be overwhelming.
To help you on your exploration, take a step back and learn about others’ journeys. Learn how they prioritized their needs. Discover what unique features and amenities matter to them. And see how they made independent living into their ideal lifestyle.
In this blog, we’ll delve into independent living for seniors and learn key considerations for finding the right senior living community. Today, we’ll focus on Cogir Senior Living and their unique offerings. However, you can apply these considerations to any senior living community.
Understanding Independent Living: What It Means for Seniors
Independent living is a “low-maintenance” lifestyle. The ultimate goal of independent living retirement communities is to provide more freedom and support your independence. Independent senior living lets you pursue your passions and enjoy life while freeing you from household chores and homeownership burdens.
Senior assisted living provides more personalized assistance with everyday tasks than independent living. If you’re experiencing difficulty with daily tasks or have a chronic health condition, then senior assisted living may be better for you. Assisted living and independent senior living share the same goal: empowering you to live and enjoy a high quality of life.
How might independent living help you enjoy life? What are some key considerations for selecting the right senior living community? What sets Cogir Senior living apart from other retirement communities? What amenities can you expect from Cogir Senior Living that elevate the independent living experience?
Selecting the Right Senior Living Community: Key Considerations
Everyone is different and will choose a senior community based on their needs and lifestyle. So, let’s explore three examples.
Mike Statler is an active senior with no care needs. Since retiring, he has strived to visit as many unique places as possible as often as possible. However, his home has become a burden. He thought it would be the perfect senior home for him, but maintenance bills pile up, something always needs fixing, and he neglects the outdoor space.
Mike realizes that the senior apartments of an independent senior living community might better support his adventurous lifestyle. He’s looking for a retirement home that covers basic chores like housekeeping and laundry so he can focus on the next adventure. He would love a senior living community that supports his wanderlust and feeds his curiosity. The lesson here is to ask your potential communities what basic amenities are covered.
The location also matters. His grandnieces and grandnephews call him Grunkle (short for great uncle) Mike. They love the diverse souvenirs he brings them. So he wants a senior home close to his family and, ideally, an airport.
Location is a great place to start your independent living search. Are there any family members you want to see more often?
Jack and Jenna Weidner are two seniors who want to be involved and social. They live in a picturesque neighborhood filled with young families and young children. However, they don’t have any children unless you count their two dogs. They do not have a lot in common with their neighbors and want a senior home that supports a vibrant community.
Their ideal independent senior living community is a pet-friendly retirement home with plenty of outdoor space to walk their dogs. They want a close-knit and courteous senior community. So, when they tour retirement communities, they ask about volunteer and community outreach opportunities.
What matters to you? Furry friends and supporting your community? Now you know what to ask when touring retirement communities.
Vincent and Valeria Vargas are a senior couple with different care needs. Vincent was recently diagnosed with the early stages of dementia. However, Valeria does not need any assisted living care. They are both lifelong athletes and want to continue that for as long as possible within a continuing care retirement community.
Valeria wants a place that will go above and beyond for Vincent’s memory care. She methodically researches the quality of care and professionalism of the staff of each senior community they tour. However, Vincent doesn’t want Valeria to sacrifice her social activities for his memory care. He wants an elderly care home that will grant her the freedom and autonomy she deserves.
Senior couples with varying needs shouldn’t feel as if they have to sacrifice their priorities for their partner. Understandably, relationships are balancing acts with plenty of health compromises. However, when settling on a senior community you and your partner should both feel satisfied.
Cogir Senior Living: Differentiators in the Senior Living Landscape
The three cases above highlight different reasons for seeking out independent senior living and key considerations for selecting their respective care communities. So, what can Cogir Senior Living offer?
For starters, Cogir Senior Living is a large, respected, and well-resourced network of care communities. For decades, they have been ranked the No. 2 senior living management company in Canada. Recently, they expanded into the United States.
So, what did Cogir learn from all those years in Canada? Well, Cogir brings a holistic approach to wellness to maximize your quality of life. Cogir’s care communities offer exceptionally well-trained staff, enriching activities, safety, caregiver aid, and intellectual stimulation. In other words, they offer more than an apartment and on-site support. They offer a low-maintenance lifestyle, filled with a vibrant social calendar, so you can focus on your mind, body, and community. From Casino Night to Roaring 20s bashes to art classes and field trips and beyond, your social calendar will likely rival your children’s.
Cogir Senior Living offers a range of brands catering to various needs, whether it be location or amenities. Each retirement home has the freedom to make its senior community unique.
Today, we operate over 60 retirement communities spanning from the Greater Seattle area to the Washington, D.C., metro area. Cogir Senior Living uses its robust national network to support each community with the best-in-class professionals.
Cogir Senior Living understands that communities are not a matter of place but of people. So, they encourage their senior care homes to foster a healthy community that is representative of the areas they serve. Cogir Senior Living knows that choices and the freedom to choose enrich life. So, they create endless, high-quality choices that do not sacrifice freedom.
Amenities at Cogir Senior Living: Elevating the Independent Living Experience.
Cogir Senior Living elevates the independent living experience with diverse amenities unique to their retirement communities.
For example, Mike Statler greatly enjoys the NOMADS program. It is a series of seminars and documentaries on destinations around the world. Since his retirement home is close to his grandnieces and grandnephews, he sometimes hosts them after school. Together, they sit in the on-site movie theater and enjoy the amazing documentaries from NOMADS. Together, they watch in awe as the documentary soars over the sandstone pinnacles famous to China’s Zhangjiajie National Park.
Imagine what you might learn from fun intellectual stimulation, and imagine who you might want to share that experience with.
Jack and Jenna Weidner now enjoy a senior community that proudly sponsors many local events. They help out with the communal garden at their senior home and bond with like-minded residents. Their dogs enjoy the vast outdoor space. Jack and Jenna help organize the local wine walk, a tourist event that showcases local tastes.
Think about all the activities and events you would enjoy in your local region. Think about all the fun experiences a new place offers.
Vincent and Valeria Vargas both participate in their retirement home’s fitness programs. However, what sealed the deal was Cogir Senior Living’s CONNECTIONS program. This program, unique to Cogir’s care communities, provides early intervention for those experiencing memory loss and also allows couples with varying levels of care needs to stay together. A CONNECTIONS Director met with Vincent to create a personalized plan, offering support where needed and independence where capable. CONNECTIONS considers all aspects of health, such as diet, exercise, sleep, and social connections, to improve quality of life. In short, the program slows memory loss by exercising the brain. The Vargases understand that varied physical workouts keep the whole body in shape. So it makes sense to do the same with cognitive workouts.
Dealing with memory loss can be scary, and it is completely understandable to be nervous. However, you don’t have to deal with it alone. There are resources for you and your loved ones. CONNECTIONS offers a proactive and holistic approach to memory care.
Conclusion:
That concludes our exploration of independent living at Cogir Senior Living. Imagine your life within one of Cogir’s vibrant communities, filled with comfort, companionship, and leisure. With a focus on holistic wellness, innovative programs, and top-notch amenities, Cogir Senior Living is committed to providing a fulfilling and enriching lifestyle tailored to your individual needs and preferences.
What sets Cogir apart is the company’s devoted approach to creating healthy, vibrant communities that offer residents exceptional independent living, assisted living and memory care lifestyle options. Cogir Senior Living develops, owns and/or operates 60 lifestyle communities throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.CogirSeniorLiving.com.
