Comprehensive Housing Assistance, Inc., an agency of The Associated, announced that it is deepening resident engagement in its senior living facilities, Weinberg Villages and Weinberg Manors, through a new pilot initiative.
“I really believe what the CDC says that … not being active, sitting and not doing anything socially or physically … or engaging in activities is the equivalent of smoking three packs of cigarettes a day,” said Inbal (Innie) Neun, CHAI’s new director of resident engagement. “I really do believe that it is about promoting engagement as we get older, and that is the key to active aging.”
The initiative establishes new programs like United Voices, a program in collaboration with the Iris Music Project, which will offer older adults experiencing memory or cognitive challenges the opportunity to sing with friends, family and caregivers.
“Seniors have so much to offer; yet our society sometimes doesn’t always reflect that,” she added. “It’s so important to give purpose, to give the message that we know how many seniors have amazing talents to offer.”
The goal of the initiative is to bring residents together to help one another and create connections. One way CHAI aims to do that is through more resident-led programs.
“If you create something yourself, there’s much more buy-in,” Neun said. “It’s coming from what you’re interested in, what you might want to try, and you’re more excited naturally.”
With the support of Weinberg Villages and Weinberg Manors’ staff, residents will be able to create flyers for promoting their events, which will include resident-led classes, musical performances and more.
“The new initiative’s focus is to continue to empower the residents so that this is something they could continue with [less] staff involvement,” said Neun.
The director of resident engagement is a new position in the CHAI organization; however, Neun is not new. Previously, Neun served as center director of the Edward A. Myerberg Center.
Neun said she wanted to be more hands-on with programming for CHAI’s housing. “I love programming. It’s kind of where I started at; I started over 30 years ago as an activities assistant, and had done programming all through different nursing homes.”
“I certainly love encouraging residents to celebrate everything they can to be active,” she added.
Another part of the new initiative that Neun wants to implement is a buddy program.
“Somebody once said to me, ‘Well, I don’t like to come down the elevator by myself; I’m just nervous … my mobility is limited,’ or ‘I can’t read the newsletter because of my eyesight.’ So, that would be a great opportunity for us to really organize and say, ‘OK, well, how can we help each other?’ Because there might be someone who could be happy to read the calendar to someone.”
Neun added that residents are looking for these opportunities to help each other.
“Residents do tell me, ‘Well, you know, my neighbor, she’s 95, and she just tells me she’s lonely.’ OK, so how can we work together to help her feel more enriched in her day?”
“We’re looking forward to just really getting residents more engaged and involved in their communities and connected to other residents in their buildings,” she added.
Residents will form committees to help plan events with the support of the director of resident engagement.
“They have a sense of community where they live,” said Neun.
