In this episode, delve into the intricate world of senior living design with our architect Terry Glade as we explore how architectural considerations shape spaces tailored to the unique needs and experiences of older adults, discussing everything from functionality and accessibility to aesthetics and community integration.
Skyler: Welcome to another episode of Laying the Foundation.
Skyler: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Laying the Foundation podcast. My name is Skylar. I'm your host. And today joining me is Terry Glade from our Sioux City office. Terry, welcome back to the show. Hey Skylar. Always great to be here. Always great to have you. Always great to have you. We've, uh, we've talked a couple of times about healthcare, um, and some of the different facets within healthcare design.
Skyler: talking about health care design when it comes to senior living communities. Right. And super glad to have you because um, you're definitely one of our primary people that has really done a lot of work on senior living communities within the projects that CMBA has done. And for being here today. I also know that you have a little bit more of a personal connection when it comes to senior living communities.
Skyler: Um, and I'd love to hear a little bit more about that.
Terry: Sure. And I think I, I didn't realize it right away. I've been working on senior living projects my whole time here at CMBA over the years. Um, but I don't think I really maybe made the connection right away that, um, some of my earlier life experiences had something to do with that.
Terry: Um, I was, uh, um, came along a little later in life. Uh, to my parents and, um, my one grandmother, I didn't really know her, um, before she had dementia. And so, uh, really most of the time that I knew her, she was in a nursing home. And this was back in the seventies and eighties and, and the facilities that were built in the sixties primarily, uh, they all looked the same.
Terry: They were all either a spoke shape or a T shape or an L shape with this common living room activity room. Right at the nexus there. And that's where you walked into the building. So you walked into the building right into this activity area. And basically the people that were still able to function a little more on their own, they might be in their rooms, but everyone else were lined up around.
Terry: This big room in the center and just kind of sitting in their chairs, staring blankly at Wheel of Fortune or, you know, just not interacting at all with anyone. And it was very depressing, um, kind of scary as a kid. Um, I was not scared of my grandma, but, Um, I was scared of the place and so I, I think that really had a big impact on me and, and I just, just didn't seem like the right way to treat, treat people.
Terry: And, and, and more recently, um, my mother actually suffered from Alzheimer's and we went through the process again from living on her own independently and then making the decision that it was time for her to be in assisted living, uh, memory care unit. And so we got to experience that and then eventually went to a nursing home with a memory care unit before she passed.
Terry: So I've, I've really gotten to see a lot of different facilities over time and to think about how that interacts with the facilities that I designed. So I think, I think that's a big part of it. Why it's so important to me is just, it, it just means a lot to me. And I think I, I know how I feel. I want my family.
Terry: To be treated and me someday, you know, if I end up in one of those places, so
Skyler: right, right. Wow. It takes it's it takes a lot to see something like that and to jump into sort of that world to say, I want to make this a better place. And I want to make this a better experience for those that are going to be, um, in that position, or even as you said, it.
Skyler: And when we get to that point and we're going to be in that position, um, what are we going to experience and being able to kind of shape that and shape the future of that, which is really exciting.
Terry: Right. And I think even, and not to totally throw early designers under the bus, the, you know, at the time, um, we were moving from a society where parents moved in with their kids and, you know, and then basically there weren't any other options once they couldn't live on their own.
Terry: It was either live with the kids or you went to a nursing home. And so it was, it was a variety of nursing home. May have someone that was fairly mobile and just needed a few, uh, things of assistance and all the way up to the heavy care, whereas today now we've got the full continuum of care from independent living to assisted living to a nursing home and memory care.
Terry: So it's, it's a lot better. Uh, stratification now and, and just, I think the models fit the, fit the residents a lot better. And as we'll discuss today, there's a lot of different components that, that we're still adding in to make those, those experiences richer, richer for those people.
Skyler: It takes time and it takes studies and, um, to get those statistics and everything that we need to better understand the needs of, of people within that, Um, and to be able to develop the spaces to fit those needs for sure.
Skyler: So, um, like you said, you know, not necessarily throwing the earlier designers under the bus or anything like that. You know, they were working off of the knowledge they had at the time, but thankfully we have a lot more knowledge and that's kind of a lot of what we're going to be able to talk about today, which will be, um, incredibly helpful for anybody out there that's looking to.
Skyler: do design within senior living communities and things like that, like these are things that we know that people want, that people need when, you know, they're living within these communities, uh, and how we can make that better for people.
Terry: Exactly. Exactly.
Skyler: So, tell me a little bit about what we, uh, what kind of key considerations are going into these spaces that we're designing.
Terry: Well, I think the, the biggest thing is to, again, see those people as, you know, as your family members, whether, whether they are or not, that, you know, these places should feel like home, as much like home as possible. They should be, uh, have that residential feel, uh, should have some of the features of home.
Terry: And actually, it seems like the, the trend is maybe even going a little more towards hospitality like a hotel. Oh,
Skyler: okay.
Terry: Um, because that's kind of a. You know, kind of a vacation, kind of a, kind of a lifestyle. It feels, yeah, it feels like a, a nice place. And, and it really, that's, that's the thing. I mean, if you really think about people that have maybe worked their entire lives and, And now they're moving to someplace and, and completely changing their, uh, their life focus, uh, you don't want them to just have to sit around and read Reader's Digest and, you know, it's, we're looking for things to do, keep people as active as possible.
Terry: That is key to them maintaining their health as long as possible, their, their health and mental abilities. I mean, study after study after study, uh, the more we can keep these people engaged and functioning, the, the longer, better lives they're going to live. And obviously that's what we want.
Skyler: Yes, absolutely.
Skyler: Whether it be from kind of a more intellectual standpoint, you know, keeping your mind active, um, and engaging, or from a physical standpoint, keeping, you know, your body active and engaged and things along those lines. So, um, what, I mean, how, how do we create space? Like what kind of spaces go into keeping these opportunities for engagement, whether it be physical or mental, intellectual, things along those lines?
Terry: Well, there'll be, uh, there's a lot of different ways we can accomplish that. Um, some is through the use of multi purpose spaces, uh, the, where you can do. Different varying activities. It could be a small dining area at one point. It could be an area for games at another point. Um, we've seen Assisted living spaces even build in something that's kind of like a bar, you know Where residents can keep their own alcohol locked in a cupboard and they have a little Um, happy hour on occasion, um, just anything that makes life feel more normal.
Terry: Yeah. You know, not so institutional. One of the last nursing home projects I did was for a small town and their nursing home was in the old hospital in town. It was the hospital that closed and they turned it into a nursing home and the staff was amazing because um, people just, just loved the staff and, and you can imagine kind of what life would be like living in an old.
Terry: 1950s hospital that they converted. And, um, and then we designed a new facility for them that had a couple of different neighborhoods. Uh, it had a main kitchen kind of in the center, but the dining spaces were split up into these two little neighborhoods. So it, it actually kind of gave them. even their own little identity.
Terry: It wasn't even just part of a big conglomeration of people. They had each had their own neighborhoods with their own little dining areas. And the transformation was incredible. I mean, they have a waiting list. I don't even know how long the waiting list now is to get into that facility because it's just so much, so much better.
Terry: So you take the, you take the incredible staff that they already had and you put them in an incredible building and you've got, you've got two big old, you've got the recipe for the rest of the thing. But it's, yeah, it's the flexible spaces, it's again, places that may remind you of home or again, some of your favorite activities.
Terry: There are places that, uh, again, if it's, if we're talking about independent living and maybe even assisted, they may have some paddle balls. They might have someplace, might have a pool. We haven't done any with swimming pools, but some places have them. Yes. Some places have those. Absolutely. Um, and so it's, it's really just, again, just.
Terry: Where would you like to live? Yeah, absolutely. And I like what you mentioned
Skyler: about the, the communities and like even within the same facility, multiple communities, um, different dining options, which is really nice. I'm sure is kind of an aspect to it as well. Kind of almost feels like, uh, I've gone on a couple of cruise ships in the past and that's kind of, kind of feels similar.
Skyler: You've got your different, um, sort of dormitory areas or whatever the case, different dining options, you know, but everything's all connected. Right,
Terry: because that's the other key, um, the, it has to be, we want it to be home like and relaxing and stimulating for the residents, but it has to be, the reality is it has to be staffed as well.
Terry: And staffing is, is a terrible situation right now for, uh, senior living, uh, communities. It's just, it's just so hard to find staff. My daughter was a CNA, she got her certification while she was still in high school and so she worked some. At an assisted living facility, um, during the summers and they were constantly looking for people to fill in, to, to staff.
Terry: Uh, they were running ragged at times just because. They just couldn't find the qualified staff. And so you have to design these, these facilities with that in the back of your mind also. You know, that's the part that the public doesn't see is how do we, how do we make these designs efficient in such a way that the staff can efficiently function and take care of those residents, uh, with the least amount of staff.
Skyler: Right. Possible. So, I mean, I guess the follow up question to that is, I mean, how can we do that? What strategies do we have in place when it comes to designing these facilities to sort of maximize the, the staff that they have?
Terry: Yeah. And the, the community, the separate neighborhood concepts can, can help kind of localize some staff.
Terry: It's like the staff. Uh, kind of stays over here and the staff kind of stays over here, but they can help each other out. They've, they're all using technology. Now, um, you see pretty much all of them going around with a walkie talkie type, uh, communication systems, uh, with, with maybe even an earpiece so that they can help each other out when needed and you don't want to get too many neighborhoods to where then, then you have too many people.
Terry: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Too many people. So it's kind of a balance.
Skyler: Yes.
Terry: Uh, so it's, it's really a combination of. Of the design of the facility. And again, we, we want to avoid that. Like I said, kind of the spoke shape and the T shape, the old, the old shapes we used to use, but again, there are some, there's some benefit to having some of the, the core, uh, areas in the core and then, and, and have staff.
Terry: Work out from those areas. So right, right. We don't want to
Skyler: create competition between the two, you know, communities or however many communities you have, like they bring them, have a, have a point where they can come together and kind of socialize between everybody for sure. So awesome. So we're talking about kind of staff and, uh, kind of the difficulty there with like, you know, Designing the space so that it, it maximizes the staff.
Skyler: What about, uh, for the situation with, uh, individuals with like medical needs and things along those lines, uh, when it comes to these communities and having either the resources or other necessities, therefore, Those that have maybe some of those varying medical needs.
Terry: Yeah, and you'll hear the term aging in place or continuum of care, which again is, you know, allowing that person to, as they age and if their physical condition worsens, that they can stay in the same community.
Terry: So it may be, there may be some independent living there, there may be some assisted living. And then there may be some nursing, skilled care, memory care, and that allows all on the same campus. So, so that they're not leaving their friends necessarily, they're not leaving a place that they're familiar with.
Terry: So that's one of them. And then, I mean, the, the facility, the communities use, uh, What they call global deterioration scale to kind of determine what level of care a resident might need. And there's some tipping points between, you know, when someone should be in assisted living and when that's someone that actually really needs more of the heavier care in the nursing, you know, nursing home type facility.
Terry: So that's always under, under review. And obviously they have, they have to meet certain state standards as far as nurses on staff, CNAs, all those types of things. So that, that they need to maintain. There are some facilities that are incorporating more clinic, almost a little mini health clinic. Uh, in a way, which I think is a great idea.
Terry: Uh, again, it, it would take staffing. And if you could partner with a hospital, local hospital, maybe
Skyler: sure.
Terry: Um, that could really. Could really help. Actually, we're doing a project right now that is incorporating a dialysis unit.
Skyler: I've heard about this. So this is really interesting to me too.
Terry: So instead of someone three days a week, having to load on to a transportation, drive to a dialysis facility or hospital, spend the day there, get back on the transportation back to the community.
Terry: And you know, this. You know, they're going to be able to do this right there, right where they live. And what a, what a fantastic idea that is, you know, to avoid the hassle of that. You save staff time with all the transportation needs and that hassle. So I think it's, it's really thinking outside of the box.
Terry: Uh, as again, it's constantly evolving, so we're trying to come up with solutions like that all the time that can help improve their quality of life and save staff efficiency, really make that a positive experience.
Skyler: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I remember the first time I heard about this, which was actually probably a couple of weeks ago, this project that we're working on with the dialysis clinic.
Skyler: And my wife had recently worked at a job at a dialysis clinic. You know, some of the challenges that she saw when working at the facility she worked at. Think of the idea of being able to integrate a dialysis clinic at the actual senior living community. And just like you said, I mean, this is an all day affair for people that have to go through this treatment.
Skyler: They can be there for upwards of, you know, 4 hours to 8 hours, you know, of a day when they're getting, going through the, the whole process and to be able to do that from the place that you're familiar with, from the place that you're comfortable at, uh, from the place where your friends are. I was going to say,
Terry: even your friends can come see you while you're sitting there.
Terry: Exactly.
Skyler: Exactly. So that honestly blew my mind. I mean, that's a phenomenal idea for sure to really just integrate their needs into your community and be able to help them, um, in the best way possible. Right. For sure. Right. So
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Skyler: Awesome. What about spaces? Okay, so we kind of mentioned this before, but what sort of spaces are we looking at or kind of, um, what people are looking for in today's kind of senior living communities? Uh, when it comes to like social spaces or activity spaces, you mentioned the multi purpose spaces before.
Skyler: Do we, do we have a lot of those? Do we tend to lean more towards multi purpose or do we like to lean into the idea of like, this is a space specifically for this because we know that either it's something people are looking for or statistically, um, it's, it's more beneficial for people living within the senior living community.
Skyler: Like what's kind of the direction there?
Terry: I think it's, it kind of has to be both. Sure. Yeah. There's, we have to have a little variety of both. There are some, some areas that, uh, just really have to be. Specific to their need, obviously, I mean, this is a, an obvious one, but you know, the beauty parlor, obviously, you know, you're going to, that's, you're going to get your hair done there.
Terry: That's not much else. Not much. You're not going to play pickleball. No. Yeah. You
Skyler: can't do that on Wednesdays or something like that. Right. Can't really swap that out. No.
Terry: Um, or we can play basketball maybe. Maybe. Yeah. Hard floor. Yeah. But, um, the, yeah, I would say it's, it's a combination of both. And again, It comes down to staffing as well, and that's where the multi purpose rooms, um, really come in as well too, because you can change the function, you're not having staff spread out all over the facility in different rooms, um, and then it becomes a scheduling thing more than, than a, uh,
Skyler: So does it usually become kind of like, okay, we have like a gym, right?
Skyler: And that gym is used for a multitude of different, you know, sort of more physical activities. And then we have maybe a room that's a little bit more for like viewings and watchings. Like we could put a movie or a show or something like that on here. Like, is that kind of usually the direction that it tends to go?
Terry: We've had, well, I'll think of the facility I mentioned before. It had, the dining area was, was mainly. Mainly for dining, but it could be used for, since it already had tables and chairs, could be used for cards and, um, and more of the activities specific to that neighborhood. But there was a larger space in that core area where all the residents could fit, uh, that for a movie night or chapel, um, they actually had a, a curtain pulled across the front of it, uh, with a little, um, altar and, and behind it.
Terry: So on Sundays they could open it up and they could have, they could have a church service there. So. So it's kind of a combination of, of larger spaces, smaller spaces, and even some, again, some spaces that could be maybe a little private dining room. You could use it for that. Or you could use it for family meeting, a meeting with your, with your family and your resident.
Terry: And it's, it's going to save time. The construction cost also because we're getting more use out of the same space.
Skyler: Absolutely. Absolutely. And then, like you said, it's just kind of, they usually, I know a lot of facility or, um, a lot of communities typically they'll have somebody on hand that kind of does the event planning and scheduling to make sure that things are being used and also, Not being overbooked or whatever the case.
Skyler: So that's always, you know, helps me. Activities,
Terry: directors. Yeah, yeah,
Skyler: yeah, exactly. So, uh, and I know Lee would probably be upset if I didn't mention this, but I know, uh, we've talked a lot about the importance of sort of this biophilic design and incorporating sort of these natural elements into. anything that we design, whether it be classrooms or whether it be, you know, just any kind of, of project that we're doing.
Skyler: If there are people there, which typically that's what we're designing spaces for, um, how are we incorporating sort of these scientifically proven to be beneficial, you know, aspects? And so when it comes to senior living, what kind of stuff are we looking for? What kind of stuff are we, are we implementing?
Terry: Yeah. Biophilia is not just for. All right. K 12 schools. No, absolutely not. It's
Skyler: healthy for everybody. Shout
Terry: out to Lee. Yes. Yes.
Skyler: He's always on me
Terry: about that. Yes. If you think about what sort of spaces do you as a person enjoy, I mean, that's what we're after. It's the, it's natural sunlight. Um, it's, uh, natural materials.
Terry: Uh, some places have actual living objects. Walls where the you know, the wall surface is covered with actually living plants. Oh wow. Okay, and you can also Do some of that with very realistic photos now. There's Lights fixtures that can have images of the sky Really printed on them. And so as the light comes through it looks like you're looking up to the sky You know, at the sky.
Terry: Uh, I'm, I'm a big believer in natural sunlight and windows as much as possible. Um, I just don't think there's any, uh, substitution for that. Water features are tough, um, in healthcare facilities, uh, just because of the. Infection control type of situation. There's something very, you know, very relaxing about running water.
Terry: And, but maybe we have to do it electronically. Okay. You know, there's a lot of things that we can do. The soundtracks are so realistic anymore with, you know, maybe a little babbling brook or birds chirping, you know, there's, there's things like that. We can incorporate into spaces again, just to help that, uh, that natural feeling.
Terry: And then we also. Really are trying to incorporate with the advent of the led lights, uh, we can do what's called circadian lighting. Okay. Tell me about that. I've never heard of that. Color tuning. So our bodies operate on circadian rhythms. You know, when the sun gets up, comes up, we wake up and, you know, we're active during the day when the sun is higher in the sky.
Terry: And then when the sun goes back down, um, you know, we start to get tired and, and we, our bodies said, okay, it's time for rest. And so if you can't. Get natural daylight into all of these spaces. You can still tune the led lighting to match the time of day so that in the morning, in the evening, the color temperature, uh, is actually going to be a warmer color, uh, kind of as you just think of sunrises and sunsets and, and then it's a, a brighter color during the day.
Terry: It keeps that body, you know, subconsciously they're not aware of it, but It, it keeps their body on that natural rhythm as opposed to if they were in a, in a windowless room with just the same lighting level all day long, their body gets confused and. They don't know what time it is and especially as you age, then that there's even more chance, um, for the brain to get mixed up on the time of day.
Terry: So, uh, there's, there's still studies going on. Uh, if you hear people talking about sundowning, uh, that people get agitated, When the sun goes down or, you know, towards the evening, what effect this, um, color tuning can do if, if we maintain kind of more of that circadian lighting during the day, whether that can help alleviate some of that stress, some of it they think is maybe, uh, associated with just the activities that people have been used to doing their whole lives.
Terry: And, you know, suddenly, you know, Changed when you, when you've moved to a different facility and they've even experimented with bringing in someone's in a desk that looks familiar to one they used when they were working in a newspaper and, um, into a memory care unit. And the person sat down at the desk and they looked at the paper and then they said, okay, it's time to go home.
Terry: And they, they went to bed and they, then they slept better. They didn't have this, that's agitation. So there's a lot of. Experimentation going on, but I really think the lighting level has a lot to do with it. Yeah,
Skyler: whether
Terry: it's natural or artificial that There's a lot of things we can do to again improve that quality of life.
Skyler: Absolutely. Absolutely, and I'll be able to take Circadian lighting over to Lee now and there you go. See how he what he knows about that. Maybe I'll quiz him at this point There we go So I'm excited to get some new information on that so when it comes to Good the generations. We know that, you know, each generation tends to have, um, different sort of attributes to it, different likes, dislikes, um, so on and so forth.
Skyler: How are we designing to sort of accommodate future generations who will eventually move into these, um, you know, assisted living communities, senior living communities, and obviously they're going to come in with, with different kinds of needs and wants. How are we kind of like getting ahead on that?
Terry: It actually kind of works out.
Terry: All right. Because if we design it for. Let's say the, the children of the adults that are going in to the facilities, right. To the communities now, you know, we want it to look good to the, to the children. And if we design it to the things that they're, that the children like, they're more likely to say, Hey, this looks like a good place for mom or dad.
Terry: And, um, and they're more likely to have them live there. And then you've already designed it to the things that they like when the kids get older.
Skyler: That's true.
Terry: So it's, it's really, yeah, I think you need to look back. Even to earlier generations and just, I mean, again, historically, senior living facilities stay around for decades before they're updated or replaced.
Terry: And so we really need to look. A couple of generations back and think, you know, what's important to this generation and try to, you know, look into the future a little bit and think about what might be important to them. Uh, technology is, is huge. I think we've just got to make them as technology as technologically flexible as possible, because that's obviously going to continually change.
Skyler: Yeah. Yeah. And you, you might not be as familiar, you know, if I'm going into this facility and I'm used to this level of technology having been existing all through my life, right? Not the new technology. That's maybe coming out I'm gonna be a little bit intimidated going into a new place With new technology that I'm not used to that has everything's functioning on, you know I want to I want to feel again familiar and comfortable where where I'm at,
Terry: right?
Terry: But I would probably actually I think the next next one I design I'm gonna I'm going to use you as my, uh, as my consultant. Me? Yes. What did I do? No, cause you, you're the tech, you're the technological guru. So I'll think, okay, so Skylar, when you get up there, what, uh, you know, what sort of things do you like to do and what sorts of things would you like to have in the facility?
Terry: Because that's the reality. I mean, we, you, you have to, again, it's just, it's always flexibility. Yes.
Skyler: Well, I mean, if it was up to me, I'd probably just say that, uh, as a big board game fan, if you can get a nice space for board gaming in there, and then who knows, maybe I'll run a podcast straight out of the senior living community.
Skyler: There we go.
Terry: We could have a podcast room. That's right. And I'll have a nice
Skyler: podcast room for me and stuff like that, and I can talk about the goings on. Absolutely. Once I'm in there. That sounds great. I don't know what I'll title it, but I'll think about that. I've got a lot of, hopefully, I've got a lot of time before.
Skyler: So, um, so you mentioned technology obviously, and that's always ever changing. So what kind of, or what role does technology currently play in senior living design and how can it enhance the quality of life? Or, you know, what are we putting in there currently, whether it be there for, you know, kind of the aspect of, uh, comfort and convenience and things along those lines, but also safety.
Skyler: Um, which, uh, I wanted to make sure that we mentioned as
Terry: well. Yeah, absolutely. The, again, I think technology over the years, it's, it's changed from, I'll say it like it really was security. I mean, basically it was an alarm on a door to make sure you didn't have somebody wandering out into the street. That shouldn't be that's kind of how it started, um, to again, that communication device between staff members, right.
Terry: That I talked about, uh, to now we are, it's, uh, wearable electronics for the residents. Uh, again, even something like an Apple watch, uh, but, um, it can be, uh, technology integrated into furniture, into clothing, um, that can keep track of that person. And again, Um, keeping them safe, again, alerting staff, if someone has gotten up that, you know, maybe is not stable on their feet, um, or again, it's, it helps with the staffing again, too.
Terry: You can, you can cover a little more with, with fewer people if you're able to monitor some, some of your higher risk residents in a way, again, that, that keeps them safe. It's just, you, yeah, safety is just. is huge. And I think, I guess I forgot to mention that when we were talking about circadian lighting and the biophilia, the, you know, as, as an older person, as a person ages, their, their eye lens starts to yellow and they don't see colors as well.
Terry: Um, some of the colors start to, to blend together. And so our interior designers are very specific on, on the colors that they use and, uh, making sure there's enough contrast so that people don't, you know, Trip over things in that they have clear paths to where they want to go. And if you just imagine yourself going through life wearing sunglasses inside, basically, I think was the, it's one of the easier ways to do it.
Terry: Or I've had people even say that have just to get the feel for it, they will actually put some Vaseline on their glasses just to kind of simulate how an older person may be viewing the world. And so that. If you think if think about how people navigate that way that safety aspect becomes huge. Oh, absolutely and even if there's let's say we're independent living and There's someone that's getting closer to needing assisted living and you put something on there Um, stove that automatically shuts it off after, you know, a certain amount of time or, or even, um, doesn't even allow it to turn on if that's, you know, if there's a concern, if that's a concern.
Terry: Yeah, I mean, there's, there's a lot of things that we can do with technology now that, that helps them stay safer, monitor their vital signs, which is also important. Absolutely. Um, if something happens, you got to react fast. Somebody's, um, yeah, somebody's. Blood pressure is really going up or really dropping, you know, then the staff can be alerted right away.
Terry: So that's, and it's all, and it's very, uh, less obtrusive now also than it used to be, as things are getting smaller and definitely more discreet. So yes, that's, that's kind of the exciting thing about it is, is you've got the advantages, all the advantages of it and save some staff and.
Skyler: Absolutely. I've actually, uh, I saw recently and maybe this is something I can pitch your way for, you know, the next facility or, or whatever the case, I don't know how it would work into that as much, but I have seen that someone came out with a whole, it's a full like body suit that you'd have to wear with the idea that.
Skyler: Um, it has a gyroscope inside of it and so if you were to fall it activates and it's basically just a giant, um, airbag like you'd have in your car. And so these little, these little cushioned air, you know, pillows almost sort of just pop out of it once it starts to recognize that you are leaning towards falling.
Skyler: And then helps to kind of soften that fall so that you don't, you know, break bones or cause bruising or injuring or whatever the case. That's, yeah. Or at least help mitigate that a little bit. That's
Terry: yeah, that's something we really need because those. Broken bones are,
Skyler: yes,
Terry: are very common.
Skyler: Yes, and, and obviously a lot harder to recover from at that age.
Skyler: Yes, exactly. Awesome. Well, that's everything that I've got off my list. I don't know if there was anything that I forgot to mention that you had, um, from your end.
Terry: No, I think, I think we really covered it. It's just, it's, it's ever changing. Um, again, nursing homes stayed the same for decades. Sure. You know, since the nineties, probably it really has taken off and, uh, with new technology and new thought processes.
Terry: And again, even what people expect, uh, when, as they age and what, what sorts of activities they want to do, uh, it's, it's really. continually changing and it's exciting. Um, it's, they are some, there are some really nice places, uh, being designed and built. And, um, it's, it's exciting to think that for me, that my grandma could have, you know, you know, would be in a place like that now instead of, Where she was back then.
Terry: So
Skyler: absolutely it's definitely great to be able to be a part of you know Sort of that development and that change Um for the better right, which is great And I know you gave me that magazine to kind of look through um all about kind of senior living design that kind of had just some some cool highlights for Some facilities and of course I've seen the facility or pictures of the communities that we worked on and it is really cool.
Skyler: It's really incredible to see just just how beautiful they are. Um, or at least can be for sure and just the diversity within Activities and just all the different things that you know They can integrate into these communities to help better the lives of of those that are living there
Terry: And that's really what it's all about.
Terry: Absolutely just making You You know, life better at that stage of life, you know, make it as, as good as it can be.
Skyler: Absolutely. Enjoyable. Not just sustained. Yeah, exactly. But enjoyable. So, awesome. Well, thank you so much, Terry, for being on the show and talking to me about, um, senior living. I know it's a huge, huge, uh, overarching topic.
Skyler: You know, I'm sure we could Take one community that we've designed and probably talk for, for hours on it. And so this is definitely kind of a nice overview of, of things across the board, which is really great to have. Um, I'm sure, you know, we can definitely do part two and part two, three and so on and so forth going into, you know, memory care and going into the assisted living and everything like that.
Skyler: So,
Terry: right. That's more overview today, but,
Skyler: but in the future. So that's right. That's fantastic. Thank you again. Always, always a pleasure. Absolutely. It's always good to have you. It's always good to have you. I think this is
Terry: number three now, I think, for me. Oh,
Skyler: awesome. Well, three out of who knows how many in the future.
Skyler: That's right. Many more to come. Many more to come. So awesome. Well, thank you again. And of course, thank you for listening. Uh, this has been another episode of the Langdon Foundation podcast. I'm your host, Skylar. And of course, if you would like to find out more about what we do at CMBA Architects, including the senior living communities, Terry has worked on as well as some of our other staff members.
Skyler: You can definitely check out our website at CMBAarchitects. com and see some of the pictures that we've posted there. And you can also check us out and see pictures on our social media, whether that be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. And of course, if you enjoyed today's episode, which I sure hope you did, be sure to check us out and follow us on whatever podcast streaming.
Skyler: platform that you prefer, whether that be Apple podcast, Spotify, uh, YouTube, even, or anywhere else, um, we'll be there. So once again, there's been another episode of laying the foundation. We'll see you guys next time.