“Make the Move to Senior Living Before It’s Too Late”

For Dan and Nancy, the decision to move to a senior living community didn’t happen all at once. It came after simple tasks of everyday living grew more and more frustrating. Lawn care became a chore, grocery trips and meal planning took longer and their house started to feel too big to maintain.

“I think Nancy and I independently thought that many of our duties and tasks around the house were becoming burdensome,” Dan says. And Nancy, who has Parkinson’s, also found mobility to increasingly be an issue.

“We put in a chair lift, and that helped a good bit,” Dan says. “But it still left a lot of the house that she had to walk.”

Their daughter, Sheila, and her fiancé, Jeremy, also felt that her parents were starting to struggle with their living situation.

“We noticed the house was just too big,” Sheila says. “Mobility was becoming an issue. And the meals went from my mom’s really nice chicken dishes to a lot more eating out.”

Despite her concerns about bringing up senior living, when Sheila finally broached the idea of moving to a senior living community, her parents were already considering the possibility.

Making the move before it’s urgent

Once the family started discussing senior living, they quickly found themselves wondering when they should make the move. The advice Sheila heard repeatedly was simple: Do it before it becomes absolutely necessary.

“Make the move to senior living before it’s too late,” she says, “so that you can get in, get adjusted, make new friends, be a part of activities and feel a part of everything.”

An earlier transition means older adults can get the most out of the lifestyle and the wellness benefits of senior living communities, which often support a higher level of independence and quality of life.

It’s also possible that certain health conditions may require more care as time goes by. Senior living communities that offer independent living, assisted living and memory care can often accommodate future changes in the level of care required with minimal disruption to residents’ daily lives.

Finally, opting for an earlier move gives you time to do more research so that you can make an informed choice on the right community for you. Waiting until a move becomes urgent can limit the choices available to you.

All of these factors shaped Dan, Nancy and Sheila’s decision. Nancy wanted a place that felt comfortable and convenient. For Dan, an engineer by training, the practical details mattered: Would the furniture fit, would there be enough to do, would the transition feel right?

And Sheila wanted her parents to find a place where they’d have daily social interactions and feel at home in the community.

They toured several communities, with a checklist of priorities to ask about: good food, supportive staff, a convenient location and a comfortable living space.

After a thorough search, they found that Atria checked all their boxes.

“When we first walked into our apartment,” Nancy recalls, “Dan looked around – and it was very bright and had big windows – and he said, ‘I'll take it! Where do I sign?’”

Less stress

Some of the benefits of senior living were immediate and obvious: fewer daily tasks and less hassle.

Mealtimes, for example, require nothing from them except to show up and eat, with meal prep, cooking and washing dishes all handled by staff.

“There are three meals a day if you want,” Nancy says. “It’s so convenient. You can go to the dining room or just grab something.”

Dan finds that choosing from a menu crafted with senior nutritional needs in mind removes a layer of sometimes stressful daily decision-making.

“There’s no ‘What am I going to eat, how much does it cost?’” he says. “You just choose what appeals to you.”

Beyond dining, the practical benefits add up quickly. Maintenance requests are handled. Transportation is available. Even healthcare services, like physical, occupational and speech therapy, are located within the building – which is a big convenience for someone with Nancy’s mobility issues.

“All you have to do is push G in the elevator,” she says.

More time

Freed from so many daily obligations and enjoying built-in community support, Dan and Nancy have more time to focus on what they enjoy.

They tend to start their day with a leisurely breakfast in their apartment, reading the newspaper in their pajamas.

“We like to laze around,” as Nancy puts it.

The community provides them with the opportunity to spend their days doing whatever they happen to be in the mood for. Nancy often participates in water aerobics and a book club but is equally content spending time reading or relaxing at home.

Dan, on the other hand, has enthusiastically embraced a wide range of activities, including water aerobics, walks around the lake, genealogy and playing chess with a friend.

And then there’s scuba diving.

Dan has been diving with Sheila for 12 years, and sharing the experience helps to keep them feeling connected. Most of their dives have been at a local quarry that has been turned into an aquatic adventure park.

“Diving is very relaxing,” he says. “You’re buoyant. You’re floating. It’s more like flying than swimming.”

On dive days, their roles often shift, and Dan trusts Sheila to lead the way. “If that means carrying his gear,” Sheila says, “or helping him get ready, I’ll do anything to keep us diving together longer.”

The value of social connections

Dan and Nancy have found that perhaps the biggest benefit of moving to Atria has been making new friends and becoming part of the welcoming social life in their community.

“What’s interesting,” Dan says, “is that after moving in and living here for a while, all those things we looked at ahead of time are low on the list compared to one thing that we totally didn’t consider. And that is the sense of community here.”

The research agrees with them. Studies have long shown that socializing offers health benefits – especially for older adults, including reducing loneliness and depression and improving cognitive function.

Dan and Nancy note that a sense of community isn’t always something that can be adequately conveyed on a tour or in a brochure. But it quickly becomes apparent once you move in and meet your neighbors, with residents coming together for meals, walks, games and shopping trips.

“The residents somehow bond together,” Dan says. “If someone needs help, there’s always someone there. There’s no pill you take to be a good community person. It just happens.”

That sense of connection carries through in everyday interactions.

“Everyone’s very friendly and welcoming,” Nancy adds. “You run into people and just start talking.”

Their own experience inspired them to become Resident Ambassadors, helping those touring the community get a sense of what really makes Atria special while also helping new residents acclimate to their new home.

At Atria, the sense of community extends beyond residents to friends and family members as well. Sheila and Jeremy visit often, usually twice a week for dinner, and they’ve become part of the fabric of the community themselves.

“I can’t drag them out of the dining room,” Dan says. “There are so many people they want to talk to and who want to talk to them. Last week, one of them brought Sheila down to her apartment to show her some souvenirs from a place they’d both traveled to. So, they’re part of the community here, too.”

Sheila agrees that she and Jeremy always feel welcome.

“I don’t ever feel like I’m crashing the party or I’m not wanted,” she says.

It just feels right

What began as a practical decision for Dan and Nancy has turned into something much more meaningful. With fewer daily stresses and more opportunities to connect, their new home lets them focus on what brings them joy.

As Nancy says, “It just felt right.”