Pathway Senior Living , VIVA!, Fun and friends remain important throughout life

By Jean Murphy
Daily Herald Correspondent

Staying social and having fun are important at any age. What point is there to life if you can’t enjoy yourself, try new things, enjoy favorite pastimes and socialize with others?

Alexian Village, a supportive living community in Elk Grove Village, takes the social engagement of their residents
very seriously. The staff takes social outings and adventures to the highest level because they believe in programming
to their residents’ abilities, not to their disabilities.

“We want to expand what our residents can do, no matter their age,” said Andi Rothenberg, community life manager for Alexian Village, a Pathway Senior Living community.
For instance, staff recently took 11 residents horseback riding, including a blind woman who had never been on the back of a horse in her life. She was thrilled to have the experience, Rothenberg said.

One resident from each of the area Pathway Senior Living communities was likewise chosen to take a hot-air balloon ride — yet another exciting experience that most would not associate with a senior community.

“We encourage our residents to try a variety of things, both new experiences and treasured ones from the past. For
instance, we like to take our residents on an annual camping trip so they can relive the fun they had camping as a child, or as a parent, years ago,” Rothenberg said.

“Everyone who wants to go, gets to go, for either a day camp or overnight experience,” she said. “We use a camp
for disabled children in Bartlett where we can sleep in cabins and can enjoy a day and night in the woods. While there, residents can rowboat, hike, swim, fish, paint, do crafts, sing, throw horseshoes or baggos and even play cards and share songs and stories late into the night, if they wish.”
This year the campers fried the fish they caught, made pudgie pies, watched a fire spinner and participated
in a drum circle.

“These are the kinds of activities that help seniors stay well with their minds actively engaged,” Rothenberg said.
“We want them out of their rooms and involved, not sitting alone in their rooms, depressed.”

This year Alexian Village was honored by the International Council on Active Aging for an innovative program it held for the second time this fall — the gourd festival. It began last year as a simple fall festival. But the residents were so entranced and excited by the gourds, that they focused on gourds much of the growing season this year. In the spring
they planted the gourds and even had Alexian Village’s bus driver and a member of the maintenance staff build a gourd hut using PVC piping so that the vines would have something
to climb.

“Throughout the summer the residents were fascinated by the growth of the gourds, especially since several of them grew gourds in their younger days. We sang to the gourds, which the residents tell me is important, and we pollinated them by hand at night. We also had a local gourd group come out and teach us about gourds,” Rothenberg said. “It was such a fun and educational adventure all summer. Even
our residents’ family members got involved.”

The culmination was the gourd festival in September, which included a craft boutique with lots of gourd artists featured, a bake sale, food, a drumming circle, a dancer and a storyteller who used a shakeree made from a gourd.
“I have never seen so many people get so excited about anything,” Rothenberg said.

Alexian Village also offers many more constant and routine forms of socialization for residents, ranging from Happy Hours on Fridays to board games in a gathering place on
every floor to a welcoming committee for new residents, to craft classes, to a store manned by residents.

“We are dedicated here to living the VIVA! program, initiated by Pathway Senior Living. Viva means ‘long
live’ and through our activities, we try to address all dimensions of aging,” said Pat O’Connor, regional director of
sales and marketing.

“Research has shown that people decline cognitively in reaction to a perceived sense of loneliness and that conversation and socialization stimulates the synapses in the brain that prevent cognitive decline,” she said.

“So we offer diverse activities to stimulate our residents and to prevent that kind of deterioration,” added Carole Considine, executive director. “We have literally seen people come to life when they move here, simply because they have people to dine with, engage in activities with and spend qualitytime with.”

For more information about Alexian Village, located at 975 Martha St., Elk Grove Village, call (847) 437- 8070

*article was published in the Sunday, November 25. 2012 Senior Transitions section in the Daily Herald.