Wish list for post-COVID senior housing

Other Side of 50


Andrea Gallagher, a certified senior advisor, is president of Senior Concerns, a nonprofit agency serving Ventura and western Los Angeles counties. For more information, visit seniorconcerns.org, and for comments or questions, email agallagher@seniorconcerns.org.

Andrea Gallagher, a certified senior advisor, is president of Senior Concerns, a nonprofit agency serving Ventura and western Los Angeles counties. For more information, visit seniorconcerns.org, and for comments or questions, email agallagher@seniorconcerns.org.

When asked, I tell friends that if I outlive my husband and have difficulty living independently, I want to move to an assisted-living facility.

I’m a person who thrives in the company of others, and a socially isolated life would be lonely and depressing for me.

However, that wish has given me pause since the pandemic has stretched out over a year. With an eye on COVID and social isolation, I’ve been thinking about features I would like to have available to me, should I make the move in later years.

Of course, at the top of the list of considerations is my ability to keep myself healthy should some communal or personal health crisis occur. I’d love to see my facility have an infirmary, a location to care for me if I were too ill to be alone in my apartment, but not ill enough to be hospitalized.

It’s my fervent hope that my facility would have taken all their learnings from the COVID crisis and put protocols in place to help ensure my safety and wellbeing. To that end, I would want PPElike disposable masks, gloves, antiseptic wipes and hand sanitizer available outside my apartment door in a cute discreet cabinet.

I would like my room to have built-in technology on a remarkably simple remote control hooked up to a smart screen that would allow me to have access to Zoom, Facetime with my loved ones, a telephone, intercom, room service and Netflix, or whatever the incarnation of streaming services look like in the future.

One lesson we have learned from COVID is that we need to make technology universal and accessible, especially to increase connections and prevent social isolation.

I like the idea of a community Zoom that offers programming through the day for those who have difficulty leaving their room. Sometimes our minds continue to function well, even as our bodies defy us, and if this were my situation, I’d want to keep my mind challenged.

I’d like varied food and dining options, too. For example, maybe there would be a video-streaming dining group for individuals who cannot leave their rooms, so that there is conversation and camaraderie with other residents. I think of those poor seniors that spent months having three meals a day delivered to their room to eat in silence.

I think it would be great to have a pantry located within the building that residents can order from, with either pick-up or have delivery to their room. Think of it like the hotel gift shop, a convenience that is available to any traveler that stays at a hotel. Why not one in residential living?

I think it would be important to have a mental health hotline staffed by outside social workers for anyone feeling sad, lonely, isolated or depressed.

Creating more inviting and usable outdoor space would be especially important to me. I love to be in nature because, as they say it “fills my cup.” Having some place to walk amongst trees, flowers and nature would be essential. Certainly, I would want more than a few benches or tables and chairs in a courtyard.

And since I plan to stay in Southern California, an outdoor visiting area would also be important.

It might be nice for the facility to offer gift kits that can be purchased by friends or family and delivered to my door. For example, a watercolor or container garden kit would provide me something to do and an ability to enjoy my lasting handiwork.

Our home should be our sanctuary.

We have learned much about our way of living during this past year. Just as office designs may change in the future, I hope there will be an emphasis by residential living planners to consider what many seniors missed most of all during COVID.