McGregor is going further to make you feel right at home!
An organization that is leading the way among senior living communities, McGregor continues to create innovations and opportunities to live your best life and have choices with a goal in mind to keep you living as independenly as possible for as long as possible. Should the time come for more comprehensive care, it’s all right here for you on teh McGregor campus.
The pandemic has forced architects and planners of retirement communities, long-term care facilities, assisted living and nursing homes to rethink their designs, especially now that residents and their families are expecting safer, more flexible spaces. As the population ages, those expectations are only going to intensify. By 2030, all baby boomers — that’s about 73 million people — will be older than age 65, according to the United States Census Bureau. COVID-19 hasn’t just changed the way we socialize and work. It’s also influencing living spaces.
The COVID-19 crisis exposed deficiencies in technology infrastructure and connectivity, which left some residents of senior living communities or nursing homes isolated from the outside world during the height of the pandemic. Many were unable to see friends and family — even on screens — which exacerbated feelings of loneliness and isolation for long-term care residents. Those feelings have lingered even as some facilities allowed more interaction.
Studies have found that isolation and loneliness are associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, of stroke, and of death among heart failure patients. To make sure residents have quick and uninterrupted access to Zoom calls, telehealth visits and other online services, communities are increasing bandwidth and eliminating dead spots. This improved technological infrastructure has helped communities keep residents active and engaged, even during q
To make settings feel less institutional and more like home, designs are moving toward small “neighborhoods” of residents, in which 10 or 12 suites are clustered together to limit the number of staff and residents, as well as airflow, in shared spaces. Independent and assisted living communities may focus on smaller scale, decentralized common spaces instead of large common spaces shared by an entire building. This trend began several years ago with skilled nursing facilities and is now moving into assisted and independent living spaces given that it allows for better infection control and an increased feeling of community.
At the same time, multipurpose spaces are moving from the center or back of a complex to the front, so there’s more room for subdivided visitation spaces, and those can be insulated from other areas. 
Grab-n-go which were most popular during the pandemic meant that mealsnooks within smaller living spaces have been created to offer space for a bite to eat — something that wasn’t thought of before COVID, given group seating in community dining rooms.
Living spaces and how they function directly affect the health of older adults. A 2021 study by research firm Mathematica found that during the first part of the pandemic, nursing home residents were much more likely to experience depression, substantial weight loss, incontinence and cognitive decline — even if they hadn’t contracted the virus. Without direct social interaction, there’s a direct correlation on your health. In addition to prioritizing soothing color palettes, architects and designers are incorporating more lighting and natural materials to boost both mental and physical health — a relationship backed by research.
With wide open spaces, brighter hallways, areas that bring in daylight, McGregor has been leading the way! Facilities are creating outdoor areas that allow for distanced socializing and activities, and some even include heat lamps and other weather-mitigating amenities for four-season comfort. What we have today is much better than 20-years ago and as the industry grows to serve its customer, things will improve 10-years from now.
McGregor continues to expand it campus services by adding 54-new private affordable Independent Living units which will become available in the summer of 2023.
Stay tuned! https://mcgregoramasa.org/2022/04/28/senior-living-so-many-options/