6 BOOMER DESIGN STRATEGIES
Judy Schreiner, co-author of Building for Boomers, offers these seven design
strategies for building or renovating assisted living apartments to be more
appealing to boomers:
1 high ceilings. Give residents a greater feeling of openness and spaciousness, as
well as more space for storage and pictures.
2 Bay windows. Double the light in a room, making it feel “happier” and more
stylish, open, and spacious.
3 European-style showers. Offer a fully tiled area, with no tub or lip, and a
comfort-height seat that runs the full width of the shower on the narrow side to
give residents more flexibility and comfort.
4 Built-in cabinets. Eliminate the institutional feeling of medication carts. Instead,
provide attractive and easily accessible cabinets to store medications.
5 more storage space. Make anyplace there would normally be dead space in an
apartment into a cubby, shelf, or cabinet to store personal items or display pictures.
6 Pre-wired or wifi internet access. Seniors increasingly are online to keep in
touch with loved ones and to tap information resources they value. This demand
for connectivity will only increase.
BOOMER ATTITuDES
They believe “old age” begins at 80
Thanks to a “mental attitude,” they feel 15 years younger than they are
Source: Del Webb 2010 Baby Boomer Survey
More than 50 percent exercise regularly
72 percent plan to keep working in some capacity after retirement
Boomers turning 50 this year believe they need to save more money than older boomers
One-third have pursued additional educational opportunities
volunteerism is important to them
Cost of living and health-care access is more important than living
in a warm climate
More specifically, assisted living
has a market advantage in that boomers would “rather be dead than be in a
nursing home,” continues Dychtwald,
but despite industry attempts to brand
assisted living more under hospitality,
not health care, providers should be
aware that many boomers still do not
differentiate between an assisted living community and a skilled nursing
facility, she adds. On the other hand, 68
percent of boomers say they don’t want
to be a burden to their children when
they age—either financially or by having to move in with them—according
to the recent “Let’s Talk” survey, conducted by Age Wave/Harris Interactive
and funded by long-term care insurance
provider Genworth Financial.
Dychtwald isn’t suggesting a new
name for assisted living, but she does
advise providers to start changing
those stereotypes now. A good example
is the fitness industry which rebrand-
ed itself in public perception from fat
farms to health spas and now attracts
healthier, more active people. “There
has got to be a hook to let boomers
know that assisted living may be a so-
lution to their problem of not being a
burden on others or maintaining an ac-
tive lifestyle,” Dychtwald says. “I don’t
think the words ‘assisted living’ make
people think about an active lifestyle.
If somebody asked, ‘Do you want to
move to assisted living?” what pictures
would that conjure up? It wouldn’t be
tennis or an art class, but people on
walkers and some people with foggy
minds.”
Emphasize the benefits of assisted
living by using words and images of
people receiving assistance that gets
them involved in a more active and
productive lifestyle, Dychtwald recom-
mends. One strategy is to use public re-
lations strategies that encourage local
media to write stories about residents
who do extraordinary things, such as
the writer who is still publishing or the
community volunteer still making an
impact.
“There are fantastic examples
of men and women doing amazing
things in the second half of their lives,”
Dychtwald says. “Do they get to do that
on their own? No, they need some assistance, and the assisted living part is the
