Lifestyle Benefits of Retirement Community Living

At Concordia, we’ve learned in our 135+ years of working with seniors that the meaning of “independent” is unique to each individual. One thing that IS clear, however, is the fact that people want to remain independent as long as possible once they reach their golden years. And one way to help retain that independence is by moving to a retirement community that embraces “aging in place.”

Concordia embraces this “aging in place” model/lifestyle to serve as a benefit to help promote and retain independence for our residents. We believe that by helping those in our retirement communities stay safely independent for an extra two years, we can save them upwards of $100,000, from delaying the need for a higher level of care.

This is just one of the many lifestyle benefits of retirement community living. Here are a few more to consider.

1) Freedom to Discover New Interests: Since retirement living residents don’t have the burdens of maintaining a house, retirement community living actually gives them MORE freedom in many ways. Retirement living residents have more time and opportunity to pursue activities based entirely on their own interests and preferences. Oftentimes, shortly after moving in, residents discover new interests or talents they never knew they had – simply because they now have the freedom to pursue them. There have been many retirement living residents at Concordia who, for the first time in their 70s and 80s, became published authors, accomplished painters, performers, woodworkers and more.

2) Freedom to Explore: Many retirees love to A) travel and B) stay connected to their local community, and retirement living promotes both of those lifestyles. When you live in your house, travelling can be difficult, because of the arrangements that need to be made beforehand. Retirement communities like Concordia’s help eliminate most, if not all, of those stressors. Our residents simply give us a heads up about when they’re traveling and leave the details to our building coordinators. In terms of staying connected to the local area, a good retirement community offers many opportunities each month for trips and outings to local restaurants, shops, cultural opportunities and more.

3) Freedom to Worry Less: The whole point of retirement living is to live a lifestyle that is as close to worry-free as possible. Some of the obvious benefits that go along with that are not worrying about home maintenance, shoveling snow, raking leaves, cooking dinner every night, driving in the snow, managing utility/property tax bills, etc. A few things you may not think about when considering the worry-free lifestyle benefits of retirement living include insurance consultation, emergency response system, tax assistance, concierge services, availability of additional care on the same campus and more.

These are just a few of the things to consider when looking at the lifestyle benefits of retirement community living. Much more will be covered in our upcoming free event.

On February 16 – 17, Concordia will host a seminar titled “Lifestyle Advantages to Retirement Community Living,” led by Concordia Director of Retirement Living Connor Hagey, Admissions Coordinator Peggy Trettel and Life Transition Counselor Cathy Questiaux.

The events, which are open to the community, will be held at 10 a.m. both days at Concordia at Rebecca Residence (click here for directions). There will also be an update on the construction of Highpointe at Rebecca, a Concordia retirement community set to open later this year. Valet parking and refreshments will be available. To register, call 724-444-1521 or e-mail us at RebeccaRetirement@ConcordiaLM.org by February 9. Click here to learn more about the event and register online.