Most Shared: Senior Housing Crisis Looms, Future of Upscale Design is Here

Senior Housing News wrote them, you read them and passed them along to your friends and colleagues. Here are the most shared posts from SHN this week:

Harvard, AARP Say Seniors Housing is Next Big American Crisis – A shortage of caregivers for baby boomers, high cost of senior living products and services and lack of disability-equipped housing reveal a seniors housing crisis, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and the AARP Foundation.

Pizza Ovens, Wine Cellars and The Future of Luxury Senior Living Design – Wine cellars, wood-burning pizza ovens and other amenities once reserved for the hospitality industry are making their way into senior living communities, and designers are welcoming the opportunity to flex their creative muscles, says LuAnn Holec, principal of international, senior-centric design firm Thoma-Holec Design. Senior living communities are changing from traditional models to offer an upscale, home environment.

Newest Breakthrough in Fall Prevention: Tripping Seniors on Purpose – Researchers at a university in Chicago (UIC) are tackling fall injuries through a $1 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging. Going a different route than conventional exercise and classes to boost strength and balance, UIC researchers have developed a lab-built treadmill system that trips people unexpectedly in an effort to build subconscious learning that may help seniors better avoid serious injury risk resulting from falls. 

Brookdale, HCP Close $1.2 Billion CCRC Joint Venture – Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) and HCP, Inc. (NYSE: HCP) closed on their previously announced series of deals, which included the $1.2 billion formation of a joint venture to own and operate continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).

How Senior Living is Saving Big With LED Lighting – LED lighting is saving providers money in the long-term, they say, noting that LED lights outlast other types of lights and reduce energy consumption – making senior living campuses more environmentally-friendly as well. 

Written by Cassandra Dowell