Recently, Steve Langerud, Mayflower Community Executive Director, was the guest speaker at the Grinnell Lions Club regular weekly luncheon meeting.
Steve explained that Mayflower Community is a life plan community where people make a choice to be in community with people they will live with for the rest of their lives. Other such communities offer different levels of care and focus on wellness. He reported that issues currently facing Mayflower Community include sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.
Steve further stated that a main challenge facing senior living communities is on fact that every three seconds, a person in the United States is diagnosed with dementia. He discussed how this will fundamentally change the retirement community industry and should be a convening point for education, awareness, and training. Steve noted that currently every Mayflower staff member is being trained in core issues involving dementia. A second major challenge is that the classic model where people sell their homes to move to a community like Mayflower and are sustained by retirement funds will probably not fit the next generation. Many young people today do not intend to purchase a home or plan to have a traditional retirement fund.
Steve emphasized the importance of Mayflower Community’s commitment to Grinnell as a part of economic development conversations. He also reported that some interesting future ideas within the senior living involve combining child care and senior care. Steve concluded by stressing the need for proper food, exercise, making strong connections with other people in a community such as Mayflower, and identifying and dealing directly with personal identity issues as people age.
