Perhaps the use of the word “community” needs to be replaced with a term that is more inclusive and less exclusive.
I frequently write about senior living properties in the context of the broader local marketplace community they serve and market to. One of the big industry sins we live with, and know we live with, is that senior living properties (is this term bugging you yet?) largely operate, physically and figuratively, as little islands that have only occasional contact with the broader marketplace community. In some cases this happens because land is cheaper, or just plain available, on the outskirts of a marketplace community rather than in more densely populated urban centers. Occasionally, particularly with older senior properties, it happens because surrounding neighborhoods have deteriorated over time and they end up taking on a fortress mentality, resisting change of any kind. Finally, being a more or less self-contained island community that has frequent visitors and provides regular field trips off the island is just plain easier.
Community, Facility, Property
I am constantly searching for stories where senior living operators have been successful at integrating into their local marketplace. There are not as many of these stories as I would hope for, but they are becoming more prevalent. As I write these stories I am constantly struggling with how to clearly differentiate between “community” that means the “senior community” and “community” that means the marketplace in which those senior communities sit. Earlier today I was finishing the article “Festival of Trees” and fighting this battle once again. It got me thinking that there must be a better term for the senior living properties. You may think this is a trivial issue, but words matter. Each of us has attended a breakout presentation where the speaker hasn’t done such a good job of familiarizing themselves with our industry and, over and over again, uses the term “facility” instead of community. At least for me, I find it so distracting that I have a hard time absorbing the content of the presentation. I know that, when attending NIC, presenters always use the term seniors living (with the s at the end of seniors). There is no doubt this is more technically correct than senior living or senior housing, but somehow, it just doesn’t sit well, at least with my ear.
Beyond Community
The reason we somehow need to get beyond the term community is that it reinforces this island mentality, my senior community sits inside your broader community, which means I am more a member of the senior community than the marketplace community. It is a subtle but real us vs. them. The way we will become more successful, have deeper market penetration, is to become deeply involved in the local marketplace community . . . to be true members of that broader community. Over the last ten or fifteen years hospitals have done a really good job of doing this. They have all kinds of programs and initiatives that get themselves in to the marketplace community and the marketplace community inside the hospital for things other than needed medical care. Do you have any ideas for what would be a better term? Maybe we can start a movement?
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Hi Steve
Great topic.
I would recommend taking this conversation a step further. All settings, regardless of Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, Home Care, CCRC, Hospitals, Adult Day Care need to have the staff really look at all the words and phrases we have become accustomed to using with our customers because the staff no longer see the person but instead they see the illness or the disability first. We don’t hear our selvee any more.
We use words such as feeders, low functioning, diapers, bibs, etc. Instead of saying “Who is feeding the feeders, we should be saying privately, Mr. Jones needs assistance.” Each place of employment should form a committee (made up of the front line staff) and really look at words and phrases we are using. When looking for replacement words and phrases look at industry standards, best practices (Pioneer Network) but also what other countries (words and phrases ) use and begin to in-service our staff on replacement words and phrases – compassionate words and phrases, so that we can begin to redefine our vocabulatry. Our older population deserves this. Keep training the staff.
We are constantly evolving and this is an area long over due.
National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners
International Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners
Sandra Stimson CALA ADC AP-BC CADDCT CDP CDCM
Executive Director
Hello Steve,
This was a recent subject discussed in a non-profit animal assisted therapy organization (on which I am a board member and retired pet handler team). Flyers were produced to distribute at an activities professionals meeting as a means of sharing how we can help them incorporate animal assisted therapy into their elder homes. While I pushed back on their use of the word “facility”, we ended up using the term anyway as it was decided we will be using these flyers in many other places that might still use the term.
I still cringe, but I am glad you brought this up so that I may share again with the group and find another term to use.
Thanks,
Veronica Woldt, MA
Gerontologist, Business Eldercare Strategist
The same thing happens with the term “nursing home.” Year ago we started calling them “care centers” but no one knew what we meant. So I now say “care center/nursing home.” Not great, but it’s what we have, for now. In our building we use the words “community” and “tenants,” not facility or residents. Same for TCU vs rehab. The average consumer still calls it rehab. Some senior housing here are also getting away from “assisted living” and calling it “catered living.”
No wonder everyone is confused!
We made Facility “the F word” years ago. When new staff is hired they laugh when they hear that the “F” word is not allowed – then we give them the entire list of “dirty”words – It is all part of our sensitivity training. We call our homes – homes. “units” are neighborhoods. Residents are people, folks, friends, We promote a culture that says “we are family and friends” We ask our staff “do you live in a “unit”? do you eat in a “community room” do you “toilet” yourself? We are vigilant in promoting NORMAL.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the great, thought-provoking article. We too made “facility” the “”F word” here at Eliza Jennings some time ago, using “community” instead. Now your article will make us consider the implied meanings of that usage as well. While we are about it, let’s also reconsider the use of the word “senior.” since the people we serve really dislike that term even more than “older adult,” which is admittedly awful. (As a “senior” myself, the only time I like that term is when I’m at the movie ticket window.) Perhaps the real problem is that no one likes to be defined by reference to a single characteristic, especially one that with the amount of ageism in our society is perceived to be negative. We would be horrified to refer to a demented resident any longer, instead using person with dementia. One of the residents in our CCRC has challenged us to look at age much the same way, since beyond certain probable physical and possible mental changes, if you’ve seen one older adult, you’ve seen one older adult. There must be a way for us to find the words–or create new ones–to meet our need to define the group of people we serve without limiting or diminishing them in the process.
In 2009, the International Longevity Center-USA and LeadingAge California (formerly Aging Services of California) published a book entitled, “Media Takes: On Aging.” The book is a style guide for the journalism, entertainment and advertising industries. This report is an important step in overcoming ageist language and beliefs by providing media professionals with an appropriate body of knowledge, including a lexicon that helps redefine and navigate the word of aging. While terminology is important, the portrayal of older adults in the media and battle against ageism is greater. Does a focus on terminology help? Definitely. It raises our awareness of language that is inappropriate to use in story telling and work environments, helps us to avoid stereotypes and demeaning terms, brings understanding of the value and meaning that older people offer, and respects the individual. So, let’s toss out the “F” word and recognize that language is not stagnant. Perhaps this generation prefers senior or retiree, while the next generation may prefer some new word that’s not yet part of our lexicon.
The word description Facility has been banished from all my promotional materials, but community is being used. Community is a much warmer word than Facility. My marketing campaign still has to use the tag word Facility in order to rank higher in the SEO results. This is one of the ways the general public refers to the industry when searching online. So I / we are stuck with their choice of words for now…
I am relatively new to the A/L profession, but prefer “community” over “facility” and apartment over room. Will you please enlighten me with a list of the other “dirty” words?
Is this a bit like putting lipstick on a pig? If the substance of the institution is institutional then prospects will quickly perceive what it is in reality. Calling it a community is a softer word but increasingly people seem to be concluding that they should avoid senior living options until and unless they have a troubling debilitating condition. That restricts the market away from the much larger range of prospective residents who are still living actively and who might be lured by communal living in an independent living context if they can continue to have the same empowerment that they now enjoy as homeowners living in the larger community. If the industry can respond with substance to that opportunity then the name will take care of itself and the product will sell itself.
Residence
As an architect, we find ourselves confront with the “F” word all the time, as well as many staff using the term “patient” for folks in skilled care. I like the word “folks” because it seems down-to-earth and comfortable, but may also just be my central Illinois roots. I recently interviewed for a project, and emphasized the concept of bringing the “community” to the building(s) they wanted to develop. Our thinking is that when the development has amenities from which the greater community can benefit, more folks will come and know the place (think of the loyal McDonald’s crowds). If operated well, everyone will want to be there (instead of McDonald’s). This should lead to a waiting list, solid revenue, and ultimately a place for continued life “enrichment”. So, let’s not think about it as a retirement community (CCRC), but a place for continued life enrichment (PCLE).
I appreciate the post and the much-needed discussion about language and terminology. Facility is horrid and such an outdated term that I can’t believe anyone still uses it. However, I have no problem with the word community. Think about how it’s commonly used: the business community, the minority community, the university community, the Christian community, etc. It doesn’t necessarily mean everyone in one of those communities holds the same views. Nor does it mean they don’t value their participation in the greater “marketplace community.” In our context, neither does it mean senior living communities are change-averse fortresses. It simply refers to a group of people that have some kind of commonality among them.
I have far more concern about calling ours an industry. Can we please refer to it as a profession instead? Industry implies churning out a product for profit. We are part of a profession that takes care of people.
Yes languaging is key. Based on my qualitative research over several years, I have found that the term “senior” & “seniors” truly needs to be dropped completely, or reserved for the very very elderly. Yes we leading edge Boomers & Matures will gladly accept movie discounts etc, BUT we shun anything that smacks of “seniorizing” us. But I am stumped on how we get the govt and multiple nationwide communities, much less local “senior ctrs” to drop this terminology across the USA! No wonder Boomers want to age in place and go to the health club vs. Senior centers! Attendees at my OSHER classes as well as presentations for Boomer professionals all react the same way! Seniors? Across the board, in the US: Firget about it! Nope not for me! Thoughts?
Good afternoon y’all and thank you,
During a recent email communication with my colleagues on the NC Culture Change Coalition this very topic was voiced…the use of the word “Facility” is counterproductive, antiquated medical-model terminology, and should be cited as an IJ under F Tag 241! How do we initiate “Change”, well at the proverbial top, as this verbiage is in our general statue = Federal Government/CMS. We believe our, American Health Care Association (AHCA) may be championing this cause. So…who is willing to call The Honorable Mark Parkinson president and chief executive officer of the American Health Care Association? In NC we list 419 Licensed/Certified Skilled Nursing Facilities, how many are in your states? Perhaps if all 50 states were to partner with the AHCA and champion this cause, I’d bet we’d realize action sooner than later…I’ll spend the dime, make the call, who of y’all are with me? While y’all are contemplating how deep you want to dive, please visit http://www.musicandmemory.org
Mr. Van Bergstrom, MA, C.N.A, LNHA, ALA
Associate Executive Director LIFE (NC-PACE)
Saint Joseph of the Pines
4900 Raeford Road
Fayetteville, NC 28304
Office: (910) 429-7242
Fax: (910) 483-4930
[email protected]
http://www.ncpace.org
Thought-provoking article, Steve. I agree that as the senior living audience continues to grow and evolve, the terminology we use will have to change as well. Many of the terms have already become outdated, or have negative connotations attached to them, so we will need to be careful with the new terms we choose that they are both recognizable to future consumers, as well as inclusive to current consumers. Thank you for reminding us to be cognizant of the language we use!
It does astound me how many folks in our organization frequently use the “F” word. In discussions with potential residents and their families I lrefer to us an another “neighborhood” they will be moving to. From one house to another only here we do all the work!