Language makes a difference — what we call the people, places, and programs in the senior living industry paints a specific picture for residents and for the outside world. I know that Mather LifeWays is not the only organization in our industry that has made a conscious effort to rename certain areas, to reject terms that smack of institutionalism, and to address the real values and wishes of today’s older adults.
We’ve even been inspired to create new language, as when we transformed “retirement” into “Repriorment™” to explain a forward-thinking solution to the evolving lifestyle priorities and desires of today’s older adults.