Age, as the saying goes, is just a number. It’s something senior living communities try to reinforce on a daily basis. Local facilities go all out finding ways to keep their residents feeling young in body and in spirit, including happy hours, live entertainment, goat yoga, puppy weddings, pig roasts, casino nights, in-house cheerleading groups, harvest moon balls, Senior Olympics and all kinds of fitness classes. In many cases, the residents devise and plan the activities, sometimes even leading them. “A lot of our residents used to do these things before coming to live here, so it really allows them to feel like all they did was move,” says Jared Martz, director of community life and engagement at The Highlands of Wyomissing. “They’re still in their home, just in a new location.”
THE LUTHERAN HOME AT TOPTON
Traditions Come to Life
Its roots stretch back to the late 1800s, with a mission initially focusingon the opposite end of the life spectrum than its current modus operandi.
Founded as the Lutheran Orphans Home of Berks County, the Lutheran Home at Topton began accommodating older adults in the 1940s.
“Today we have around 460 total residents living on our campus,” says Melissa Kindall, senior director of corporate communications and marketing.
The Lutheran Home offers a range of lifestyle options and solutions, including independent living, personal care, memory care, short-term rehabilitation and traditional skilled nursing. A wide range of activities are offered for the different levels of care, with some offered for everybody.
One of its unique offerings, the traditional Christmas Putz, takes place in one of the retirement community’s other unique offerings, the Brandywine Community Library, nestled in the Old Main building on the community’s campus.
“For our senior living residents to have a library right on their campus is nice because there are a lot of presentations and opportunities,” Kindall says.
The Putz — based on the German word “putzen,” meaning “to decorate” — dates to the facility’s early years. Covering more than 500 square feet, the collection of antique holiday displays, which includes working trains, was assembled in the early 20th century by one of the Lutheran Home’s matrons. Among the nearly two dozen scenes are a replica of Radio City Music Hall, a circus and a church. The display was reassembled following a $7 million renovation project in 2017-2018.
Another high point of the year is Grandparents Day. The celebration marking the annual holiday in September features an antique car show and food trucks.
In November, independent living residents have a Harvest Moon Ball, where they dress up and dance to live music. A yearly survey reveals the residents’ favorite activities.
“We’ll make adjustments for things that are more popular, or maybe they have some new ideas like pickleball … everybody loves pickleball all of a sudden,” Kindall says. “And that has helped us discover some new day trips to take them off campus.”
Weekly and monthly events throughout the year include pub nights, bingo, exercise classes, singalongs, trivia and musical entertainment every other month.
“Our residents are very generous,” Kindall says. “They do storytelling in our skilled nursing unit, presentations for some of our other residents, so it’s a community that is very close to one another even if they are in different levels of care.”
The Lutheran Home at Topton | 1 Home Avenue, Topton | 610.682.1400
COUNTRY MEADOWS OF WYOMISSING
Sneaky Fun Exercising
A few years ago, Vi Schultz, director of fitness at Country Meadows of Wyomissing, sought a novel way to get the facility’s residents outside. Her solution was puppy love: a wedding featuring two pooches.
“If you add puppies, a pastor, doggie guests and a golf cart decorated with streamers and balloons, boom, you’ve got a reason for residents to get outside and do a procession, which means walking, which means exercise,” Schultz says. “And we got to celebrate afterward, so that was a win-win.”
One of 10 retirement communities throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland managed by Country Meadows, the Wyomissing campus houses more than 200 residents. That’s a lot of potential converts for Schultz.
“Some would say I’m sneaky with exercise, but I think you don’t really need to be sneaky if you make exercise and activities fun,” she says. “This past winter we got two baby goats from a local farm, dressed them up in Christmas pajamas and did yoga in the fitness center. It took a lot of tarp, a lot of hay, a lot of major cleaning when it was all said and done, but it was totally worth it to hear the giggles and see the smiles from both the residents and the staff.”
Country Meadows bases its programming on its residents’ wants and past experiences, allowing many of them to relive their glory days. A recent example was an International Dance Day celebration inspired by and featuring a resident who spent decades as a professional dancer.
Schultz, whose voice bursts with excitement when discussing her ideas, gets a distinct thrill out of introducing the residents to the latest technologies, such as virtual reality goggles. She calls it traveling around the world without the packing, even utilizing them in some of her fitness classes, making sessions on incumbent bikes exponentially more enjoyable.
“The residents were amazed with the way technology has evolved from their days to what we have available now,” she says. “I think it’s neat when a 98-year-old resident, who has been on this earth for nearly 10 decades, says to you, ‘I’ve never seen that before,’ or ‘I’ve never done that before.’ It feels like mission accomplished.”
Country Meadows of Wyomissing | 1800 Tulpehocken Rd., Wyomissing | 610.374.3122
THE HERITAGE AT GREEN HILLS
A Senior Live It Up Community
Its tagline says it all: Don’t just live, live it up here! Established in 2009, The Heritage at Green Hills bills itself as an atypical retirement community, with a young-at-heart outlook and an emphasis on wellness.
It accomplishes that through its Well by Design program, revolving around eight dimensions of wellness — intellectual, physical, vocational, emotional, spiritual, social, environmental and health services —which are incorporated into everything the facility does.
The programming and activities are selected by the residents with some assistance from the staff to assure each of the dimensions are being incorporated with a proper balance.
“When we do our programming, we show our residents which dimensions of wellness an activity involves so they stay well-balanced,” says Cheryl Anderson, director of the program. “It’s about body, mind, spirit.”
The nearly 80-acre complex in Shillington features independent living options with almost 200 apartments and a specialized senior care center featuring 50 personal care apartments and 20 memory care apartments.
There are upwards of a dozen things to do daily, with 85 percent of Heritage’s residents participating in some structured physical fitness activity.
“We really do live it up here,” says Ali Schratt, director of sales and marketing. “We are a community that is connected. We help each other through life, and I see this in our residents every day all day.”
Notable annual events include a trip to see the Philadelphia Phillies in the spring, a pig roast and casino night in the fall, and a train room open house during the holidays.
“When our residents moved in, they brought their trains,” Anderson says. “And our artists decorate the rooms. They work on it all year. And every year they add a new piece of Berks County to it. There is the Pagoda, the Pomeroy’s building, the old Fairgrounds racetrack is there.”
Arranged by the residents, this year’s Super Bowl party featured food, drink and an appearance by the Heritage’s in-house cheerleaders.
“We have a cheerleading group called the Heritage Hotties,” Schratt says. “Our residents who are a part of the group love it. Some have been introverts their whole lives and now, all of a sudden, they’re cheerleaders.”
The independent living cheerleaders also mentor the personal care iteration, the Care Center Cuties.
“Instead of just surviving, our residents are thriving,” Anderson says. “And they’re doing it on their own. We’re just here to support them.”
The Heritage at Green Hills | 200 Tranquility Lane, Shillington | 484.269.5100
COLUMBIA COTTAGE WYOMISSING
Very Much a Family
It’s right there in the name. Compared to other residential centers in the county, Columbia Cottage is on the smaller side. But its team considers that to be a benefit.
“We are very much a family,” says Noreen Krymski, managing director at the 41-apartment assisted living facility.
Located on State Hill Road, Columbia Cottage opened in the 1990s, switching to assisted living 14 years ago. It offers 10 levels of care, ranging from fully independent to fully dependent, including dementia residents who are not a safety risk to themselves or others.
“And everyone is intermixed,” Krymski says. “We don’t segregate our levels of care.”
Columbia Cottage offers its residents about four to six daily activities, starting first thing in the morning with exercise and current events. Other daily events include game time and movies with popcorn.
On the food and drink front, there is a weekly happy hour, and every other Friday from Memorial Day to Labor Day features a family-style barbecue.
Throughout the year, the facility brings in several live entertainers, as well as agencies that offer a variety of specialized programs such as bingo. With the Philadelphia teams competing for a championship in baseball and football last season, Columbia Cottage hosted World Series and Super Bowl parties.
Columbia Cottage’s resident council surveys each department throughout the year for suggestions for what they would like to see on the activities calendar or musicians they did or didn’t like.
Annual events include a staff appreciation party in August, resident and staff Christmas parties during December, and a series of events honoring National Assisted Living Week in September.
“It starts with Grandparents Day,” Krymski says, “and each day during that week we offer entertainers and specialized programs for the families, the residents and the staff to integrate what we’re doing.”
Columbia Cottage Wyomissing | 3121 State Hill Rd., Wyomissing | 610.927.0310 | columbiacottage.com
THE HIGHLANDS AT WYOMISSING
Change All Expectations
Sometimes, an active program for seniors is hiding inside a normally passive one. You just need to tweak it a bit.
Normally, if you’re going to watch a sporting event, you’re by yourself or sitting around with a group of people,” says Jared Martz, director of community life and engagement at The Highlands. “One time, when we broadcast a Phillies game in our Cultural Center, we brought in a local historian to come and talk about the history of baseball in Reading. Immediately following the presentation, we turned on the Phillies game and fed them ballpark food — hot dogs, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, all that fun stuff — and it was a great hit.”
Founded in the late 1980s, The Highlands has approximately 240 apartments, 60+ villas, a historic farmhouse used as a living unit and a barn that was renovated into three residential units.
The continuing care retirement community incorporates what it calls an Engage wellness program, dividing it into six dimensions — emotional, intellectual, physical, social, spiritual and nutritional — that are built into its programming.
“Our residents are involved in almost all the programming decision making,” Martz says. “Our activities committee has almost full control in the sense that they pick the bands that come in; they pick the topics they want to learn. It is fully run by them, and that gives our residents purpose.”
Martz sorts The Highlands’ offerings into three categories: general daytime programming, nighttime programming and the Summer Social Series.
Daytime programming mixes sociability with physical activity, along with educational enrichment opportunities.
“What you typically would think a typical senior exercise class is, we take that and kind of change all expectations,” Martz says. “We have PRX classes; we have high-interval classes; we have full-on cardiovascular classes, types of classes you would see on a gym’s schedule. And the residents love it. We have 90-year-olds, 100-year-olds even, hanging from PRXs, doing pushups, back rows, Zumba dancing.”
Nighttime programming is more formal, taking advantage of the facility’s abundant outdoor spaces. A recent program featured The Highlands’ president and CEO, Kevin DeAcosta, cooking a meal for residents.
The Summer Social Series runs from June through October, with one large themed social event each month.
The holiday season is also big. Every day from Black Friday through New Year’s Day includes something holiday-themed, including nondenominational programming, according to Martz.
But the most engaging programs tend to come from the residents themselves.
“They actually host two big programs they have full control over,” Martz says. “In May they did a Here Comes Summer program. They put together classic songs that all have the vibe of summer, and they choreographed them to amazing skits that got over 50 residents involved, so that was really engaging. The residents come out to support their fellow residents. No matter what the topic is, no matter what the program is, they come out.”
The Highlands at Wyomissing | 2000 Cambridge Avenue, Wyomissing | 610.775.2300 | thehighlands.org
PHOEBE BERKS
Incredibly Vital People
Among the many amenities on Phoebe Berks’ sprawling Wernersville campus is a pub, featuring a pool table room and dartboards. Happy hours there are very lively, a fact many folks find surprising, according to Donna Schudel, a member of Phoebe Ministries’ Marketing and Community Relations.
“It always cracks me up when people say to me, ‘What, your folks drink?’” she says. “And it’s like, what do you mean? Of course they do. They’re just people.”
Serving more than 550 seniors, the 66-acre continuous care retirement community is one of four operated by Phoebe Ministries. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with the United Church of Christ, Phoebe offers all-inclusive services ranging from independent living through end of life.
The campus includes a walking trail and an indoor swimming pool, the site of many of Phoebe’s 40-plus fitness classes each week. An outdoor boardwalk area – which includes a putting green and spaces to play bocce ball, shuffleboard and cornhole – is host to the Senior Olympics, one of Phoebe’s most-anticipated activities. The event is serious business, according to Schudel.
“I have been a judge at them and it’s a little scary,” she says, laughing. “Because they are very serious.”
Another popular fitness option is senior boxing, taught by one of Phoebe’s residents who boxed in the military. Residents leading fellow residents is a common occurrence at Phoebe.
“We have a woman in independent living who used to run her own dance studio,” Schudel says. “She has been teaching tap classes, seated and standing. They just did their first dance recital, which also included a whole quartet of pianists, because we have several incredible pianists, and the composer as well as our chorale.
“Our Phoebe Berks campus alone has 25 retired teachers, so we have folks who are super active and giving back and teaching their own classes. They have so much to give back to the community. These are incredibly vital people.”
The Berks campus, already the organization’s largest, is about to grow. In March, Phoebe purchased over 250 acres of its neighboring property, the former Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth in Lower Heidelberg Township. Schudel could not offer any timeline, with planning still in its early stages.
Phoebe Berks | 1 Reading Dr., Wernersville | 610.927.8200
