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Beyond the Retirement Home: Choices for Aging Gracefully
Remember when "putting Mom in a home" was the only option for aging family members? Those days are long gone! Today's seniors are redefining aging with choices that preserve independence while building meaningful community connections.
The premiere episode of Aging Well at Home explores this evolution in senior living options, particularly for those considering Southwest Florida as their retirement destination. Host Kevin Walters shares insights from his six years in the region, highlighting how aging at home has transformed from a potentially isolating experience to one filled with social opportunities, activities, and support services that maintain dignity and autonomy.
We dive into what makes independent living communities different from the nursing homes of yesteryear—from activity directors and organized events to amenities like swimming pools and pickleball courts. Kevin emphasizes the importance of finding "your people" whether you choose to remain in your own home or transition to a community setting. The Florida advantage comes to life as we discuss year-round outdoor activities, healthcare accessibility, and the unique snowbird culture that creates refreshing social dynamics for retirees.
Looking for guidance on your own aging journey? Future episodes promise practical checklists for relocating to Florida, healthcare considerations before making a move, ways to reinvigorate your retirement routine, and conversations with local experts. Subscribe now to join our community of listeners navigating this exciting chapter of life with confidence and purpose. Have questions or topic suggestions? Reach out to us directly—we're here to help you create the retirement experience you've always imagined!
Aging Well at Home Podcast
HomeWell Cares
Kevin Walters
13100 Westlinks Terrace Suite 13 Ft Myers, FL 33913
239-427-0416
Welcome to the Aging Well at Home podcast, where we talk about aging with grace in the comfort of your own home.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Aging Well at Home podcast, our premiere episode, and we have our host, Kevin Walters. Welcome.
Speaker 3:Welcome everybody. Thank you, cabo Jim. It's always a pleasure to talk with you and I look forward to talking with all of you out there, listening about Aging Well at Home and what we're aiming to do here. It'll be really exciting. I think it'll be a fast-moving podcast and hopefully you get something out of it and hopefully you get something out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, the whole idea came about. You know, I had Kevin on our Good Neighbor podcast and you know he's got a lot of good information to share with our listeners. So I said we need to do a podcast for yourself. So here we are, right, here we are, here we are. So let's talk a little bit about aging at home and what that consists of for our listeners that really aren't too familiar with it.
Speaker 3:So a lot of times, and having been in what I call the senior care area, we talk about aging at home and really focusing on even the aging well at home here, on even the aging well at home here.
Speaker 3:But when we're talking about aging in place, aging at home, aging well at home, it's really making sure that you know, from a safety perspective, keeping up with your house, how you know what's out there, what services are out there that can help you really from a financial perspective, making sure that you know you're financially set, that you've planned Living here in Southwest Florida especially, we have some unique circumstances, you know, and most importantly, I would say the biggest one is from a social aspect.
Speaker 3:So, understanding, you know, living here, living wherever you call home, if it is here in Florida, if you're listening from another place, another part of the country or from a different country, really it's about understanding what's local, what activities you could be doing. You know, as you've planned to get to this place in your life, where you're thinking about retiring, where you maybe are retired, or you're like me and you are still working and grinding, or you're like me and you are still working and grinding, but you want to find things to do, people to interact with. You know we're here to help on all aspects of aging well at home.
Speaker 2:So what do you find, as far as you know, when people get to that age and they're seeking out, or they need that care, what options other than being at home are available right now?
Speaker 3:You know there's a lot. You know it's a lot different as we have matured as a country, as we have matured in our own lifetimes, as far as what was available, you know, 20, 30, 40 years ago versus now. I mean there are a great deal of options available 20, 30, 40 years ago versus now. I mean there are a great deal of options. Obviously, people can be at home, but, hey, going out and about making sure that you have hobbies, you have friends, you go out to eat, you maybe play cards, pickleball is a big thing. It seems like that's everywhere.
Speaker 3:But if you're thinking about, hey, what are my other options as I continue to age and maybe I don't want to live in my home anymore, one of those options and I think it's a really good option is there are a lot of independent living communities around and what those bring are some tailored and you know, and I would say, custom, but also other activities that they can bring to bear. You have people that are residing with you in that lovely community that you've chosen, that really have some similar interests, all kinds of interests for men, women, whatever you want to do, whether you know you can continue your pickleball career, for example a lot of different hobbies and really just being with people that are more your people. I think it's key, wherever you're calling your home, having that community aspect of it. It's finding your people, and an independent living gives you that option to find people a little more easily. It usually has activity directors. They usually have good food. They have entertainment that's brought in live music. It sounds like a big party and sometimes, frankly, it is.
Speaker 2:And you get that option. I mean back when not that we're old, but when we were growing up. You know you would just put people in a home. That was the option. It was the only option. Staying at home wasn't an option for them. And then you were I don't want to say stuck, but you were kind of stuck with the people that were in that facility. Right, when you're at home, you have the option to choose your friends and your network and your community and interact with them in the comfort of your own home, correct?
Speaker 3:You really do and I think that's you know. That's key as you start to plan and you're thinking about you know your next step. You still can get all of the amenities A lot of places down here have. Those know, have those have pools, they have different you know activities and such around. Some of them have bocce ball. I mean there's all kinds of fun things to do. They're usually located nearby other attractions, beaches, etc.
Speaker 3:That really lend themselves to to activities and whether you drive or not, you know if, for some reason, you have something that's limiting you from driving, you know a lot of people have, you know, vision issues, for example. Well, you know a lot of these places have transportation for you and you have your standard. You know, hey, everybody can use Uber or Lyft and you have your standard. You know, hey, everybody can use Uber or Lyft, but you also have. You know that with some of those services provided, I always say, if you're looking at those opportunities to live in a community like that, ask more questions. Now, the other thing that I recommend with any of these communities taking a tour, don't be afraid to talk to people as you see them in the community. Get a feel for that community. If you see a lot of smiles, you see happier people, you see people around, those are usually telltale signs that maybe this is a fun community. Maybe I want to be a part of this and you can say this about any community that you want to live in. Let's say you're downsizing but you still want, maybe a single family home like experience A lot of people do attached villas or cluster homes.
Speaker 3:That's a very similar aspect to that independent living. They're almost hand in hand. A lot of the communities that are here have, you know, activity directors as well. So there's still that benefit of activity directors communities, maybe 55 and older, which does a lot of good for some people that are like, hey, I don't want the kids around for me, I have an 11 year old son. I wouldn't even dream of it.
Speaker 3:But, you know, a lot of times though, people are like, hey, can I have my grandkids visit? A lot of the communities you know welcome that because they are 55 and older and they don't mind to have a little injection of youth. You know, on occasion, a lot of those 55 and older communities you know also have golf courses, other amenities you know to think about too. Maybe they have live music as well. I think of a few in the area where you know we're at, between Gateway, estero, bonita, fort Myers Beach. This whole area has a plethora of those opportunities, whether it's you know, your communities that are 55 and older, whether it's your independent living. It's amazing what's out there. These things were not out there when we were younger, jim.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and it takes the onus off the children per se, because back you know, growing up again what happened the parents would move back in with you and you know, like you mentioned, they lose a little bit of sense of freedom and independence. Now they're, you know they're almost like the child, and you know their children are taking care of them. So they're losing that independence and freedom. But with this there's an option to have that freedom, have that you know community, but then have that support around them as well too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so, and it's about that family support them as well too. Yeah, I think so, and it's about that family support leaving doors open, people coming to visit everybody that moves down here, including me. I am a transplant. I've been here in Southwest Florida for about six years now. You know I had this thought idea that a lot of people would come visit, and I did have a lot of people that came to visit until this thing called COVID came. But even after that, actually I had people come and visit too. But you really have that thinking of hey, I'm going to bring people down. You kind of turn into a tour guide yourself. If you're living down here and you're active in the communities and exploring, there's always a restaurant to go to, there's always a beach to go to, there's shopping, you know, there's outdoor activities, especially during what we call season gym.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of opportunities here.
Speaker 3:There's two spring training facilities here for the Red Sox and the Twins, and even a non-fan of those teams. I enjoy going to those because it's beautiful, it's days are nice, they're sunny, there's no rain, it's gorgeous weather.
Speaker 2:And it's funny because you do with with the snow birds like that. The other side of it too is that you get a lot of sense of community and friendships. You build friendships. They come down here for the season and they stay and they meet and they become best friends. They go back up north for a couple months but then come back, but so you still have that network of people around you and support. And who who doesn't want to visit Florida, right?
Speaker 3:Exactly, I think, people that haven't been here. Give it a roll, give it a try and you'll enjoy it. You'll meet a lot of interesting and new people and I would say the vast majority of people that I have met local transplant are seasonals or snowbirds. It's they're. They're usually nice people. They just are down here to have fun and everybody you know taking that attitude really enjoys themselves. It's it's sunshine. You can see the sunshine through the window behind me. That's real sunshine here and it's in Florida and it's gorgeous down here.
Speaker 2:So that's our state, that's why we love it. So let's talk about you know, as we progress with this podcast, share with us our vision of you know, topics we're going to touch on and directions we're going to head into.
Speaker 3:You know, a lot of topics come to mind with this group, whether it's thinking about your planning for being down here to once you're down here, hey, what are my? What kind of activities? We're going to deep dive into some of these activities that we've kind of glossed over. We're also going to talk about more of you know kind of, if you do progress further and you do move down here maybe you've been down and retired for a while and you're like, hey, I need a change up in my life. I need to, you know, reinvigorate what we've been doing. Maybe something has changed in your life that has made, has had you arrive at this point where you're like, hey, I'm an explorer. Hey, I'm going to check out this Aging Well at Home podcast. Maybe they'll have some ideas. That's what we're here to do.
Speaker 3:I think it's going to be fantastic to hear from people, to see comments, to get ideas, but we also have so many ideas on our own here, jim, that I think it's going to be a lot of fun and it's really going to be not just like a travel show. It's going to be what it's like to live here. What are the challenges? You know, as I'm looking at health care before you move down here. We're going to have a little checklist that we'll go over as you're thinking about moving down here. Things to your considerations that will make moving down here even more smooth, because when I moved down here it was interesting. I luckily have, you know, some family down here that provided some level of guidance, but some people they just are making the leap, jim, so at some point you just do.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and this is all about educating people and providing them with that knowledge so they can make the right decision for them, their family and so forth. So I'm excited to see where this is going to take us and, you know, meeting the new people out there and sharing your stories with a lot of the people that are in these situations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the other thing is, we'll occasionally have guests that come on here to talk about what they do, share their perspectives. I think that's going to be fun, and you know so, it won't be just Jim and me. It'll be bringing in some local experts, some local knowledge, and I think the more the merrier. As far as that goes too, so it's going to be fun. We're going to have a good time doing it. Jim's a blast. I enjoy Jim's time, and we always have good conversation. We do not struggle to talk, neither he nor I, not at all.
Speaker 2:Not at all. We'll figure out something right Exactly, but no, I'm looking forward to speaking with other people too, and bringing them on and sharing their stories as well. So, like I said, I'm very excited about this. So I'm glad we've decided to do this and I look forward to future episodes. And if you would like to subscribe, just let us know and you know, or like our Facebook page, social medias, and we'll get you the link to all the shows.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and, like we said, we'll reach out. You can always call the number there below. You can text us and at that number too. And if you have ideas, just mention Aging Well at Home when you send a message to us and we'll be happy to hear what your ideas are. Not a shameless plug. If you do need help at home, that's what we're here to do too. So that's why the link to my, the phone number, is on there. The name of my company is Home Well Care Services here and we do service all of Lee and most of Lee and Collier counties. I should say so we're here to help you and we're here to listen and we're here to share.
Speaker 2:So it'll be fun. Absolutely, Kevin. It's been a pleasure. So until next time, we will see you soon.
Speaker 3:We'll see you soon. Thank you, Jim.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Aging Well at Home podcast and to learn more about HomeWell Care Services, please contact us at 239-427-0416.