ATTRACTING CAREGIVERS BY DESIGN
The open floor plan of the lobby at Anthology of King of Prussia is an inviting gathering space where residents, guests, and staff are encouraged to mingle. Photograph: Andrew Rugge / Copyright: Perkins Eastman
Trinity Woods Tulsa Community Life Center | Tulsa, OK
Part of a decade-long transformation of this 40-acre life plan community, the Community Life Center expands the community’s wellness offerings by focusing on spaces that foster social and intellectual wellness. The new building includes a new banquet hall for large resident gatherings and concerts as well as smaller connected banquet halls, ample pre-function space, a catering kitchen, and refreshment bar. The adjacent wellness hall supports a variety of small-scale gatherings and activities.
completed. It includes the Community Life Center, designed by EUA, which expands wellness offerings by focusing on spaces that foster social and intellectual health. A new state-of-the-art salon offers hair styling, manicures, pedicures, massage, and retail space. The vision for this upscale space was to serve residents and employees alike. “More and more communities are realizing what’s good for
residents is good for the staff,” says Dan Schindhelm, project manager and associate at EUA. “It feels like their community.” Worker input is sought before the design process begins. Em-
ployees are now often surveyed. It can be as simple as asking what colors they would prefer in the areas where they work. When EUA designs a community, for example, employees are offered a palette of paint choices. “We like to get their input,” says Schindhelm. “If you can’t stand the color of the wall, it will gnaw at you over time.” He adds that letting employees provide feedback can be very meaningful to them.
10 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 Belmont Village creates an informal feedback loop with line
employees. Company executives attend shift meetings, in-service training sessions, and visit with workers in the breakrooms seeking their opinions. Designers are naturally focused on resident apartments and the
building’s common areas. But owners and operators should lead the discussion about the importance of employee spaces, says Will at Belmont Village. A decade ago, it would not have been uncommon to kick off the
design process by only talking with the CEO, CFO, and develop- ment team, notes EUA’s Schindhelm. “We now push for team partners to be at the table,” he says. This includes the director of nursing, marketing team, CNAs, and others. Without their input, their insights will not be brought in at the beginning of the process where it really counts. Not only do employees get to have some say over the design, but the input process creates employee buy-in. They help to create the
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