A recent report published by Senior Housing News is causing senior living developers and operators to consider the value of senior housing/university partnerships. Inside the Future of University Partnerships in Senior Living is a comprehensive, 27-page, research-based report with the goal of educating senior living stakeholders on the benefits of such collaborations.
Cambridge Realty Capital Companies’ chairman Jeffrey Davis thinks the idea of senior living owners partnering with universities has a great deal of merit. “It’s a forward-thinking approach that has limitless potential for improving the lives of seniors on a variety of levels,” he comments. “It also demonstrates a sense of valuing seniors as a vital part of the community-at-large.”
Davis expects that senior living/university partnerships will become more commonplace as we move into the next decade. Best of all, such partnerships may take almost any form. “Perhaps in the future we’ll see culinary students and nutritionists-in-training providing dietary and food services in senior living facilities, getting hands-on training in a real-time environment. Maybe one day seniors will be sharing campuses with college dorms. There is so much to be gained on both sides of the equation.”
The report includes two case-studies involving existing university/senior living partnerships. One is The Admiral at the Lake in Chicago, a facility with multiple types of accommodations, including skilled nursing and memory support. The Admiral’s partner, the University of Chicago, had helped to make lifelong learning accessible to The Admiral’s residents. It offered its first university course in the fall of 2016 on site at the facility. It was the first of what both the residents and the university see as a continued offering of courses over the next several years.
Other university/senior living partnerships are bringing different services to the table. Nova Southeastern University of Florida’s healthcare and medical studies departments are working with Covenant Village of Florida to improve healthcare for all seniors.The Nova Clinic on the university’s campus provides a range of primary care services to Covenant’s residents.
The clinic is staffed by NSU’s Department of Geriatrics faculty as well as medical students. Covenant residents benefit from high-quality care by professionals who work specifically with senior adults. University students benefit from the direct learning they receive, and Covenant’s residents feel that they are contributing significantly to the training of tomorrow’s medical professionals.
Yet another partnership is striving to create solutions which will allow seniors to live independently later into life. This University of California at San Diego directive includes a partnership with technology giant IBM. The two entities have signed on to create the Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center at UCSD.
Their goal is to use already-existing artificial intelligence technology to identify signs of dementia and cognitive impairment much earlier than has been possible to date. Early identification allows for intervention before such conditions progress beyond the point where intervention techniques can be effective at delaying onset of full-blown dementia. The center will work with senior adults living in facilities in the San Diego to conduct its studies.
Inside the Future of University Partnerships in Senior Living is available for download at https://resources.seniorhousingnews.com/inside-the-future-of-university-partnerships-in-senior-living for $199.
