Sunrise Senior Living

I visited Sunrise Senior Living here in Charlotte and it was really amazing to see everything first hand. I say that because most people think of retirement homes as somewhere that means death or abandonment. Once you are admitted to one, your life was meant to end, but that's not true. I was able to see first hand how happy all the residents were there and how much the staff loved doing their jobs.

Sunrise was started by Paul and Terry Klaassen around 32 years ago and they wanted to project the image that a retirement home was a "true home". They bought a building, decorated everything themselves and then began their business. At first, they only cared for one or two people, but it eventually multiplied greatly. Sunrise is now national and has some international connections as well. Paul and Terry created Sunrise's values and principles, which each place still follows today. 

The Sunrise here in Charlotte can hold 95 residents and they cater to individuals, who need memory care, have physical disabilities, have had a stroke, just need a place to live for the time being or need care until it is time to go.  Before being admitted, each potential resident is assessed for the level of care they will need and then an individual service plan is determined. Once admitted, residents can bring their own furniture and even own a pet. The pets are usually cats or preferably small dogs. This particular Sunrise presently has a house cat and in the past they even had a resident dog, which everyone shared.  Residents have the ability to make the retirement home feel like a "true home", they have a plethora of activities they can participate in and they have the ability to socialize with new people. 

The activities at Sunrise are broken down into categories of "Mind, Body and Spirit." For example for "Mind", there is word games, Simon Says and trivia games. There's an abundance of different types of exercise activities, which are mostly done from chairs so that residents, who don't have the physical ability to do extraneous things can still participate. For "Spirit, there's hymn singing groups and entertainers will come in to play guitar or piano, while singing with the residents as well. Through all the activities, residents have the ability to easily maintain mind stimulation, discover new interests and people, stay active and stay involve in things that they like. 

Care managers at Sunrise are all certified nurses and enjoy working specifically with the elderly. All the staff members that are hired and volunteers even have to have a interest in caring for the elderly as well.  Each manager cares for a few specific residents, so that a relationship can be created with each other. They followed a philosophy called I.E.A (Invite, Engage and Assist), which they use with the residents. For example, they will invite the residents to do something, then engage them to peak their interest in it and then if assistance is needed then it is provided. 

When viewing Sunrise as a whole and realizing how much effort is put into everything, all you can be is appreciative because of all the work and people that are there to make sure you succeed as an elder. They want to help you keep on living and to have purpose. That's truly amazing.