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Page 10AA — COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL — April 1-April 14, 2015
Senior Housing & Care
William J. Caruso, FFCSI, ISHC
Great food and beverage seems to be
on everyone’s minds these days – as
evidenced by our fixation with TV and
its Food Channel, not to mention the
endless stream of restaurant, fast food
and related
food indus-
try commer-
cials that
bombard
our senses
daily! This
trend is not
just teen or
30-some-
thing
centered.
One of the
largest and
influential
markets
that fuels
new food
trends is
the senior market. If you stop to think
about it, a new and vast array of health
food supplements, shakes, entrée items
and healthy twists on old standby foods
have entered the market and are aimed
at seniors and senior living.
We have spent many years planning
and designing senior living centers, and
over the past five to seven years have
seen a heightened demand for not only
high quality, nutritious foods but also
a growing demand for increased types
and styles of products that can be easily
produced and served in various service
modes (i.e., buffet style, pre-plated,
etc.). Add to this the requirement by
almost every senior center ownership
group to plan and design “the com-
mons” or food service areas of these
centers, as quality, upscale, hotel-style
dining rooms, fast-casual kiosks and
grab-and-go take-out areas, and you
now see a vast array of commercially
driven operational and design driven
planning elements that fuel senior food
service demand. The objective – provide
quality food and beverage, on demand
(i.e., restaurant style, in as many fea-
sible modes possible) to lure seniors
into a facility and keep them happy and
contented. Sounds familiar, right? Yes,
it’s the commercial restaurant/fast-food
focus on upscale facility, broad-based
menus, and a goal of high quality and
service that equals happy people.
We have only just begun as the old
saying goes – the future of senior hous-
ing food service is endless and each and
every day new design ideas, new foods
and new ways to serve guests continue
to emerge. Welcome to the wild ride
into the future!
Ed Logsdon
With 10,000 baby boomers turning
65 each day, the need for elder care is
rapidly, increasingly in demand. Some
of these
boomers
will move to
retirement
communi-
ties while
others,
many who
are in good
health, will
decide to
remain at
home as
long as pos-
sible. Even
those who
choose to
live at home
eventually
will need full care, which is why more
care facilities will be needed. This poses
a real challenge for designers to provide
enough rooms that are quiet and pro-
vide the desired privacy.
The acoustical design criteria for
senior care facilities are much the same
as those for residential design. These
facilities are more like apartments or
condominiums than they are to other
medical facilities like hospitals, clinics
or medical office buildings. Amenities
like wireless Internet access, health
spa/fitness centers, swimming pool,
home movie theater with surround
sound, mahogany and brass adorned
pubs, beauty parlor, barber shop, cha-
pel and even garages for personal vehi-
cles are common. Everything is within
easy access. This requires designers
to balance aesthetics and privacy with
safety.
In general, persons who are admit-
ted into a hospital eventually are
discharged. A person moving into
residential care facilities often starts
as a resident and transitions to patient
status over the years, depending on
mobility, health and mental capabilities.
The residential facilities may be the
last residence for many people and they
desire as much independence as they’ve
always had and want a place like home.
Modern medicine can extend their
independence and quality of life in a
homelike setting. New residential care
facilities now offer patio homes with
attached garages, studios, one-bedroom
and two-bedroom apartments, and
include many amenities that were not
available in the past.
The Facility Guidelines Institute
published two volumes of guidelines
for the design and construction of
various types of healthcare facilities in
2014. They are titled “Guidelines for
Design and Construction of Hospitals
and Outpatient Facilities (FGI-1)”
and “Guidelines for Design and
Construction for Residential Health,
Care, and Support Facilities (FGI-2).”
In our opinion, residential health
care and elder care support facilities
are more like multifamily residential
projects. They require special attention
to the design of the walls and floors/
ceilings to insulate the living spaces
from intruding noises. The acoustical
responses of enclosed spaces need to
control reverberation and echoes that
interfere with speech. Both airborne
noise and impact or structural borne
noise need to be considered to provide
acoustical privacy and freedom from
aural annoyance. Do not assume elder-
ly people cannot hear, therefore making
isolation no big deal. My mother has a
pair of new hearing aids. The sounds
she hears are amplified along with all
the other sounds. If the levels are too
loud, it all becomes noise to her.
Another consideration is the
Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act. HIPAA requires the
confidentially and security of patient
medical information. This means con-
versations with your doctor or nurse
should not be easily overheard by oth-
ers in adjacent rooms. There can be
legal ramifications if someone files a
complaint. Privacy concerns can be
address with architectural acoustics
solutions by using appropriately sound-
rated wall partitions and doors.
Unlike multifamily apartments or
hotel rooms, the amount of noise isola-
tion should not be based on the project
budget where high-end units are well-
isolated and low-end units not so much.
The FGI Volume 2 design guidelines
should be considered the minimum rec-
ommended acoustical isolation levels. If
increased isolation can be provided, it
should be. Remember, the residents are
here for the long run. Let’s help make
it as quiet and enjoyable as possible.
Lisa Ravenholt
A 21-year study of senior citizens, 75
and older, was led by Albert Einstein
College of
Medicine in
New York
City, funded
by the
National
Institute on
Aging, and
published
in the New
England
Journal of
Medicine.
The study’s
results were
remark-
able as it
addressed which activities were most
likely to reduce the risk of dementia.
There was 0 percent reduction in bicy-
cling, swimming or playing golf; 35
percent in reading; 47 percent doing
crossword puzzles four times a week;
and 78 percent in dancing frequently!
William J. Caruso,
FFCSI, ISHC
William Caruso & Associates Inc.
Ed Logsdon
D. L. Adams Associates Inc.
Lisa Ravenholt
The Moment for Dance
Thanks to
everyone in “the
background” of
senior living,
and what it
takes to sepa-
rate the great
communities
from the medio-
cre. Food and
beverage, the
acoustics in a
building, and
thoughtful physical activities are
all so important in bringing and
keeping the vibrancy to a home,
whether large or small. The really
good operators make sure they go
to the right vendors for these all-
important aspects.
Pam Pyms
Pyms Capital
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