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An Interview with Tony Galvan of Vi Living
We are excited to announce the recent launch of our powerful new series called Live Better, Longer - a thought-provoking interview series that takes a deep dive into longevity. Each month aging strategist and keynote speaker, Kelly Stranburg, will be joined by experts and thought leaders in the health and wellness industry for an intense interview to get their take on the current state of longevity in our society, discuss their passion to support living a long and healthy life, and reveal tips on how to help yourself and others live longer, better. In this exciting pilot interview Kelly Stranburg interviewed Tony Galvan, the Assistant Vice President of Living Well for Vi Living. (Vi Living owns and operates life plan communities across the country). Here are some of the highlights from Tony’s interview (be sure to watch the video for the full interview!):
Question: Tony, can you tell me why are you passionate about the different ways or modalities that we can age better, and what are some of those things that you're most passionate about, whether you're thinking about working with your residents and your communities, or even when you think about your own life and maybe friends and family?
Answer: I personally started working with seniors at the college level. I was exposed to working with seniors, health and wellness and along the lines of fitness. And even as I wrapped up grad school and did some things with fall prevention, it was always with that senior audience and just having this sense of how appreciative and, what it meant to them, in terms of aging well and aging successfully. So I feel like they've always been a group that has had this enhanced sense, for them it maybe means a little bit more to maintain, whether it's physical health, intellectual independence, or this sense of connectivity and socialization, I feel for them it resonates a little bit different. And so hence it being a rewarding industry to be in.
Question: When you think about the current state of longevity today in society, what are some things that you would like to see shift, change, be elevated or enhanced?
Answer (Tony):
I actually feel like things are trending in the right direction from a longevity and health and wellness priority perspective. I really do. I think we see that across the board in terms of from an aging perspective - I think our senior living industry is kind of a microcosm of that a little bit, where you rewind back 20, 25, 30 plus years ago, where maybe we had the sense of “build it and they will come”. We sort of assumed what seniors wanted from a health and wellness engagement/recreational perspective. And we designed and built communities regardless of product type or economic aspect of it. We built it and figured, hey, this is what they're going to want and what they're going to prioritize, taking into account the last decade or at least certainly the last five years. And as we look ahead now, it's kind of the opposite. We're being guided by what, demographically, seniors are wanting. We're doing research and really putting our eyes and ears out there to what is it that seniors are looking for. And they're the ones that are causing the shift in what we offer, how we build, how we redesign, how we construct. And so I feel like that's a product of health and wellness habits, and characteristics within seniors, in particular, certainly before they move into a retirement community really being stronger than it's ever been.
Question: What is one thing when you reflect back on the last 12 to 18 months that you all at Vi have changed specific to fitness or exercise? Is it different equipment? Is it different exercise offerings? What are you seeing is a desire out of this consumer walking in the door now?
Answer:
Fitness has always had this unique way of implementing and impacting cognitive wellbeing and social wellbeing - the sense of emotional health and connectivity. It's almost like your one-stop shop for the holistic wellness experience that a lot of our residents are looking for. So when we consider pieces of equipment in particular that can really address that multidimensional aspect, that is something that we're leaning into a little bit more. And in your question, the timeframe for that is right around that year to 18-month mark.
And certainly, looking forward, where we're bringing in some of these a-traditional fitness pieces, maybe not just singular use, right? Whether it's dual tasking or bringing in that social or competitive aspect. And whether those are cyber cycles, or SmartFit equipment or, certainly with this interview, Dividat. And not to make this a commercial for them in any way, but that is something that we feel is an effective, strong offering. And like a lot of things, when we bring them in, we're looking to validate. We’ll do some case studies, we'll do some resident input and feedback sessions as a way to really confirm that it is making a positive difference. But I feel like those pieces that are addressing different aspects of health and wellness and that they themselves have these built-in assessments and screenings, because for as long as you and I have been in this space, I think that's always been a nut that we've all tried to crack, right? Is how do we validate the effectiveness of what we're doing? How do we sort of retroactively look back to say yes, that thing that we did did work or that program that we tried did work? Certainly, as a whole, we are moving the needle on these aspects of resident health and wellness, and fitness in particular, because it's so tangible and objective, it has a way of lending itself towards that. So, some of these pieces that are sort of self-contained in that way, I think are important to consider.
Question (Kelly): If you could offer our audience one tip that they can easily embrace or adopt that will either help themselves age better longer, or help any individuals that they work with age better, longer, what is that tip you would like to share today?
Answer:
What makes sense for our residents, for our seniors, whether they're centenarians and anagens that have been living in our communities for years (maybe they're in higher levels of care or the boomer demographic that we've been preparing for and that we're starting to see at our communities). There isn't that big of a disconnect from what they think is valuable or even cool or fun or effective. That really transcends age. I think you and I have seen that in our space for a very long time. You know, we talk a lot about “let's get out of that senior specific box” sometimes, right? And what you and I might find to be cool, fun and effective - it's not that big of a stretch from what a senior, and certainly a resident, might want. Sometimes taking off that senior lens and that senior living focus is important and just doing what makes sense and applying that to yourself, right? What do you enjoy? What do you like? How do you think about your health and wellness framework? And as we keep redefining that and re-imagining that in our space, apply it to your existing environment.
Thank you to Tony Galvan for being our pilot interviewee! Be sure to check back regularly for our next interview in the Live Better, Longer series!