Dec 8, 2020
Role of Place in Healthy Aging with Ryan Frederick
“This pandemic has been a great reminder that place matters a lot.”— Ryan Frederick, CEO of SmartLiving 360
Have you ever wondered why the long-term care housing industry segregated itself when there's so much benefit to having intergenerational housing? Have you ever thought about our older loved ones living in a better community to make their aging experience more comfortable?
Here are the important points covered in this episode:
- Ryan's focus on the intersection of place, including housing, and healthy aging.
- How SmartLiving 360, a strategy consulting and a residential development company, is shifting the field of housing for older adults and long-term effects.
- Ryan's focus on creating inspired homes in walkable, intergenerational mixed-use urban and suburban areas.
- Mind shifting: aging as a solo sport to aging as a team sport.
Part One of ‘Role of Place in Healthy Aging with Ryan Frederick’
America's solution to not living in a skilled nursing home is to move into an assisted living facility, but assisted living is segregated housing in most communities. Having been an operator of senior housing communities, some of the largest companies in the country, then also as an investor and a real estate developer, Ryan witnessed the impact that housing has on people in general. We're now seeing situations where different states aren't prepared, which shows that having a safe and comfortable place where older adults can stay is crucial. Some of the common questions people ask are:
“Can we create jobs and better housing that doesn't have the same institutional feel of what we've done historically?”
“Can we create environments where we don't necessarily have to have all the services bundled in, but instead bring things in when people need them?”
“There's more that we can do now in non-medical settings to keep people healthy.” — Ryan Frederick, CEO of SmartLiving 360
Here's a simple way to look at things differently: if there's a way to create a better community for older adults, it's essential to recognize those things as a valuable antidote to loneliness and social isolation. They deserve a place where they can enjoy being socially and physically active.
Part Two of ‘Role of Place in Healthy Aging with Ryan Frederick’
The more we can create a place where older adults can have greater options to choose from, we can have them thrive over a longer period of time because it’s not inevitable for them to live in a nursing home for ten years. Having choices that suit someone’s lifestyle makes it easier for them to remain socially active. It’s like investing in their overall well-being.
“Becoming disabled is not a normal part of aging. It's common because people become socially isolated.” — Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN-BC, FNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN
What if we start changing things for the better? Why do we have so much age restriction, where older adults are taken away from their community? How can they find ways to have that intergenerational connection? This is where the vision of SmartLiving 360 becomes a game-changer for everybody, which is another way to maximize the use of advanced technology in our generation.
Universal design benefits people of all ages. There may be multiple small changes, but they all add up. Also having a sense of community and connection matters too. Activities should be resident-driven - and in this sense of the term, those who live in intergenerational housing. Place can create surrogate relationships between the generations that are mutually beneficial.
Aging alone isn’t likely to be a successful venture. Ryan says we all need ot have an A-Team. We all need to have a team of people to support us, and ideally that will be reciprocal. Sense of purpose matters, getting out and moving, connecting with others socially, all of these things matter. Your built environment can make it easier to do all of these things, so it’s critical that we think through age-friendly, walkable housing options for people of all ages - so we can all thrive.
Ryan’s new book is due for publication in the fall of 2021 - Home is Where the Health Is: A Guide to Choosing Place in the Age of Longevity.
Ryan Frederick, Founder & CEO, SmartLiving 360
Ryan is focused on the intersection of healthy aging and the role of place, including housing. SmartLiving 360 helps institutions and individuals thrive in the Age of Longevity by providing consulting services, real estate development services, and consumer content.
Ryan publishes a monthly consumer blog at www.smartliving360.com and will release a consumer book, Home is Where the Health Is: A Guide to Place in the Age of Longevity, with Johns Hopkins University Press next fall.
Ryan is recognized as a national thought leader and innovator in the real estate development and healthcare services industries and is a keynote speaker, instructor, author, and blogger. His work and insights have been cited in Forbes, The Washington Post, and Environments for Aging, among other outlets. His real estate development in Rockville, MD, The Stories at Congressional Plaza, is an age-friendly apartment community that has attracted national attention. Mr. Frederick is a member of the National Advisory Board for the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University, a member of the AgingWell Hub, a collaborative of leading innovative providers in the field of aging led by Phillips, and has been appointed to the Advisory Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center Health and Housing Task Force. He is a 2018-2019 Encore Public Voices Fellow.
Mr. Frederick is a graduate of Princeton University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Frederick is a recent transplant to Austin with his wife and three kids, after living significant life chapters in Baltimore and San Francisco.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanefrederick/
About Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN, FNP, FAAN
I earned my Bachelor of Science in Nursing (‘96) and Master of Science in Nursing (‘00) as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) School of Nursing (SON). I truly enjoy working with the complex medical needs of older adults. I worked full-time for five years as FNP in geriatric primary care across many long-term care settings (skilled nursing homes, assisted living, home and office visits) then transitioned into academic nursing in 2005, joining the faculty at UNCW SON as a lecturer. I obtained my PhD in Nursing and a post-Master’s Certificate in Nursing Education from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing (’11) and then joined the faculty at Duke University School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor. My family moved to northern Virginia in 2015 and led to me joining the faculty at George Washington University (GW) School of Nursing in 2018 as a (tenured) Associate Professor where I am also the Director of the GW Center for Aging, Health and Humanities. Find out more about her work at https://melissabphd.com/.