You can’t really expect a senior to stay happy at a senior living facility from the first day. Leaving the place that they’ve known as their home all their life and their family behind to live in an unfamiliar facility is bound to make a senior feel sad, lonely, and depressed.
To ensure senior residents stay happy, most senior facilities try to engage them in various activities that keep them busy and occupied. However, despite all efforts, some seniors find adjusting to their new homes extremely hard. They may not always express their true emotions and keep a happy face out front, but deep down, they wish to be home – truly.
This isn’t good for their health. It would be best if you kept a close watch on your senior residents to identify any signs that may indicate that a senior isn’t happy at your facility. The signs may not always be clearly evident, though.
To help you, we’ve put together some signs that will tell you that a senior isn’t happy at the senior living facility and how you can change it.
They Keep Talking About the Past
While you can’t expect a senior to forget their past and move on completely, allowing a senior resident to live in their past isn’t the best for them either. One of the biggest signs that show that a senior isn’t happy at a senior living facility is that they keep talking about their past. They don’t live in the present but in their past. They find it hard to accept that the past has gone and the present is their new life. As long as they don’t accept it, they can’t be happy living at a senior living facility.
There’s an Evident Change in the Body Language
If you’ve noticed a change in the body language of your senior resident, take it as a sign that something’s amiss. If they’ve become distant from their friends at the facility, appear lost or withdrawn, or have suddenly become introverted, it can be taken as a sign that they’re missing home and aren’t happy at the senior residence.
Mood Swings
If the senior resident is throwing tantrums or showing aggressiveness or frustration at small things, know that you need to do something to calm them down. They’re sad and depressed and don’t know how to deal with their emotional state.
How Can You Change it?
The responsibility to ensure senior residents stay fit, healthy, and happy at the senior living facility falls on the shoulders of the facility management. Dealing with unhappy senior residents is definitely difficult, but not impossible.
Below are some ways you can ensure the residents are happy while living at your facility:
Take them out for walks where they can enjoy the fresh air and the hustle and bustle of the city so that they don’t feel like they’ve been cut off from the world
Arrange musical nights
Conduct small competitions (board games, arts and crafts, etc.)
Make a library and ensure there are plenty of books to choose from
Teach the seniors how to use a computer so they can stay in touch with their families through video calls
At Inspirit Senior Living, we make sure that our residents aren’t just healthy but happy because we know that the happier an elderly person is, the better it is for their health. If you want to ensure what we’re saying is true, give us a visit anytime and see for yourself.
