By Rick Banas of senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
I was visiting the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Bolingbrook, Illinois, last Friday afternoon just to take a few pictures.
Keyboardist Marty Sammon was performing. Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Marty has appeared on television shows in the United States and Europe and on several Grammy Award winning albums.
What I experienced as Marty, accompanied by Tim Wilsey on drums, entertained those in attendance with ragtime, boogie, blues and country tunes stood in stark contrast to comments made in a story that was posted earlier in the week by Stone Health News.
The story focused on comments by Stephen L. Goldstein, Ph.D., about assisted living and nursing homes. Dr. Goldstein contends that it is a “national disgrace” that so many folks in the United States are “dumping” older adults into nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Older adult Moms and Dads should be living with their children.
Certainly, assisted living is not for everybody, and certainly it is a disgrace when adult children wash their hands of their parents after Mom and Dad move into assisted living or a nursing home, coming to visit seldom, if ever.
But the performance by Marty and Tim provides a wonderful example of what can make living in an assisted living community so much different than living with family or living alone with assistance provided by family members or home health.
More than 50 residents and their family members, friends and guests were gathered together clapping and singing along to the music. All sported smiles on their faces. Some were dancing, with other residents and with staff.
The contrast really hit home when they started singing along as Marty and Tim played the Fats Waller version of “Ain’t Misbehavin.” The opening lines to the song are…
All by myself
No one to walk with”
As I heard the words, I found myself thinking about just how fortunate residents of assisted living communities such as those at Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook are. Because of where they live, they never have to walk – or talk – alone.
Can the same be said for those who live with family? Would they have the same opportunity to enjoy life on a Friday afternoon?
Click here to view more pictures from the performance.
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“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Tags: Affordable Assisted Lifestyle Community, Ain't Misbehavin, assisted living in Illinois, Fats Waller, Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook, Marty Sammon, nursing homes, older adults, Stone Health News, Tim Wilsey
