Key Takeaways from Transforming Day One: Crafting Memorable Move-Ins in Senior Living

The transition into a senior living community can often be a daunting experience for seniors and their families. It’s time to change that. 

In this blog, we review the main takeaways from our recent webinar on Transforming Day One for Senior Living Move-ins. Read on to see what our panelists had to say and dig into the best practices, emerging trends, and invaluable recommendations to revolutionize your residents' first day. 

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Takeaway 1: Be Proactive - Get to Know The Resident Ahead of Time

Every resident's interests and stories are unique. It can be a challenge to get to know everyone in-depth and understand what will make them comfortable when moving in. Being proactive and having items that your resident will recognize in their room waiting for them will make a huge difference in ensuring that their room feels like home during an overwhelming time. 

Holding a pre-move-in day and assessment to find out and record resident needs and interests is a great way to ensure you can make day one a comforting and positive experience. 

Below are some key highlights from our panelists about the importance of creating a personal experience: 

“These little touches just make it so much better for a family and a resident that have probably been quite frankly through the wringer in the last little bit… They’re still trying to navigate and they’re beyond stressed. So taking some of that off their shoulders, that builds trust.” - Sandy Croley, Responsive Group 

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‍Takeaway 2: Using Technology to Create Connections 

When moving into a new place it’s important to create a sense of belonging and community. Lisa Smith from Connecting Care shared a key tip to overcome this challenge. She highlights their use of the “All About Me” posters for each resident’s door, so other residents and staff can find common interests and get to know each other better. By recording interests when a resident moves with Welbi, your life enrichment staff can easily match residents up with each other and start to create connections right from day one! 

“I remember working initially on the All About Me posters on Welbi so that it could automatically generate out of all the assessments… Residents feel like they can also have this extra connection to the people who are caring for them. There’s a lot of work into it, but we knew that it could have a good big impact and it turned out to be an even bigger impact.“ - Lisa Smith, Connecting Care 

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Takeaway 3: Foster a Collaborative Environment Among Team Members

When a new resident moves in, everyone’s job is to make them feel welcome. In the webinar, Lisa and Sandy both emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration among team members. By using Welbi, it's easier for anyone to see notes on resident interests both on the software and directly on your EHR for the care team with our integrations.

“That information that recreation gathers, sometimes it doesn’t get out to all the other people that it would benefit, so exploring ways within the community to share and disseminate information would be very, very valuable.” - Lisa Smith, Connecting Care 

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Concluding Thoughts

Day one is one of the most important times to create a meaningful and lasting impression on new residents and their families. With these tips and innovative approaches, we hope you can enhance the move-in process for new residents, and continue to create an environment where residents feel valued, supported, and welcomed from the very beginning.

Did you miss the Welbi webinar? You can watch it on demand here!