Photo Credit: Environments for Aging
For those who design senior living facilities, the Environments For Aging (EFA) conference is a must-attend. As an academic conference, those who attend learn about the latest senior living design trends and the data that set and guide those trends. Of all the conferences I have attended over the years, the EFA conferences stand out the most.
Like all other conferences, EFA has networking and business opportunities. What sets it apart is the sense of caring you get from the attendees. I don’t mean care in the sense of learning to design better buildings – that goes without saying. I mean the kind of care that comes from understanding the magnitude and responsibility of what you’re undertaking. As we age, our health fades. Some lose vision, hearing, and mobility. Some get struck with disease. The ravages of dementia return many seniors to child-like states and they need to be in places which are as stress and anxiety free as possible.
Taking care of these people is an awesome responsibility that doesn’t start with caregivers, but with the building designers. This is the type of care you sense at EFA: a deep seated obligation and determination to make the last years of life for our seniors as normal, comfortable and anxiety-free as possible. In my opinion, that is an example of the best of the human condition.
If you’re interested in more of what I learned, please contact me to discuss!
