How retirement communities forge friendships and boost health

Healthier, happier lives

“Put bluntly, we have this happier and healthier value proposition in retirement communities that is hiding in plain sight,” Gannon told the roundtable.

“In every suburb across the country, they are doing so much heavy lifting for different parts of the communities for federal, state and local governments as well as older Australian consumers.”

Fellow roundtable participant, Keyton chief executive officer, Nathan Cockerill, emphasised the economies of scale on the health front retirement communities provide citing home care as an example.

“With home care, providers are spending 40 per cent of their time travelling from location to location. In a retirement village, you cut out that travel time in totality,” Cockerill said.

“If you look at the average size of a retirement village which is around 100 homes, there’s an opportunity to provide care to around 150 residents in one spot.”

The RLC’s Gannon says removing the duplication in transport means investing “more care per dollar with the actual consumer”.

“So, while the federal government is struggling with increasing demand for home care services, we can actually help solve the problem simply by having operator-directed care alongside consumer-directed care,” says Gannon.

“A community can determine they want to pool their funding.

“What this means for a Keyton community for example is you could take that pooled funding and invest it wonderfully into all sorts of amenities such as having allied health professionals 24/7 on site as well as a broader range of services.”

While the health savings are significant, Cockerill also pointed out the many other nuanced community benefits retirement living provides, including facilities and reduced traffic flows around villages compared to other residential developments- meaning they have less of an impact on a local area especially in high-density urban settings.

Participants at the roundtable also discussed combatting loneliness and highlighted the social connectivity that comes with living in a retirement community.

This discussion comes at a time when the world is suffering from a loneliness epidemic according to the World Health Organisation.

According to WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, high rates of social isolation and loneliness around the world have serious consequences for health and well-being.

“People without enough strong social connections are at higher risk of stroke, anxiety, dementia, depression, suicide and more,” Dr Ghebreyesus said at the launch of the WHO’s Commission on Social Connection.

More alarmingly, the WHO reports lack of social connection carries an equivalent, or even greater, risk of early death as other better-known risk factors – such as smoking, excessive drinking, physical inactivity, obesity, and air pollution.

Speaking at the roundtable, co-founder of the Hunter Ageing Alliance and NSW Senior Australian of the Year for 2024, Dr John Ward said when you ask older people how they want to live they always say, “we want to live within our social network”.

“We want to live close to the facilities we use, like doctors, shops, public transport and libraries,” Ward said.

The power of connection

Ward acknowledged retirement villages are attractive for a lot of people and all the facilities swimming pools and lawn bowls greens do look good in the brochures but a lot of older people he speaks with aren’t interested in the recreational assets in a village.

“The most important factor in terms of housing and also reducing a person’s sense of loneliness is relationships,” he said.

“Almost all older people have their life worked out. They paint, they play the piano, they read, they do Sudoku, they go out and have coffee with their mates and all of that revolves around companionship,” Ward said.

“And that can even be in a tiny little village of say eight to 10 people as long as there are some community facilities where people can come together.

For the facilities in the larger villages such as the pools and community centres help drive social connection.

He said the challenge for retirement villages is maintaining that connection.

“As residents age in a village, they tend to want to stay at home more and that social connectivity dwindles. They’re not going to the community centre, so the key is to find the right balance. One way is to keep bringing new people into the village, so the vibrancy of the village is maintained,” Cockerill said.

Another option is co-locating retirement villages with aged care facilities so people can move seamlessly from one to the other as well as near universities and urban hubs to create opportunities for more intergenerational connections.

To find out more, please visit Keyton.