32 | JUNE 29 • 2023 

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 31

the conversation started. You’re 
also talking to a stranger about 
very private things in many cases.

‘WE USUALLY FIND 
A SOLUTION.’ 
I currently am director of res-
idential marketing and com-
munity relations, working with 
all the communities at Jewish 
Senior Life. 
I still often am the first touch 
when someone calls or inquires 
about services. I talk through 
their situation, and we narrow it 
down. Are they interested in Oak 
Park, West Bloomfield or both? 
Affordable housing, independent 
living, assisted living, memory 
care, day program? We have so 
many things to offer, and with 
all those things, we usually find a 
solution. 
I just think of myself moving 
— and I don’t have other chal-
lenges that people coming here 
might have — and I remember 
saying when I moved to my 
home, “I’m never moving again.” 
Once someone lives with 
us, we’ve already assessed their 
medical needs or their cogni-
tive challenges or their family 
dynamics. What is going on 
and what can we do to help that 
person live with dignity, respect, 
socialization, health, wellness 
and nutrition? From day one, 
we’re off and running,

‘WE’RE DOING REELS NOW’
We find that word of mouth is 
still our most popular way of 
people finding us. We’ll hear 
someone say, “I think Grandma 
lived here.
” And when you’re here 
for 25 years, you can say, “I knew 
your grandma.
” That connection 
is very special.
It’s a lot of in-person market-
ing. Now that a lot of events are 
back, I’m usually at a table so 
people can come by and I can 
talk about Jewish Senior Life.

Our social media has just 
taken off — we’re on Facebook, 
Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, 
and we’re doing Reels now. And 
it’s great people are responding. 
We’re able to look at our analytics 
and see that people of all different 
age groups are engaging. That 
part is really fascinating. 

‘DON’T WAIT UNTIL 
THERE’S A CRISIS’
The trend we’re seeing in the 
older population is that people 
are waiting longer to consider 
making a move. We’re seeing 
people, especially in assisted 
living, having a higher level of 
care needs. Our average ages 
are increasing, and with age 
comes more things to address. 
People are living longer and are 
living healthier longer. They 
sometimes wait to make decisions 
like this until they feel it’s right 
for them. Sometimes, if there’s a 
medical emergency or a signifi-
cant change, their children help 
them make that decision.
We try to say to people, ‘Don’t 
wait until there’s a crisis.
’ You 
want to have control over your 
decisions about what you do.

TRYING TO MEET ‘THE NEXT 
GENERATION OF WANTS’ 
There is a lot of competition in 
the senior housing world, much 
more than when I started. We’ve 

been around since 1907, and we 
feel that we provide the best ser-
vices. There are some beautiful 
new builds that catch somebody’s 
eye. We want to stay relevant. 
We’re doing a lot of updating 
— Hechtman just redid all their 
apartments, and now their dining 
room is being redone. Fleischman 
just started redoing all the apart-
ments. We’re listening. We know 
people want larger spaces. The 
next generation of wants is what 
we’re trying to meet.

‘WE HAVE TO CONTINUE’
We have a liaison from the 
NEXTGen board on our board. 
Because when you don’t know 
it or you’ve never lived it or 
seen it, or maybe your grand-
parents are only in their 60s, 
it’s a whole new world to learn. 
And so, one of our goals, as we 
move forward, is to make sure 
we’re educating and bringing in 
the next generation of younger 
adults. Because, as I was saying, 
if you’re lucky, you’re going to 
get old. Everyone’s going to do 
it one way or another. 
Our residents generally love 
intergenerational programming. 
We have the Frankel [Jewish 
Academy] kids, we have the Hillel 
kids. We work with the special 
needs department at the JCC — 
they have camps for kids up to 
26 — and they actually have an 

apartment here at Meer where 
they teach life skills.

‘THIS IS MY COMMUNITY’
It’s definitely changing. But there’s 
still a really nice, large communi-
ty. My mom is a volunteer here, 
and she was chatting with some 
ladies one day, and they realized 
they all went to the same high 
school. So, one of them went to 
their apartment, got their year-
book and they found each other 
— 70 years later.
This is my community. I’ve 
grown up here. I’ve heard the 
stories from my family. And then 
I learned them from our residents 
here. It’s really special to connect 
with people. And we have a lot 
of people who move out of town 
during retirement, and then they 
move back to Detroit because this 
is where they have family. A lot 
of them have been gone for 20 to 
30 years, but they come back, and 
it’s just like the old days — they 
see their friend they used to go 
roller skating with or to the deli 
for a milkshake with. Many gen-
erations of Detroiters live with us, 
and we get to learn the history of 
our community through them.

‘THERE’S NOTHING IS TOO 
SMALL TO CELEBRATE’
My husband is also a lifelong 
Detroiter, and we have a 14-year-
old son. We love baseball and we 
love dogs. We love being with 
family. To me, there’s nothing too 
small to celebrate. I love to have 
people over to celebrate birthdays 
and holidays and anything. I do 
drive my husband a little crazy 
with all the get-togethers, but 
they’re not fancy. It’s about being 
together, having a meal, sitting 
and laughing — enjoying each 
other’s company. 
I think that does come from 
my work because you hear people 
say, “Oh, life is so short,
” but I see 
it every day. 

Participants attend one of the many activities at JSL. 

