A more familiar place to call home

Senior communities that cater to certain ethnic groups are becoming plentiful around the country and in the Chicago area.

In fact, such niche communities are targeting demographics from religion, to ethnicity and beyond.

In the Chicago area, for instance, there are now communities catering to Indian Americans, Hispanics and Greek Americans, allowing seniors of those ethnicities to share their cultures and experiences with other seniors who can relate.

Such "affinity communities" are not limited to ethnicities and can include special interests such as a love of theater or certain type of music. But Chicago is not uncommon. California and Washington state are seeing a boost in affinity communities for Chinese Americans. There is another retirement community that specifically caters to Japanese Americans in Seattle. Tavares, Florida, also has a community tailored to Indian Americans.

Culture-specific senior living is proliferating because retired people who have lots of time on their hands want to be surrounded by familiar things, including preferred foods, their native language, culturally appropriate activities, games and religious services, and even community decor.

Facilities where languages other than English are spoken by staff members is necessary because many older immigrants never learned English and others who learned it often revert to the language of their birth as they age.

When you think about it, it makes sense that as people age, they want to be surrounded by others who share their culture. It is comforting. And it is hardly new.

In the early 1950s, an Italian priest founded a retirement community for Italian immigrants in Northlake. Villa Scalabrini, as it was known, has since been purchased and transformed into a mainstream facility because the need for a community to cater to this particular ethnic group waned.

But that is not true for all immigrant groups. Many are still actively immigrating and those born outside of this country often look for a comforting place - with familiar sights, sounds and foods - in which to retire.

The Greek American Rehabilitation & Care Centre in Wheeling is the only elder care center in the Midwest that is dedicated to the care of elderly Greek Americans. However, it does accept residents of all backgrounds because it consider itself to be an international village, said Frances Stamatoukos, marketing director.

The Greek American Rehabilitation & Care Centre offers short-term rehabilitative care, memory care, long-term care and a host of other therapeutic services in an individualized and supportive environment. Services include a full range of rehabilitative therapies, including physical, occupational and speech therapy, as well as long- and short-term nursing, hospice, memory loss and vacation care. They even have private suites designed to offer comfort and convenience to short-term residents.

"This is a stand-alone, nonprofit establishment that was founded by Greek geriatricians because they felt there was a clear need for a safe, homelike environment for those in the elderly Greek community," Stamatoukos explained. "Greek Orthodox religious services are held here weekly and members of the staff are multilingual."

Residents also enjoy celebrating holidays from many countries including Greek Independence Day and musicians, dance troupes and other entertainers make frequent visits throughout the year to keep residents busy and engaged and outings on the center's bus are planned regularly.

Meals are also Mediterranean-based, as well as heart healthy, with specialty diets like low sodium, cardiac and others available. For instance, avogolemono soup (egg lemon soup) is a favorite with all and served daily at dinner.

The Verandah Retirement Community in Hanover Park opens this month. It is the Midwest's first retirement community designed to celebrate a variety of ethnic lifestyles, but especially the Indian and Asian communities. It will do this through its cuisine, activities, entertainment, traditions and cultures.

The maintenance-free, 11-acre community will provide a continuum of care allowing active adults to age in place by offering townhouses, condominiums and a facility with assisted-living units and memory care studios.

The Verandah is the nation's first ethnic senior community to offer the full spectrum of medical care, too, said Dr. Anuja Gupta, principal and managing partner of Aman Living, developer of Verandah.

Sales are targeting the Indian American community, but are not exclusive to it. Indian and vegetarian meals will be served. Indian holidays and festivals will be celebrated (along with Western holidays). Indian language television will be available. Yoga and meditation will be taught and encouraged and the staff will be mostly bilingual, Gupta said. She masterminded the $43 million active-adult development.

Food and language barriers are the reason why many Indian Americans leave mainstream retirement communities, Gupta continued. And loneliness is also a huge problem.

"That is why we wanted to make sure the clubhouse would be ready ahead of our first move-ins so our residents and guests would have a place where they would feel at home from Day One and be able to socialize with their new neighbors," Gupta said.

As development in the community progresses, the Phase 1 clubhouse will eventually be replaced with a 20,000-square-foot space that will be located in Verandah's condominium and medical building. The permanent clubhouse will include the same features of the Phase 1 clubhouse, as well as a movie theater, beauty salon and library. Additional community amenities will include a one-acre pond, park, walking paths and landscaped gardens.

"Verandah will be a place where all seniors - from those of Indian to American descent - can feel at home," Gupta said. "We will be staffing the facilities with people that understand multiple languages, including Hindi, and we will be offering entertainment popular to all cultures, such as recent American movies as well as Indian Bollywood shows, at the clubhouse's theater.

"Our residents' adult children are particularly happy with our community because they want their parents close by, not back in India. At Verandah, they can enjoy a combination Indian American lifestyle and be close to their children and grandchildren," Gupta said.

The Hispanic Housing Development Corp. (HHDC) serves a broad range of Hispanic residents in public, affordable, market rate and large mixed income housing. But none include on-site medical facilities. In total, HHDC manages properties in more than 22 community areas, two townships, two villages and eight cities that serve large Hispanic populations.

HHDC's properties can be found in Palatine, Woodstock, Crystal Lake, West Chicago, Elgin, among other suburbs, and in Chicago neighborhoods.

"For many of our senior HUD-subsidized communities, HHDC provides service coordinators who assist residents with information and referrals to services, including hearing and vision screenings, flu shots, nutritional classes, fire prevention and crime awareness training," said Chris Rodriguez, HHDC's vice president of property management.

Recreational activities are also offered including field trips to cultural and art museums, holiday activities, bingo and other social activities that help seniors stay physically, mentally and socially active.

At HHDC's non-HUD-subsidized facilities, volunteers assist with a similar resident services program. The supportive services offered in HHDC communities emphasize social and health-related services that enhance the daily living activities and quality of life of residents as they age in place.

"HHDC hires and trains qualified service coordinators who understand the language and culture of our residents and create a social programming platform that is relevant and meaningful to our residents and their experiences," Rodriguez added.

HHDC is a nonprofit that was founded in 1975 to provide affordable housing communities in Chicago's Latino neighborhoods. It was designed to rehabilitate housing and help struggling neighborhoods succeed without gentrification taking place. Funding for HHDC comes from rents, donations and government reimbursement.

Building affordable senior housing in neighborhoods that already have many Hispanics living there enables seniors to age in place within their communities.