LCS has launched LCS Life+™ a personalized wellness experience for residents that is designed to empower individuals to live well longer through a holistic, person-centered, evidence-informed approach to wellness and well-being.
Built around four core pillars — Connection, Movement, Nutrition and Longevity — each element of LCS Life+ is designed to build on what’s already working, while introducing new opportunities and added support tailored to individual goals, interests and needs for each pillar. Sharon Roth Maguire, senior vice president and chief health & wellness/resident experience officer for LCS, said LCS Life+ began with a question: “How do we help people not simply live longer, but live well longer?”
“We know that longevity is changing, and today’s older adults have increasingly different expectations about how they want to live, age and experience wellness,” Maguire said. “That challenged us to think beyond traditional senior living wellness programming and consider how we could create a more personalized, integrated experience focused on what we call wellspan, the quality of the years we live, not simply the number of years we live.”
LCS was not starting from scratch, as LCS-managed communities already were doing a lot of work on wellness, fitness, dining, life enrichment, social engagement and resident experience efforts, Maguire noted. With LCS Life+, LCS aimed to shift the conversation from the programs it offers to a question of “What does living well mean to you?” The shift is a critical one, Maguire said.
“It places the resident’s goals, interests and aspirations at the center of the experience and then asks how our people, programs, partnerships, technology and community resources can help support that individual journey,” she said.
The “+” represents possibility, personalization and growth. The LCS Life+ philosophy of living well longer will inform health and well-being approaches throughout the entire continuum of care – from independent living and assisted living to memory care and skilled nursing facilities.
“Connection, movement, nutrition and longevity remain important whether someone is living independently, in assisted living, memory care or a health center,” Maguire said. “How those pillars come to life may look different for each person, but the underlying philosophy remains the same: start with the individual and create opportunities that help that person live well longer.”
Maguire said LCS Life+ is a natural extension of LCS’s commitment “to creating opportunities for purposeful living filled with rich experiences for the residents we serve.”
“It also reflects our first guiding principle: we serve the customer, first and foremost,” she said. “For us, being resident-first means understanding that a rich and meaningful life is defined by the individual. LCS Life+ provides a framework for communities to listen, learn and then connect residents with experiences and resources that are relevant to what matters to them.”
A personalized approach
LCS Life+ includes a commitment that wellness “is deeply personal” and not an area for a one-size-fits-all approach, Maguire said.
“Two people of the same age living in the same community can have completely different definitions of what it means to live well,” Maguire said. “For one resident, movement might mean improving strength and stability so she feels confident traveling with her family. For another, it might mean being able to continue gardening. Connection might mean expanding someone’s social circle, reconnecting with a lifelong passion, volunteering in the community or simply maintaining an important relationship.”
That personal element is part of why discovery is integral to LCS Life+.
“We want to create opportunities for residents to reflect on questions such as, ‘What does living well mean to me?’ and identify goals or intentions that are personally meaningful,” Maguire said. “From there, our role is to help connect those goals to the people, programs, resources, technology and experiences that can support them.”
The new LCS Life+ Wellspan Journal tool helps residents explore the four pillars, identify meaningful goals and use the SMART goal framework to translate those goals into achievable next steps. The resident defines success, Maguire said, while LCS’s role is to provide the environment, resources and encouragement that help make it possible.
Maguire said successful personalization means thinking differently about programming. For instance, a walking club not only can support wellness, but it also can be transformed into an LCS Life+ experience by connecting it to a resident’s personal goals and creating something “more immersive,” such as through a local parks professional partnership that leads to a guided nature walk.
“Personalization isn’t achieved simply by offering more choices,” Maguire said. “It happens when we understand what matters to an individual and help connect those aspirations to meaningful opportunities.”
A stability partnership
As part of the larger LCS Life+ initiative, LCS formed a partnership with ZIBRIO that focuses on balance and stability.
“Movement within LCS Life+ is intentionally broader than traditional fitness,” Maguire said. “We are interested in the things that movement makes possible — confidence, independence, mobility and the ability to continue doing the things that are meaningful to someone. Balance and stability is an important part of that.”
ZIBRIO technology provides a stability score through a balance assessment that also is predictive of falling during the next 12 months.
“Rather than waiting for action until someone experiences a fall or has noticeable decline, the technology gives us a way to better understand stability and support improvement long before any problems exist,” Maguire said.
It is critical that the score is not the end goal, she said.
“The value comes from using that information to support a conversation: What would greater stability allow you to do? What is important to you? And what experiences or interventions might help you get there?” Maguire said.
LCS can work with residents to measure their progress over time. For residents, measurable improvements – and renewed confidence for activities such as walking outdoors, traveling or playing golf – helps them recognize a connection between their hard work and their daily life.
“LCS communities are already demonstrating up to a 56% shift of high fall risk residents into a safer category,” Maguire said. “That combination of objective measurement, personal goals and meaningful action is very much at the heart of LCS Life+.”
The role of technology and data
Technology and data play an essential role in LCS Life+, but Maguire notes that they are tools that support each individual “rather than the experience itself.” Tools such as wellness assessments, wearable technology and personalized wellness journals are designed to help residents better understand their well-being and progress.
“Technology can help make wellness more visible and actionable by providing information that can inform goals, identify opportunities and help residents see the impact of the choices they are making,” Maguire said. “It also strengthens our ability to move from generalized programming toward a more personalized model. Rather than simply knowing that a resident attended a fitness class or wellness program, the bigger opportunity is understanding what that resident is trying to accomplish, what experiences and resources may support that goal, and whether those efforts are helping.”
Data also can give LCS insights into wellness at the community and organizational level, such as identifying trends about where residents are engaging, where more resources are needed and which approaches are having the greatest impact – all allowing LCS Life+ to continue evolving, according to Maguire.
Maguire said technology ultimately will provide information that helps residents with their wellness decisions and helps LCS track predictive trends, but it will not overshadow “the human element of wellness,” including “what gives someone’s life meaning. That still comes from listening to the resident.”
“For us, the strongest model brings those two things together: human discovery and meaningful data,” Maguire said. “Technology can provide insights, measurement and opportunities for personalization; our teams and communities help translate those insights into relationships, experiences and actions that matter to the individual. That combination helps make LCS Life+ both highly personal and increasingly measurable.”