Vetter Senior Living strengthens its technology-assisted approach to social wellness for residents by implementing the new LifeLoop Wellness Navigator.
By Tom Gresham
The importance of socialization and the health and wellness risks associated with isolation have gained prominence in recent years, particularly in the senior living industry.
“Socialization is essential for us all, but especially for older adults because meaningful relationships are directly tied to quality of life,” said Courtney Schmitz, director of purposeful living for Vetter Senior Living. “As people age, they often experience changes such as loss of loved ones, health challenges, reduced mobility and need for healthcare placement, which can naturally decrease opportunities for connection.”
As a result, senior living providers and their partners have been seeking new, more sophisticated ways to emphasize social engagement and to make sure that they are providing the best possible care and services in that area for their residents. Schmitz and Vetter are part of the vanguard in those efforts, including most recently with the announcement that Vetter would launch the Wellness Navigator, LifeLoop’s new solution that provides a research-based framework to operationalize resident social wellness at scale.
The solution is now available across 28 Vetter communities in Nebraska, Missouri and Wyoming. Vetter’s implementation of the Wellness Navigator is designed to introduce a consistent method to translate resident engagement data into actionable insights, reflecting the organization’s broader strategy to elevate life enrichment as a core pillar of resident well-being.
“This Social Engagement Index score and the Wellness Navigator is going above and beyond what we have right now, and it’s just an amazing tool for us to really make sure we are addressing a whole person-centered care, not just bits and pieces,” Schmitz said. “We’ve never really had a tool that can help us do that, and now we do.”
Natalie Jones, senior director of marketing for LifeLoop, said senior living communities are uniquely positioned to help address social isolation, and the industry has been focused on the topic for years. Lifeloop recently released a research report on the case for social wellness in partnership with Argentum, that illustrates how operators are leading this shift in the industry by embracing the role of socialization in the pursuit of whole-person wellness.
While senior living communities provide a unique environment centered around building community, the challenge has been understanding signs of social wellness decline, identifying residents at risk of isolation and consistently taking preventive actions, Jones said.
“Without a uniform method of identification, documentation or measurement, the signs of resident disconnection — missed activities, fewer interactions, longer gaps between visits — are often missed,” Jones said. “This is where technology plays an essential role in enabling staff teams with the tools they need to operationalize social wellness with ease, clarity, consistency, and scale.”
How the Wellness Navigator works
The Wellness Navigator is designed to give life enrichment and engagement leaders insights into wellness ROI that they have lacked before. The Wellness Navigator solves this through a wellness intelligence framework that encompasses all of the key indicators of social wellness across resident engagement, and rolled up into an intuitive tool that allows staff to identify, measure, and apply proactive actions to resident wellness planning.
The intelligence and measurement framework includes three key elements:
- The Social Engagement Index (SEI) is the first operationalized measurement of social engagement, giving engagement and clinical leaders a shared, actionable KPI to proactively identify residents who may be at risk of social isolation.
- The UCLA Loneliness Scale is an evidence-backed measure of perceived loneliness that turns emotional well-being into a clear, trackable metric, which helps teams identify isolation earlier and provide timely support.
- Engagement Insights continuously measures resident behavior over time in LifeLoop, surfacing real-time signals and trends so teams can identify patterns and drive informed wellness outcomes.
Jones said the pairing of behavioral and emotional measurement is unique in the industry.
“The SEI captures what residents do, the UCLA 3 Loneliness Scale captures how they feel, and you need both, because a resident can be behaviorally active and still lonely,” Jones said. “It also unifies two teams that have historically managed separate views of the same resident. Vetter participated in our early adopter program where every senior living leader surveyed, saw the SEI as both an engagement tool and a clinical risk indicator. That was massively validating for us and the potential of this solution to bridge this long-standing gap.”
Jones notes that existing systems of measurement and evaluation for various parts of resident wellness, such as quality of life or resident self-reported surveys, largely tell you what already happened. The SEI, on the other hand, is “proactive, updating on a rolling seven-day window so teams can see a resident’s engagement shifting and respond while there’s still time to change the trajectory.”
“There is immense value in the insights of daily resident life that could be leveraged to improve care and experience, if staff could only have a way to harness it,” Jones said. “Senior living as an industry has always recognized the importance and value of engagement, but they’ve never had the ability to measure it and effectively operationalize it. This is the important role of innovation and solution partners — we have the responsibility of curating and delivering solutions to this industry that needs resources and support built specifically for their needs.”
Jones said perhaps the biggest opportunity that the tool offers is providing the bridge between engagement and clinical teams.“This shared view of resident well-being means better care across the board, which is a significant pain point for many operators as the industry’s broader lack of interoperable systems makes visibility and cross-functional collaboration difficult,” Jones said. “The SEI is not a diagnosis or replacement for clinical care; it is the companion that provides the behavioral and emotional context needed to address the whole individual when considering care plans.”
The data will accumulate over time and allow operators – with LifeLoop as a technology partner – to ask “bigger questions,” such as how engagement relates to healthcare utilization, length of stay, functional and cognitive status, and quality of life.
“This is where the future holds increasingly exciting potential for us as strategic partners, and for the industry at-large,” Jones said.
How Vetter will use Wellness Navigator
Schmitz said Vetter believes quality of life goes beyond physical health to include meaningful relationships, a sense of purpose and feeling connected to the community around you.
“What excites me about Wellness Navigator is that it provides objective data about social wellness, allowing us to better understand each resident’s level of engagement and connectedness,” Schmitz said. “Historically, we have relied on observations and relationships with residents, which are incredibly valuable. Wellness Navigator adds another layer by helping us identify trends, uncover potential concerns earlier, and ensure no one slips through the cracks. Having access to meaningful socialization data helps our teams make more informed decisions and be proactive in supporting residents who may be at risk for isolation or disengagement.”
Schmitz said Wellness Navigator supports Vetter’s interdisciplinary approach to wellness.
“Social wellness isn’t solely the responsibility of the life enrichment department,” Schmitz said. “It involves collaboration among life enrichment, nursing, social services, dining and all team members who interact with residents. The insights from Wellness Navigator help facilitate those conversations and ensure we’re working together to support each resident holistically.”
Schmitz said Vetter’s life enrichment teams will use Wellness Navigator as part of a monthly audit process to review Social Engagement Index scores and identify residents who may be less engaged or at risk for social isolation.
“The data helps us know where to look, but it’s the individualized follow-up that creates the greatest impact,” Schmitz said. “When a resident’s score indicates lower engagement, our team will take a look at interests, preferences, personality and any factors that may be influencing their participation or connectedness. Based on that assessment, we can determine whether additional interventions or opportunities for meaningful engagement should be implemented.”
Vetter’s teams will use the UCLA Loneliness Scale to gain a deeper understanding of a resident’s perceived level of loneliness.
“This allows us to move beyond participation data alone and better understand the resident’s lived experience,” Schmitz said. “For residents who score higher on the loneliness assessment, we can develop more targeted interventions that align with their interests and support meaningful social connections.”
Schmitz said Vetter will use this information during its weekly risk meetings. Life enrichment team members will share trends in a resident’s Social Engagement Index score, discuss loneliness assessment results when appropriate, share interventions that have been implemented and collaborate with peers in other departments on additional opportunities for support.
“What excites me most is that Wellness Navigator allows us to be proactive rather than reactive,” Schmitz said. “It provides meaningful data that supports our professional judgment while helping us fulfill our mission of ‘Dignity in Life.’”
Schmitz said Vetter’s adoption of the Wellness Navigator throughout its portfolio will allow the company to turn resident-level data into organizational learning that carries across all Vetter communities.
“We’ll be able to identify trends, share best practices between communities, evaluate the impact of our interventions and make more informed decisions about supporting social wellness,” Schmitz said.
She believes the Wellness Navigator will help Vetter in its enduring goal of helping residents feel connected to others. When they do feel that connection, she said, they thrive.
“They’re more engaged, have a stronger sense of purpose and often show improvements in overall well-being,” Schmitz said. “Socialization is not just about filling time or attending activities. It’s about creating opportunities for people to build relationships, feel valued, share their stories and continue contributing to a community by living with purpose.”