The couple whose love story began in senior living is currently in second place in the Group Finals of America’s Favorite Couple. Voting ends August 13, and only the top couple will advance.
Earlier this summer, Argentum shared the remarkable story of J.R. Adams and Shannon Mullen, whose relationship began through the compassionate care Shannon provided to J.R.’s father, Ricky, while he was living with Alzheimer’s in a memory care community.
Their story was deeply personal, moving and rooted in senior living. Then people began sharing it.
Supporters throughout senior living rallied around the couple, and Philadelphia television station PHL17 featured them on its Positively Philly program, bringing their story, and the senior living connection at its heart, to an entirely new audience. Watch the Positively Philly feature.
Now J.R. and Shannon have reached the Group Finals of America’s Favorite Couple. They are currently in second place, but they must finish first to advance.
Vote for J.R. and Shannon before August 13.
Of course, we want them to win. But something important has already happened: A story rooted in senior living reached people outside senior living. And that matters.
Stories Show What Statistics Cannot
For years, the senior living industry has worked to overcome perceptions that do not reflect what residents, families and professionals experience inside communities every day. We can talk about connection, purpose, friendship and joy. We can explain that a community can become home and that team members can become family.
But then someone hears J.R. and Shannon’s story, and suddenly they understand.
That is the idea behind I Love Senior Living: If we want people to see senior living differently, we need to give them something different to see. Not stock photography. Not slogans. Real people. Real moments. Real stories.
Across the country, those stories are beginning to travel.
At MorningStar Senior Living of Billings, an employee helped a grieving resident reconnect with her community by inviting her to share her love of quilting. LifeLoop shared the story through its Senior Living Heroes series.
At Charter Senior Living of Paducah, residents and team members showed that senior living can be a party. Watch the video.
At Cambridge House, residents have launched foam darts, brought the beach indoors and filled social media with the everyday fun people may not picture when they hear “senior living.” See Cambridge House in action.
And Distinctive Living has embraced I Love Senior Living by celebrating careers built on relationships, compassion, service and purpose. See their post.
A love story. A quilting class. Residents goofing around. A professional explaining why they chose this work. Together, these stories create a more complete and human picture of senior living, one that outdated stereotypes cannot compete with.
August Is About Ageless Hearts
There is still time to participate in August’s Ageless Hearts theme, which puts residents and their remarkable life stories at the center of the movement.
Who in your community has a story people would never expect? Who is pursuing a passion, sharing hard-earned wisdom, discovering something new or proving that purpose and adventure have no age limit? A great story does not require a production crew. It can be a photograph and three sentences, a 30-second conversation or a resident answering one thoughtful question.
Capture the moment, share why it matters and post it using #ILoveSeniorLiving. Tag @Argentum so we can find it, celebrate it and help it travel.
What Story Will You Tell?
J.R. and Shannon did not set out to demonstrate the power of storytelling. They simply shared something true. Others shared it, too. Eventually, a television station noticed, and people who may never have thought about senior living encountered a side of it they might never otherwise have seen.
There are thousands of stories inside senior living communities that could make someone laugh, challenge an assumption, appreciate a caregiver, consider a new career or see aging differently. But first, someone has to tell them.
Show the heart. Share the story. Strengthen the future.
And today, help one remarkable senior living story travel even farther.
Vote for J.R. and Shannon before August 13. | Share Your Story | Explore I Love Senior Living