ABOVE: Residents at Goldfinch Estates in Fairmont play a dice game on Tuesday afternoon. The activities department daily puts on a variety of events for residents to participate in.

FAIRMONT– The activities department at Goldfinch Estates in Fairmont is on a mission to not only organize events that interest residents and bring them joy, but help fill a purpose for them. In order to achieve this goal the senior living community implemented the Aspire program late last year.

Goldfinch’s activities manager, Courtney Williams, said that while some people view moving into the senior living community as an ending, they would rather people view it as a beginning. She said they encourage residents to utilize their talents and passions to give them purpose.

Some residents enjoy reading to others, while others like having the opportunity to play an instrument or perform for others, Williams said.

The logo for the Aspire program is a star with five points, which cover the pillars of the program: social, intellectual, physical, spiritual and emotional.

“Within our activities here, my goal is to hit each category with what we’re doing so they’re getting something from all of them,” Williams said.

She still plans regular activities and events, but incorporates the Aspire lifestyle and mission into everything she does for the residents.

“Sometimes we regroup how we do them so we make sure to get something spiritual or emotional into the activities that we currently do,” Williams said.

The activities department covers both the assisted living and memory care side of Goldfinch. While the memory care side is more fluid depending on what the interest and engagement is, the assisted living side tends to be more structured.

“We’re doing three to four activities a day,” Williams said.

She tries to plan activities that align with common events and holidays so this past month residents were able to partake in a Super Bowl party and special events were put on for Valentine’s Day.

Some of the more popular events are bingo and Brody Bents, sales and community marketing manager, said that their Friday happy hours are another big draw.

“I don’t think everyone understands what assisted living is. When I tell people about happy hour– while not everyone is into it– it’s the same as life anywhere else, it just has some services to help everyone be successful, safe and out of the nursing home,” Bents said.

He added that while people who transition their loved one into assisted living expect them to be fed and cared for, Goldfinch does that along with putting on activities and implementing a well-rounded program like Aspire in order to reach a person’s other needs.

In addition to the organized events put on for residents at Goldfinch, many have their family or friends from outside of the community come in and entertain them or even join in on Goldfinch’s organized events. On the flip side, some residents drive themselves to events outside of Goldfinch or have family and friends take them on an outing.

Goldfinch also has a bus that takes residents on dine outs twice a month to places like the Channel Inn and Jake’s Pizza, which Williams said is a big hit.

“We have a lot of family members come to bingo or happy hour. I think that’s important for residents to see their family and friends enjoy that, too,” Williams said.

Bents said that there’s a bridge group that gets together weekly and several of them are from outside of the Goldfinch community.

“This is independent living… but there are some services to make them successful,” Bents said.

Right now there are four staff members in the activities department but Williams said they’re soon adding another member which she is excited about.

“It takes over 100 employees to make a community this large work. Every department is so important. Obviously nursing and our RAs are extremely important and the activity people are just as important to keep everything going. If this was just to have people come to live here and stay in their rooms, that would be such a detriment. Courtney keeping everyone busy is just as important,” Bents said.

“We’re super fortunate to have such a large community with a whole activity staff that lets us do more for the residents,” Williams added.

She puts on monthly resident council meetings, which is an opportunity for them to provide feedback.

“I would say overall everyone is happy with how activities are going and what we have planned. I definitely take their suggestions and talents into account,” Williams said.

*This article ran on the Sentinel’s Senior Sense page.