VITALIA Senior Residences at Strongsville Explores the Importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

As a company, Arrow Senior Living has made learning about and celebrating our unique differences a part of our company culture. So much so that, in recent years, it has become an extension of our core values. And for the past year, Arrow has expanded beyond yearly diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops to create Arrow’s D&I Speaker Series, which pairs special guest speakers with residents from our communities to have conversations on a wide range of topics such as mental health, PRIDE, Juneteenth, and so much more. We believe that sparking conversations on what some may believe to be sensitive topics helps to shed light on misconceptions and ultimately brings about understanding as it relates to the experiences of others. This ensures our employees and residents have the tools to build a safe place to live and work, one where a diverse group can come together and feel equally seen, heard, and included. 

At Vitalia Senior Residences at Strongsville, DEI goes beyond training and mentoring. It is a way of life. One of my favorite conversations thus far was: A Mental Health Awareness Conversation on Grief with Sandy McGatha & Janet Rose.

Mental Health and grief can go hand and hand. If you do not allow yourself time to process and heal, you can cause depression to set in and that can consume you mentally and distract you from focusing on normal daily living. Being able to talk to someone or have a conversation about grief, bringing about the awareness of it, is very important. Mourning is the outward appearance, such as wearing black or holding on to things that remind you of the individual. Grief is the more internal and emotional part of losing a loved one. Both have a bearing on you physically and mentally. Everyone grieves and mourns differently, so allow that individual time and be there the best way you can to help them get through those difficult times.

I believe DEI is important to make individuals feel as though they belong, to know someone else understands them as a person from a different cultural background and how they see things. Holding conversations to learn about one another without judgement and to remove stigmas, misconceptions, and assumptions is key. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion brings about change, growth, and allows us the opportunity to find out that most of us have many of the same similarities in our daily lives. That alone can create newfound bonds and build relationships in the workplace.

These conversations have only just begun, and I look forward to the conversations to come and all the new growth and opportunity that lies ahead as we work toward creating the greatest and safest place to work that we can!