VITALIA Senior Residences® at Strongsville Showing Their Colors During Pride Month

In celebration of Pride Month this June, Arrow Senior Living is looking at The Pride

Flag, a symbol that is a representation of the forward movements to support and celebrate those in the LGBTQIA+ community. This important piece of the community has a meaning that is described by the colors included.

Red represents life and passion among many cultures. Orange represents healing and is a fun and celebratory color. Yellow is a symbol for sunlight and is said to stimulate new ideas and thoughts. Green is synonymous with nature, a healing place, also associated with prosperity and growth. Blue represents serenity and the ability to feel calm. Purple is the color of spirit, thought to connect us to the spiritual realm.

At VITALIA Senior Residences® at Strongsville Strongsville, OH, we feel most connected to purple – the color of spirit. Not so much in the spiritual sense, but our community has so much “team spirit” and enthusiasm!  Our residents are always out and about, participating in so many wonderful activities, events, and helping within the Strongsville community. They love to sing, dance, get creative with arts and crafts, and they all have such great personalities that really shine. When you walk into our community, you can feel the energy and the presence of positivity.

As Resident Services Director, I create activities and events that are for everyone. There is always something for all our residents to enjoy. We have active events like walking club, chair exercise, water aerobics, putt putt golf, and corn hole. Educational events are enjoyed by many. They include Vitalia scholars, music appreciation, Jeopardy, and book club. Religious activities available are Bible study, church services, prayer service, and communion. Our ever-popular fun events include wine tasting, jumpin’ & jivin’, happy hour, movie night, ladies’ luncheon, men’s lunch group, Veterans reunion group, various trips and outings, and all kinds of arts & crafts. Every one of our residents has something to do they love! I also encourage our staff members to participate in all our activities so they can connect with the residents on a different level.

In our community, we know that each of our residents have come from different lifestyles and backgrounds. As such, we work to maintain that diverse culture across both residents and staff with targeted programming and staff education efforts. Arrow Senior Living has launched a resident-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) speaker series for employee and resident education. Residents interview speakers who represent some of the relevant topics of the day related to diversity, equity, and inclusion ranging from non-binary people and use of pronouns to Juneteenth history. Through our tradition’s council, which coordinates core resident and employee cultural celebrations and education, we work actively to celebrate diversity within our community. This has created a means for residents and employees to join in recognition of each other. The road ahead is to ensure that diversity and inclusion is not just an initiative. Moving forward requires necessary conversations to address discomfort and to open dialogue on important perspectives. This helps to ensure that we are providing not only an enjoyable place to retire, but one where seniors can feel enriched, safe, and excited about life!