StoryPoint Chesterton is the new way for senior living as it is the only senior living community that offers an unlicensed model rather than the traditional assisted living. Having an unlicensed model gives residents more independence and freedom to make choices.
Keeping people as independent for as long as possible while providing care services is what StoryPoint strives for. Its goal and model is that anyone can come in and never have to leave. StoryPoint brings the services to its residents, whether it is help with the shower or help with medications therapies, so they can remain independent and get all the amenities and support that they need.
One of the things that sets StoryPoint Chesterton apart is its Life Enrichment program. StoryPoint wants its residents' lives to be enriched and have meaning and purpose, which fueled the idea to have an enrichment program. This enrichment philosophy still guides StoryPoint today.
There are four quadrants of the philosophy of life enrichment–laughter, exploration, connection, and movement. Every single one of the life enrichment activities and day-to-day events in their community have to hit on one of these four philosophies.
The four philosophies:
Laughter
Laughter shines light into the dark and helps lighten the heavy load. StoryPoint hopes to create an environment that uses a spirit of laughter alleviate any heaviness the residents experience. The residents have funny stories to tell, and StoryPoint staff loves laughing out loud at their punchlines. The staff members’ intimate bonds with each resident allows them to share jokes, poke fun, and be unapologetically themselves with each other. They do not stop at a smile as their goal is a belly laugh.
Exploration
Exploration sparks imagination, and imagination has no age limit. A lifetime of experiences does not mean the residents cannot still have the experience of a lifetime. StoryPoint believes providing opportunities to explore new things gives its residents a reason to look forward to what is next rather than focus on what they may have lost.
Connection
Happy Hour can easily turn into happy hours when you're sitting next to a friend. Yelling bingo is so much sweeter when you know who your competitors are. Life without hugs and high fives is cold and sad. When our residents are connected to themselves, to their neighbors, and to StoryPoint employees, the programs it creates really come to life. Something magical happens when residents go beyond just showing up and become truly engaged and connected. A seemingly insignificant gesture or a routine activity have an enormous impact when there is an ever-present, underlying focus on connection.
Movement
No matter how intense or how leisurely, movement can have a significant impact on residents’ lives. But it is not just about the daily fitness classes. It is the feeling that there are always places to go with people to see. Making plans with friends or signing up to go on an adventure is as much a part of an active lifestyle as getting that daily movement. StoryPoint believes that every moment of movement affects physical welfare and emotional wellbeing.
Every day there are about six to eight activities for the residents. Life Enrichment Director Shelly McCarthy is the mastermind who comes up with the ideas and executes them. The enrichment activities always reflect who is in the building, so if a resident loves golf or quilting, then McCarthy will incorporate that into the activities calendar.
One of the activities on the calendar is exploration, for which the residents bring a picture from their favorite vacation, relive that memory, and explore that vacation with all of the current residents. Movement activities could be something as simple as a game of volleyball. Then one activity could combine two quadrants like laughter and connection which can be happy hour. Every single activity has to land on one or more of the four quadrants.
“I think what sets us apart is our life enrichment team. Our enrichment team gets to know who our residents are, what their hopes and dreams are, and what they like and want to do,” said Celine Certa, Business Development Specialist. “They create that meaning and purpose again in their lives, and it's a challenge because sometimes some folks don't want to leave their room. So we make sure that every single life is touched.”
People should not wait until something catastrophic happens to think of senior living. A lot of times, seniors are sitting at home, not only lonely, but not eating well. They rely on family members to maybe drop off food every other night and it is not an ideal way to live. This is why StoryPoint has created a community where anybody can move in at any stage in their life.
StoryPoint Chesterton employees meet people wherever they're at in life; they don't move people out but move them up. They are able to wrap their arms around them so that they are safe and getting the services they need right where they are at. StoryPoint likes to have a holistic approach to health care and senior living as a whole. So, when residents are engaging in the four quadrants – laughter, exploration, connection and movement – they are going to stay independent longer and have a better sense of meaning and purpose again.
“A lot of folks come to StoryPoint just for the Life Enrichment program and the engagement,” said Certa. “They have no other reason to move, besides the fact that they're lonely and being lonely is the number one reason we have people moving in.”
Check out to see if StoryPoint is right for you at its website.