Independent living community brochures provide brief snippets of information. Most of them are designed to offer the best possible image of the community, its residents, its amenities, and its workers. While they can provide an enticing image of what life is like within the community, there is a lot you cannot learn from a brochure, including the things listed below.

Independent Living Community Insights You Can’t Learn from a Brochure

How Does the Food Taste?

It might seem trivial at first glance, but for people who will be dining in the community dining areas for most, if not all, of their meals for the next several years, it’s a good idea to make sure you like the food. The brochure can advertise that the food is prepared by the finest chef and meets certain nutritional standards, but if you don’t like it, you’re not likely to eat it. The best solution is to plan a visit and taste the food for yourself.

How Clean is the Community, Really?

Most brochures don’t include pictures in the corners and out of the main areas. You’ll need to visit the community, take a tour, and pay attention to the dark corners and other areas that are often overlooked when cleaning. Notice whether or not these areas need a little attention – or a lot. Pay attention to the smell as well. The last thing you want is to live with unpleasant odors day in and out.

How Do Residents Interact with Staff?

This is a critical indication of whether or not all is well between members of the staff and residents. Take notice of how they communicate and whether the residents seem genuinely fond of the people who have been hired to assist them in their daily routines.

What Does the Community Feel Like?

Are the people friendly? Do you feel like you can connect with, or have something in common with, the people who live here? Is this a place you think you could feel at home?

The best way to answer the questions that brochures leave unanswered is to plan a visit to every independent living community you’re considering so that you can compare your observations and ultimately select the one that feels most like home to you. That’s the main thing a brochure simply can’t explain to you.

Are you searching for the perfect independent living community? If you’ve done your research, read the brochure, and narrowed it down to a few communities, it’s now time to tour the campus. This will give you an opportunity to see in person all the amenities and services you read about in the brochure, as well as have the chance to take in the environment, mingle with current residents, and chat with the staff.

Contact an Eskaton team member at 888-684-6554 to set up your tour of the largest nonprofit community-based organization serving seniors in the Greater Sacramento area.