Cedar Trails Senior Living Shows 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, fun, and celebration. 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 calmness. Purple is the color of spirit, thought to connect us to the spiritual realm.

At Cedar Trails Senior Living Freeburg, IL, we feel most connected to blue. Our employees strive to help our residents feel comfortable, relaxed, and calm in our community. This is important for them, as this is where they wanted to spend their retirement years. Besides fun and exciting activities, we have relaxing events like yoga, rocking on the porch, walks inside and outside, reading, and movie nights.

As Resident Services Director, I so much enjoy hanging out with our residents. If I can see in their faces that something is wrong, I walk to them and make sure that they are okay. Listening to them talk helps me to surprise them with different things that they miss or have not had in a while. I like to put smiles on their faces and make them feel safe, happy, and well taken care of. They deserve the best and the best is what I strive to give them.

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!