Market Street Memory Care Viera 'Cooks Up' Success as the Winners of Watercrest Senior Living's Live Exhilarated™ Challenge

VERO BEACH, Fla., Aug. 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The true winners of Watercrest's Live Exhilarated™ challenge are the residents and associates who used their passion for cooking to inspire, create and engage others. This summer, Watercrest's Chief Experience Officer, Hollie Kemp, issued a challenge to each of the teams in Watercrest senior living communities.  The challenge: to develop a new, meaningful and multi-step program that was resident-led, included at least one of Watercrest's Live Exhilarated™ facets of wholeness, and demonstrated an understanding of program vs. activity.

Watercrest has a unique approach to healthy aging focused on individuals achieving personal wholeness through participation in programs aligned with the seven facets of wholeness.  These facets provide the framework for the Live Exhilarated™ program which focuses on celebrating the residents' story, encouraging their pursuit of new passions, optimizing their experience, and offering variety and choice to all residents.

"We believe that our Live Exhilarated™ facets are the key to extraordinary engagement programs whether in independent, assisted living or memory care," says Hollie Kemp, Watercrest's Chief Experience Officer.  "Personal wholeness is more than a feeling; it's the active pursuit of a thrilling life and we congratulate our team at Market Street Viera for seeing potential over limitation and brightening many lives." 

At Market Street Memory Care Residences Viera, the team successfully engaged their residents' passion for cooking to create a Live Exhilarated™ challenge program inspired by a cooking show. 

Week one, the group perused recipes and selected a traditional Italian meal while reminiscing about family meals, cooking for their own families and delighting in an heirloom 1940's Betty Crocker cookbook. The following week, residents loved visiting their local Publix with shopping lists in-hand, prepping for bruschetta, pasta with homemade sauce and homemade ice cream. Week three brought planning as residents organized ingredients and began cooking their 'special sauce' to perfection.  While tearing up basil leaves, mixing meatballs, preparing bruschetta and tweaking the sauce, "the way their Mama used to do it," stories and laughter were shared amongst all.

"Our feedback was so positive," says Ruth Norman, Memory Care Director at Market Street Memory Care Residence Viera.  "About eighty percent of our residents participated and were so proud of their cooking skills, and presentation of dinner to our management team.  We even had requests at Sunday brunch to share all of the photos with family and friends. It is heartwarming to see our residents inspired and full of pride!"

A certified Great Place to Work, Watercrest Senior Living Group was founded by Marc Vorkapich, CEO, and Joan Williams, CFO, to honor our mothers and fathers, aspiring to become a beacon for quality in senior living.  Watercrest specializes in the development and operations of senior living communities and the growth of servant leaders.  Visit www.watercrestseniorliving.com or www.marketstreetresidence.com.

SOURCE Watercrest Senior Living Group

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