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Marlene Zecchino, assistant Engagement director at Arbor Terrace at Hamilton Mill, loves to talk to residents. She enjoys hearing about their lives and their hobbies and interests, and maybe soaking up a bit of their hard-earned wisdom. And sometimes those conversations lead to something even bigger.
By way of a conversation, the Engagement team learned that resident Sue Swinson, a retired teacher, loves oil painting. She taught herself to paint about three years ago. Zecchino, who has an art background herself, thought Swinson’s paintings deserved a bigger audience.
“When we found out that Sue was an artist, I asked if she would like to do a ‘Meet Your Neighbor’ event,” Zecchino said.
The community hosted a sidewalk art show on Aug. 6, showcasing a gallery of Swinson’s paintings, followed by a Q&A in which she talked about her work. Attendees were treated to champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries.
That’s not the first time a conversation has turned into a “Meet Your Neighbor” event at the community.
Previously, the team discovered that another resident, Dan Lozynsky, had a career as an actor and singer in off-Broadway productions. Not only that, Dan had a DVD of one of his shows! So Zecchino organized a “Meet Your Neighbor” event for residents to watch Dan’s show in the community’s theater. To recreate the showgoing experience, she even printed up tickets for anyone who wanted to attend. The off-Broadway event was such a hit that the community has repeated the show a few times to give new residents the chance to see Dan’s performance.
The “Meet Your Neighbor” events reflect The Arbor Company’s value of establishing deep connections among staff, residents and their families. Each event is tailored to a resident’s interests or accomplishments and allows everyone to get to know that resident a bit better.
“We focus on each resident at a personal level,” Zecchino said. “We work one-on-one with each resident. When I discover a resident’s purpose or passion, I look for ways to highlight that.”
