When you walk into The Chelsea at Bald Eagle, you’re met with a buzzing community: friends chatting by the grand fireplace, families checking in to visit, staff greeting residents by name while passing through the foyer.
The senior living facility, which feels much like an upscale apartment building with its extra bells and whistles, offers residents condo-style homes in a safe community. Top-notch dining, professionally trained staff, a local shuttle, and a jam-packed schedule of activities—from bocce ball, Wii Bowling, and walking club to bingo, board games, and happy hour—work in tandem to foster community and keep residents engaged, happy, and healthy.
Winning the Game
The Chelsea at Bald Eagle proves to be a cut above the rest—taking home the coveted “Chelsea Cup” for its National Assisted Living Week events in 2019. Assisted living facilities across the U.S. are given a theme to work with when planning activities for National Assisted Living Week, which kicks off on Grandparent’s Day (the Sunday after Labor Day) each year.
2019’s theme was “A Spark of Creativity.” To create an exciting, special week for residents, The Chelsea at Bald Eagle’s activities team combined the theme with a favorite resident pastime: games.
“They love games: board games, gambling games, they love poker, they love casinos,” explains activities director Josie Webb. “So we have creativity, and we have games. How do we bring this together? We have to bring games to life. We have to make our community the game!”
As they do every day, the activities team went all-in.
For day one of Assisted Living Week, the game of Chutes and Ladders came to life during a huge outdoor barbeque. Families came to visit their loved ones for Grandparents Day, and were met with giant bounce houses complete with slides and fire trucks from the West Milford Fire Department.
The next day was themed around Clue. A touring theater company came in and did a murder mystery show with the residents, and staff members got in on the fun by dressing up as Clue characters. Later in the day, the activities team hosted “Chelsea Clue Guess Who,” putting a staff member behind a curtain with a spot light, while another read off facts about who was hiding behind the curtain. An audience of residents guessed amongst themselves with excitement as clues were read, cheering every time the curtain dropped.
Then, the entire facility transformed into Candy Land. Residents awoke to find the larger than life candies they had created in an art class weeks’ prior transforming the lobby into Peppermint Forest, and the Country Cottage to Lollipop Woods. There was a candy bar set up with old school sweets that residents reminisced about while packing their own goodie bags.
The Board Game Battleship was brought to life the next day. The floor was turned into a grid, and residents sitting in chairs held up a red plate (often calling out “I’m hit!”) when their number was called.
On casino night, professional dealers came in with tables, games, and slots for residents to play for the chance to win prizes.
Working with the game Life the next day, The Chelsea at Bald Eagle hosted a vintage car show. The local Boy Scout troop set up a table and sold ice cream sodas for residents to enjoy while checking out cars they remembered from their glory years. On a massive canvas residents took turns painting, filling in the outline of a car.
The last day of the week celebrated Monopoly. The staff organized which multiple local businesses in West Milford to come set up tables around The Chelsea for residents to visit and shop at. A game of Mega Monopoly, with a gigantic board and game pieces, was set up and played all day long. Mega Monopoly was so popular, and requested afterwards, that it has popped up on a later month’s schedule of activities.
More than a Week of Special Events
The Chelsea at Bald Eagle’s caring staff and outstanding facilities deliver a super high standard of living for residents day in and day out, regularly offering a huge selection of activities, excursions, and amenities every day for all levels of care—from independent to assisted living and specialized memory care units for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
To learn more, visit The Chelsea at Bald Eagle’s website or call: (973) 728-6000