LeadingAge: A review of this year's senior living conference and expo

By Calista Sprague

LeadingAge, an association of not-for-profits dedicated to education, advocacy, applied research and promotion of services to seniors, children and others with special needs, held its annual meeting and expo in Nashville on October 19 through 22. This year’s theme was Redefining Age, and presentations focused on every aspect of senior care from housing and transportation to communication and health services.

Over 7,500 attendees participated in a range of activities, beginning on Sunday evening with a special showing of the documentary “Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me,” which shadows the country music legend on his goodbye tour following an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Three general sessions and almost 200 education sessions kept attendees engaged, along with three exhibit halls filled with more than 900 booths, a live game show—WordUp—focused on senior care terminology, and a Seniors Solutions Expo.

In a presentation titled Age-friendly Communities: Moving Beyond Our Campus Borders, Marvin Kaiser, CEO of a senior living community called Mary’s Woods, offered some staggering statistics: 11% of the world’s population will be 65 or older by 2025, and in the U.S. alone, 10,000 people turn 65 every day. Kaiser quoted gerontologist Alan Pifer, who likened this population shift to “a revolution as great as the industrial revolution.”

Organizations and companies have begun shifts of their own to meet the needs of this burgeoning age group. The flooring industry is no exception. Flooring companies are creating new divisions to combine the assets of commercial and residential sectors and devise products uniquely suited to senior care. Manufacturers are drawing on the feeling of home offered in their residential lines, the performance of their commercial healthcare products and the design options from their hospitality lines to appeal to retirement communities and nursing care centers.

IDEA HOUSE
Each year, LeadingAge builds a roofless house on the expo floor, complete with living area, bedrooms, kitchen and baths, called Idea House. The display is filled with the latest products intended to improve the day-to-day lives of seniors. The 2014 house, a brainchild of THW Design, featured unique framing and wiring to allow for future renovations, such as combining or separating rooms to accommodate the evolution of care for an aging loved one. Sustainability was a key consideration, partially in support of the environment, but also to support seniors’ health with natural light and ventilation for clean air. A sloped roof with photovoltaic solar panels can reorient to the sun, and additional energy- and water-conserving devices help save utility dollars and minimize impact on the environment.

Technological advancements were used throughout the house to help seniors remain independent but easily connect with loved ones and caretakers. Daily weight and blood pressure readings can be pushed up automatically to healthcare professionals through a tablet app, and apps on tablets or even through the TV can provide seniors with a calendar, photos and messages from caretakers, friends and family.

Flooring throughout the house focused on providing an at-home feel while keeping seniors safe and healthy. One bedroom featured Shaw Contract luxury vinyl planks and the others featured Patcraft carpet tiles. Interface combined two carpet tile designs in the great room, and Forbo installed Marmoleum in a bathroom and laundry room, and a combination of LVT and Flotex in the kitchen area.

The Idea House also emphasized exercise for seniors, incorporating an indoor gym from HUR with fitness machines for greater mobility, fall prevention and incontinence reduction. The house even featured a senior playground with 22 accessories, which can be placed indoors or out. The system by Xccent Fitness helps seniors improve balance, hand-eye coordination and muscle strength, all of which assist in fall prevention.

FLOORING FOR SENIOR LIVING
When designing spaces for seniors, safety and hygiene take precedence. Zero threshold flooring transitions with bonded seams protect seniors from falls. Products such as easy to clean resilient or carpet tiles that can be replaced or temporarily removed for maintenance help keep homes and facilities clean while minimizing germs and other contaminants.

HD Supply, a turnkey provider for flooring specializing in senior living, reports that senior living specifiers have been moving away from carpet in recent years, opting more often for LVT, especially wood looks. Sheet vinyl is most often chosen for residents’ rooms and baths, according to the firm, with natural stone looks favored.

In reaction to rising demand, Forbo started a new wellness and care division for the senior living sector, marketing its Flotex flocked nylon product and Allura LVT to senior care facilities and specifiers. An antimicrobial is added to the Flotex adhesive that holds the fibers to the backing, and the backing is waterproof, inhibiting the growth of MRSA, E. coli, fungi and other organisms. The new Allura LVT Core collection offers wood and stone looks, and the Colour homogenous tiles stand up to commercial traffic.

Forbo also touted a case study done with Princeton that showed how even a 4’x8’ mat placed at each entrance can significantly affect the life of flooring products throughout a facility, minimizing scratches and scuffs in addition to reducing wetness and loose particles by up to 90%, which could help prevent falls and reduce germs. Forbo doubles the warranty on flooring installed in conjunction with 10’ of its Coral Entrance System, which features a cut pile with kinks to trap dirt. In addition to increasing flooring longevity, Forbo claims the entrance system can help facilities save up to 65% on maintenance costs.

Some facilities house large equipment that can put flooring through its paces. LSI Floors offers high performance LVT with up to a 28 mil wearlayer for point load capabilities up to 2,500 pounds. LSI’s products are slip resistant with a new UV-cured microscopic glass bead surface, and the firm runs an ISO certified lab onsite, so it can test to ASTM standards in house.

Earthwerks also offers LVT for healthcare and senior living applications, with wearlayers up to 32mm and options for glue down, floating and loose lay. The firm’s brand new Cocktail collection has become a quick hit, with specifiers clamoring for more color choices. The rainbow of 20 bright colors is appropriate for common areas, activity rooms and dining halls, and could be useful for wayfinding.

As we age, we lose not only visual focus, but also depth perception. To help seniors, flooring patterns need to be subtle with low contrast, avoiding strong linear or angled designs. Flutter from Patcraft’s Butterfly Effect broadloom and carpet tile was showcased in an Idea House bedroom, and the soft, random pattern works well in senior living environments. And Shaw Contract’s new Simplicity line provides soft geometrics and organics with an impermeable EcoWorx backing, available in a 12’ broadloom.

Interface has focused on senior living for over 12 years, and the firm has noticed a move away from the traditional country club look of previous generations, giving way to a more transitional look preferred by baby boomers, who are currently choosing facilities for their parents and themselves. The new Human Nature line, inspired by pebbles, grass and other natural elements, lent a more modern look to the Idea House living room. The modular squares consist of 100% solution-dyed nylon and are easy to replace or temporarily remove to clean.

Oriental rug motifs were updated for Tandus Centiva’s new Tapis Collection, a blend of traditional and contemporary design. The collection won a NeoCon Silver award this year in Healthcare Flooring. The line is available in Powerbond and modular in five different styles, and the vinyl backing can be welded at the seams for a wall-to-wall moisture barrier or welded to resilient for smooth transitions.

Signature Accord recently launched its first running line in the senior living collection. The Life Scripts collection consists of broadloom for resident rooms, and the Total Living collection was designed for high traffic environments in senior care communities. Both lines feature a high performance backing system with bio-based and recycled content called BioCel Laminate Plus from Universal Textile Technologies.

The new Vertu collection from Parterre Flooring Systems offers 33 contemporary wood looks in vinyl plank. The 6” planks come in warm and cool neutrals, plus bolder colors for accent or wayfinding. The planks have been tested wet and dry for coefficient of friction, and a cushion back option comes in three levels for a variety of uses.

For the senior living sector, Mohawk combines assets across all platforms. A new technology in the Durkan hospitality division allows designers more flexibility, layering two patterns with up to 12 colors in cut and loop. The firm reports that LVT is trending up, along with modular carpet, but a strong base still prefers “the feeling of home” in broadloom.

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