From Portland to Bayview: Meet Anne Oneill

Bayview’s campus is filled with meaningful connections across generations. Did you know we have a children’s center on site? Meet resident Anne Oniell, who shares why this special part of Bayview helped make her decision to move here an easy one. Hear her story below:

Seeing the rope parade of toddlers walking through the lobby and getting on the elevator when I was touring Bayview for the first time, helped seal the deal that this was my choice for a senior residence. Last summer I had decided to move from Portland to Seattle, where my kids are, because I was getting just too worn out with health issues. And I wanted to be near them. I’d spent some time in online searching for retirement communities in Seattle. I tried to combine it with my primary amenity interest, a warm water therapy pool, which I had gotten quite used to to ease the pain of my arthritis. Location of interest: about equidistant from my two kids.

So although I’d been interested in connecting with children in my next retirement home, I already knew that was infrequent enough that it wasn’t worth searching for.

And then I saw them, moseying in reasonable order, each one holding on to a puffy shape with a hole in, it connected by a rope; a donut, a square, a triangle, just the right stuffed size for a three year old’s grip. The rope keeps each from wandering. One charming girl, tilted her head way back so she could make eye contact with me saying “hello.” Another little one, weary from morning’s play, gazed straight ahead. A third was chattering with one of his peers. And I was delighted to be in an elevator filled with little ones!

I’d been reading for the past few years, summaries of studies showing that intergenerational mixing like this was calming, and energizing at the same time. The social interaction helps us develop a sense of purpose, learn new cognitive skills and decrease loneliness. Besides the videos and news reports always looked fun. At Bayview, interaction is promoted with their weekly Kindermusik. We are welcome to walk our walled garden during the children’s outdoor play time. There’s sign-up sheet for us to read a story to a class in our library; a sign-up sheet which is quickly filled because it’s such fine to see their eyes all on you and your book.

So pool, kiddos, location. Choosing Bayview was easy.