[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by gomoho

First of all I thought the article was also very flattering - but what would expect them to say. "Can you believe a place as horrible as The Villages would be involved in healthcare".

I didn't expect the article to say anything different than what it said. But I can wonder if the reporter/writer may have been a U.S.F graduate, and therefore very upbeat about anything U.S.F. is involved in. She most likely contacted U.S.F. and The Villages to get the story. So she got all the usual PR stuff that we get here in The Villages. I didn't say that I wish for a story that's critical of The Villages. You assumed it. The writer obviously only had one source of information, so what else would one expect?

Second - there is a cohesiveness here that you don't find much anymore in neighborhoods. People outside the bubble are too involved with work and kids and technology to even recognize their neighbor if they ran into them in a store. People do look out for each other and have great pride in their Village.

Do you know all 100,000 residents well enough to speak for them? I think you are reporting your particular experiences or observations. I have had both good and bad experiences, not unlike other communities. Florida is full of "nice" retirement communities, so we are not that unique. But we are bigger of course.

Third - I'm not sure how much sacrifice or lifestyle change you think they are looking for? I am quite confident there are more seniors involved in activities here then anywhere else in this country. Sure we probably eat too much and drink too much, but hopefully that is balanced by activity and most important preventative care. I think that more than anything is what The Villages Health is looking at. Be pro-active in your health care and if a problem arises tackle it early on or even better communicate with your doctor so you can continue to live this lifestyle.

On what do you base your confidence that more seniors are active here? Out of 100,000 residents, how many show up to participate or observe the senior olympic games? Only about 1% of the residents participate and those who show up to watch are close friends or relatives. More often than not the "eating and drinking too much" is not balanced with sufficient physical activity.

I don't believe they are trying to present a bubble full of people that don't have disease or illness, but rather a bubble where these don't become debilitating and people are involved in their own destiny.

So how will we know if it's working? There's a turnover of people moving in and moving out. New people come in and some die, some go to nursing homes, some go to assisted living, and there are those who go back north to live with their children.