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It's important for older adults to know what aging services are available to them and what quality of life they can expect as they age. On this edition of the Exploring Aging Podcast, Dr. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeece, pioneers and innovators in aging services, sit down with host, Ray Sanders, to provide an overview of the many services available through the agencies they lead.
It's important for older adults to know what aging services are available to them and what quality of life they can expect as they age. On this edition of the Exploring Aging Podcast, Dr. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeece, pioneers and innovators in aging services, sit down with host, Ray Sanders, to provide an overview of the many services available through the agencies they lead.
Exploring Aging
Did you know that the fastest growing segment of the population is 85 years of age or older? This phenomenon is known as the age wave. Have you ever wondered what your options are, and what your quality of life will look like as you age? Have you ever thought about what it's gonna be like at 85, 90, or a 100? What options are out there for aging parents?
Ray:We will unpack these and other related topics on this episode of the Exploring Aging podcast. Welcome to this edition of the Exploring Aging podcast. I'm your host, Ray Sanders, and I'm joined by my cohost, doctor Bill Pierce and Greg McNeese. On our last program, we set the stage for the shifts that are taking place in our society. We discussed the silver tsunami, the age wave, and ageism.
Ray:Today, guys, I'd like to know how you are addressing the challenges we just discussed. I'd like for you to tell us a little bit about specifically the Baptist Village Communities, the institute you have formed, and entrusted hearts. So without further ado, welcome to the show again, guys, and I'd love for you to unpack some of the things we've we've been talking about.
Bill:Well, thank you.
Greg:Thank you.
Bill:And Ray, the first thing I want to do is is circle back to that silver tsunami that you've talked about a couple times. We talked about it on the last podcast. And I wanna say that we when you think about a tsunami, you think about this giant wave that hits everything hard and you think about it as a negative thing.
Ray:Oh, it's true.
Bill:Greg and I don't look at aging as a negative thing. We look at it as a positive thing. Even though you change a lot, you you we look at it as positive things. So don't look at the age wave. Don't look at a tsunami as a destructive thing.
Bill:We're trying to build a foundation for positive aging here.
Ray:And I think your point is that while there could be a a silver tsunami coming, if we don't take precautions, if we don't get our act together, it could be destructive. But your point is, just because you're aging doesn't mean it's destruction and bad. It can be a really positive thing. Certainly. I'm going to give you a really real example.
Ray:I had 6 kids. I have 6 kids. I have 9 grandchildren. I'm celebrating my 35th wedding, anniversary this month.
Bill:Congratulations. Yeah.
Ray:That's awesome. Let me tell you something. People talk about the empty nest. Bring on that tsunami. It's not destruction.
Ray:I'm loving that. I'm riding that wave. Right. And see, that's that's a part of aging that's great. Yes.
Ray:My wife and I are loving just just the 2 of us in the house. There's things about it that are that are beautiful. So that's a part of aging. That's your point. Right, Bill?
Bill:That's the point. Alright. It can be a positive thing.
Ray:Okay. Well, since we're at it, Greg, I'll throw this to you. Really wasn't planning on this, and we'll get back to the other aspects, but let's catch everybody up. Not everybody may have listened to the last episode, did a great job describing the silver tsunami. Thank you for that, Bill.
Ray:Thanks for speaking up. The age wave, what's what's that about? I mean, that's kind of a spin on the silver tsunami, but what really is the age wave society as society that we're embracing? Sure.
Greg:I mean, so the age wave is really, I think it's more of a collective understanding of there is a large wave if you will, that's coming. And it's one of those things where we've got to begin to think and plan. If you're at the beach and you see a wave, a large wave coming, you're thinking, how am I going to either wait for that before I go in the water? Am I gonna brace myself for that? Am I going to adapt to that wave?
Ray:That's right.
Greg:And that's where we are with the age wave. We've got to plan. We've got to think about where are we gonna be, how are we going to be addressing, issues and family dynamics? And all those things that come with this large number of people who are getting older and older and older. So this age wave really is something we can see in a positive light.
Greg:How are we gonna plan for that? How are we gonna prepare for that? As opposed to just waiting for it to come and we just pick up the pieces wherever we are.
Ray:And that's what I wanna get into today. I wanna get into some specifics and I wanna start with ballad Baptist Village Communities because you guys, Greg, you talked about on the last program how you've kind of been in senior adult ministry using a good Baptist term,
Bill:you
Ray:know, to for most of your life, since you were 4. I think because you were 54 and since you were 4, you've been serving your grandparents. Bill, you've been in this business for 33 years. You guys haven't been sitting on the sideline. You've been thinking about this, preparing for this, and I think it shows through the work of your hands, through these three entities that we're gonna unpack just a little bit and then drill down into, Baptist Village Communities, the institute that you formed, and entrusted hearts.
Ray:But before I forget, Bill, tell us what ageism is. I think that was a term we introduced last program for a lot of people. We mentioned it again today, tell us define ageism one more time, just to put us on the on the on the same page.
Bill:Right. Ageism just permeates our society. It happens without us even thinking about it when we look negatively toward people who are older than we are. And the funny thing is, it can be a 20 year old thinking about a 40 year old. Yes.
Ray:Or it
Bill:can be a 60 year old thinking about an 80 year old. It permeates our society. We see it on television shows. We do it without even thinking about it. Mhmm.
Bill:It is it is a way of thinking negatively about people that are older, and it actually affects them. Their attitude toward themselves is affected by the way that people see them and perceive them. And older people will even tell you that people that are younger don't even see them when they are in a room or when they're passing by. It's a serious problem. We all need to think about ageism as far as the way we live our life and when we do it, we need to stop it.
Ray:And call each other out on it.
Greg:And you know what, Ray? I think it's so impressionable and I guess you could say it permeates our culture. Think about this, Hallmark. They have made a mint off of ageism birthday cards. Mhmm.
Greg:Where there is a whole line of birthday cards back in the day when you would go to Hallmark and get a birthday card to send somebody. Negative. And it was all about forgetfulness, remembering to do this or not do this or sarcastic. So I mean, even at an early age, our business framework in our country perpetuated ageism and it still happens today. And so I can remember going as a young adult buying, what I thought to be kind of funny birthday cards when really enjoyed, they were they were they were slanderous, unaging.
Ray:Makes sense. I see what you're saying.
Greg:And so it's important for us to kinda think through and rethink what does it mean to age well, and to honor someone who's older as opposed to all the negative that
Ray:we see. And I think that's why the name, you know, we're we're exploring aging is a is a good topic for this pod podcast because we're gonna explore those kind of sticky That's a little bit sticky. Sure. You know, a little bit of a sticky topic. I don't wanna think I'm guilty of ageism, but I I probably am in ways that I don't even know.
Ray:Well, guys, I what I wanna do is I wanna give you an opportunity. We kind of know that you guys are passionate about this. We know what you do, what you're involved in. I would love for you to kind of lay the the land out for us, in regard to really the 3 pillars, the 3 legged stool of what it is that you do, that being the Baptist Village Communities, the institute that you've you've formed, and entrusted hearts. And then before this program's over, I'd like to really drill down a little bit more specifically on Baptist Village Communities.
Ray:So let's who wants to go first? The first one is just a quick review of Baptist Village Communities. Tell tell us a little about about that.
Bill:I'm happy to do that, Ray. Baptist Village Communities is about choices. So we like choice. If you if you have a need, you you like to consider different choices, and the more the better. And we have a lot of them.
Bill:So I think that people who are listening, as they get older, I mean, one of the things they need to know is you have choices. And you especially have choices with Baptist Village Communities. So Oklahoma Baptist have been providing aging services for 65 years. That's that's one of the that may be the longest in our state.
Ray:That's 58 years. Right?
Bill:Yeah. And we've been we change all the time. And it's not stagnant. It's a very changing thing. We're offering more and more all the time.
Bill:We have 11 locations, 11 villages around the state of Oklahoma. And, we have lots of housing, apartments, patio homes, those kind of things, what we call residential living.
Ray:Mhmm.
Bill:And then we have enhanced life neighborhoods in which we provide a few services for for those who need them. We have assisted living centers, we have memory support neighborhoods, and we have health centers. So you see how many choices there are. And we're gonna get to entrusted hearts, but that's even another choice that you have with Baptist Village Communities. Services right in your home when you need them.
Ray:So, Baptist Village Communities, 11, properties throughout the state of Oklahoma, you're primarily in the state of Oklahoma, with really 5 areas, and we'll unpack this in a little bit specifically. In addition to that, you have entrusted hearts, which I heard a statistics the other day that 90% of people prefer to age in place. And and what we mean by that is basically, I'd rather stay at home and have the medical services that I need within my home as opposed to going into some sort of a facility or a or a center, and you guys are addressing that as well with entrusted hearts. Everything that's so give me give me a sentence or 2 on what entrusted hearts is.
Bill:Entrusted hearts is home care.
Ray:Okay.
Bill:And so it can happen in a community, one of our villages. It can happen there. Services you need, when you need them in a place you call home. Makes it simple, doesn't it?
Ray:Services would include would that be?
Bill:Well, that include things like homemaker services. Let's say that you need some assistance in preparing meals or transportation or housekeeping or laundry, all the little things that go into our everyday life as we get older.
Ray:Yeah.
Bill:Not major change in your life at all, is it? Mhmm. Yeah. It's just simple changes that enhance your life a great deal through entrusted hearts.
Ray:In our house, in a way, I'm still able to do that, and I think we'll continue to be a team. But there comes a point that those simple things like that, you may need some help with. You know, carrying a laundry basket and doing those kind of things, that's real life. I mean, I try to do that for my wife now. You know, my wife has back issues, and so I I try to take the laundry and and take it out, and I sometimes will fold the towels.
Ray:I'm not very good at it, but that's about as good as it gets. I'm terrible with socks. I don't know about you, dude.
Greg:Ray, one thing I would like to add, doctor Pierce didn't say this, but in those 65 years that Baptist Village Communities have been in existence, it is created in the state of Oklahoma. Baptist Village Communities is the largest not for profit provider of housing and health care for older adults in the state. That's a big deal. And I think for Baptists out there, and they think about who we are as Southern Baptists and our ministries, we don't think about we're the largest provider in the state. That's a huge, huge deal.
Ray:Something to be proud of.
Greg:And something to be proud of. And I think, doctor Pierce is being, he's being, you know, if you will, somewhat we don't have to toot our own horn, so to speak. But as he's been president for all these years, it is a big deal. And it's through his leadership that we have grown and expanded as an organization to be that largest provider in the state.
Ray:So let's let's clarify for people what it means a not for profit. That doesn't mean it's free, but what does it mean not for profit? Not for profit organization? Sure.
Greg:You want me to answer that or you wanna answer that? Oh, yeah. So it means that at the end of the day, when there is let's say, the organization has excess, let's say, of $1,000 in in income, means we're gonna take that money, we're gonna reinvest that money, and it's gonna go back into the people who live in that, who work in that, who do that ministry as opposed to, well, it's gonna go into our profits, and we're gonna then use that for whatever it is.
Ray:Investors or stakeholders are gonna pay a dividend. Right. It's gonna go back into the, into the facility.
Greg:Back into the facility and back to the lives of the people who live there. And so it's a reinvesting of what that is. And and the reality is is there are those times when there's going to be excess and there's gonna be times where there's not excess. And so we've gotta make sure that we're doing the best we can do in the midst of what God's given to us.
Ray:So you're on a roll. Go ahead and tell us a little bit about the institute that's been formed and your role in that, and then I wanna get your spin on it as well. But I want you to introduce it.
Greg:Certainly. Well, the Pierce Institute so it's the Bill and Susan Pierce Institute For Transforming Life Expectancies. I came, in September of 22, when this organization was created, this institute. And it really came out of how do we, this is a conversation I would say, oh, let doctor Pierce speak in this because he was here for that. The board of trustees, the board of directors for Baptist Village Communities said, how do we impact the local church?
Greg:How do we help the church impact the lives of older adults?
Ray:Specifically the church?
Greg:The church. And that's the focus of the institute is how do we help the local church impact in the lives of older adults? There are a lot of different ways and things we can talk through, and we'll get to that. But really, it is it's focused on the local church, and how do we change that expectation of older adults in the local church, themselves as an older adult, as well as staff relating to them. And so, the the institute was created with that in mind, and that's where we are today.
Greg:I say, how do we help? How do we be that that conduit of change in the lives of older adults through the local church.
Ray:An idea generator, a facilities, not not in terms of property, but but facilitating work among senior adults, recognizing opportunity, what what can be done, what they have to give, how we can level them, minister to them, and hopefully, in some cases, even win them into the kingdom. Right?
Greg:Totally. You know, when we look at, the lostness of people, the largest lostness, if you will, demographically are our older adults, because we have so many older adults. And so the need for older adults to know the gospel and to know Christ is huge. And so how how can the institute be a part of that? And that's a part of who we are.
Greg:We'll talk about that later as the bedrock of what are we building the institute on. Part of it's gonna be how do we help people know Jesus, through the institute.
Ray:And it's coming alongside not doing the work of, but coming alongside the ministry of the local church, encouraging them, spurring them on, helping them recognize, do you realize there's an untapped potential Totally. Right under your own roof, and we want to come alongside with you and help you make the most of it.
Greg:That's exactly correct.
Ray:Now there we can't miss the fact that there's a really special name associated with it. So, Bill, tell us a little bit about your perspective on why you believe in this so much. I I think, Kevin, I this isn't me talking. I don't know if these would be the words that you would use. But 33 years, in this in this line of ministry, to me, this is a legacy project.
Ray:I think people recognize what better name than to put Bill and Susan on this because it represents so much of what this ministry is about in your heart. I mean, you're you're putting it out there, and you're putting your name on it, and I think that tells people he's fully committed and wants us to be great for years years to come. But what what made you feel that this was something the time was right after 33 years?
Bill:Yeah. As our world changes and more people are older, we really need to change our minds about getting older. And so everybody who's listening to this podcast, that's where you need to start. You need to start about thinking about changing your mind about getting older. One of the questions that we ask people who are getting older is the same question you would ask someone in high school.
Bill:Someone who's graduating from high school, we ask them this question. What are you gonna do with the rest of your life? That's a that's a normal question that we ask people that are graduating from high school. But when you ask someone who's 80 years old old that same question, they look at you really strangely. But that that's a wonderful question.
Bill:What are you gonna do? What do you wanna do the rest of your life? What do you mean what do I do wanna do with the rest of my life? Absolutely. That's what we mean.
Bill:What do you want to do with the rest of your life? You know, Ray, I go to Waterloo Road Baptist Church in Edmond, and we had an interesting thing happen on a mission trip. And we had a 17 year old young lady go on a mission trip for the first time, her first mission trip, and we had a 77 year old go on the same mission trip that was her first mission trip. The excitement in the 17 year old and the 77 year old was the same. Mhmm.
Bill:They were both excited about serving the Lord. That's the question, Ray. What do you wanna do with the rest of your life Mhmm. No matter how old you are?
Ray:Well, I would say it this way. You said it a little bit differently, but you're not done. What do you wanna do?
Greg:That's exactly right.
Ray:Right? You're not done. What do you wanna do? And what I'm hearing you say is the institute, that is what it's all about, is is helping people gain this mindset, as as the person that could be going at 77 or the minister in the local church or the congregation as a whole recognizing there's more in the tank. There's a lot more that can be done, and so let's let's keep it let's keep the momentum going.
Ray:And that's what this institute is gonna do. Okay. We're gonna have a whole another show about that. We'll unpack that a lot more. With the time we have left, and this is going really fast, just kind of unpack each of these, different aspects of Baptist Village Communities, residential living, enhanced life neighborhoods, assisted living centers, memory support, and the health center.
Ray:Just kind of touch on those maybe a minute each on, each of these, categories in terms of what Baptist Village Communities is doing in order to help, I wouldn't say, combat or maybe catch or be a part of the age wave?
Bill:That's a tall order. Yes. It is. I meant it. Most of what we do is what we call residential living.
Bill:A lot of people call it independent living. By far, that's the largest thing we do across the state.
Ray:Okay.
Bill:It's people who decide that perhaps they don't wanna do yard work anymore or they don't wanna pay property taxes anymore or and they wanna socialize a lot more with people in a village, and so they move to the village. They live in apartments, and they live in patio homes, and they can engage us for other services. But, usually, they're very independent, and most of them have cars. And they go some of them are gone for weeks, on trips, even on cruises, and things like that. But that's that's independent living.
Bill:That's residential living, what we call residential living. K. An enhanced life neighborhood is a level of service between residential living and assisted living. It's very convenient for a lot of people and and for families, and it's less expensive than assisted living. And it's been going very well in Baptist Village Communities.
Bill:We haven't been doing Enhanced Life Neighborhoods very long, but they're very successful. And we plan to expand them many places across the state, especially in rural areas where assisted living doesn't exist and it's a less expensive option. And then assisted living is a great choice for people who have a little more need in their life. Perhaps they even need assistance with bathing or dressing, and we come along side the family and the individual to provide those services. Three meals a day, an apartment.
Bill:It's not a small room. It's usually an apartment that that you're very comfortable in. And then memory support. We have memory support services. And, Ray, that need is growing in our society so fast, and our society, needs needs to grow in the ideas of how to serve these people and their families quickly.
Bill:But Baptist Village Communities has been growing in that area, And we have, I think, 5 neighborhoods across the state that focus on memory support needs, Alzheimer's, and that kind of need. And then we have health centers. And in the health center, we have short term stays and long term stays. A health center is what someone, might call the highest level of service. And in a health center, you may go to the hospital and have knee replacement.
Ray:Oh, I see.
Bill:And after the knee replacement, you come to the health center and do re rehabilitation rehab services, short term, and then go home. And then we have long term care where people are in that level of service for maybe many years.
Ray:So that's that's that's just in Baptist Village Communities.
Greg:Correct.
Ray:That's just in the 11 different, properties throughout the institute. That's not even in Trusted Hearts. You guys are very active. You're a very active team. What would you add to that, Greg?
Ray:Anything that Bill said that you would add a little sweetening to that in?
Greg:No. I would just say is as as people age, and I think the I think the enhanced life neighborhoods that doctor Pierce referenced will be a phenomenal ministry for people to consider. Jessica, you know what? I know it is I watch some of my own family members age and they go, you know what? I don't know that I want to do all this cooking for 1 person.
Greg:And so an enhanced life becomes an option, where they can choose all their foods taken care of, but they still have their car and they go and do and travel and but they don't have to worry about stuff. They don't worry about the yard. They don't worry about this or that or laundry and housekeeping. It's all it's it's a part of what they do. So there is a wonderful opportunity there for people who become very frustrated in their own home of all the things they have to do to keep up with things, if you will.
Greg:So I think that's a huge thing as we look at Baptist Village Communities and and what's next on the horizon, how do we serve more and more people? I think enhanced is a huge way for us to serve more and more people. Then when their needs change and they may need help with medication distribution and that kind of thing, then they're already there. They can move into that assisted living role where they've got nursing care staff at their disposal, for a person. So there's there's a healthy perspective and a healthy life, if you will, for someone that can look at Baptist Village Communities, and go, I can be taken care of there.
Ray:You know, we've covered a lot of ground on this episode. We've touched on a lot, and, some people are probably thinking, I don't know if I can keep up with all that. I wasn't planning on saying this, but I'm curious. If someone's listening and they're thinking, you know, I might be a candidate for residential living. I might be a candidate for enhanced living.
Ray:What does that look like? I'm not I mean, I'm in the balance of my assisted living, am I enhanced living? How do they get more information? I mean, it's it's a fair question. You know, I'm not trying to pitch or sell or anything here, but in some ways, I want people to have the information.
Ray:Where do they go? How do they find out? How do they get in touch with you guys about Baptist Village Communities? We're not even talking about all the other services, but how do they learn more?
Bill:I suggest that in the not too distant future, they just take a look at our website, baptist village.org. Okay. Start to learn about us Mhmm. And keep learning about us. And telephone, if you'd like to come to one of our campuses and see for yourself, bring your family members.
Bill:We would be happy to show you around.
Ray:So if let's just if they're gonna call, is there a main number they could call to schedule that, or how how do they do that? Well, how do we how do we make that connection?
Bill:You can get through to our home office by calling 405-942-3800. One more time. 405 942-3800, and ask for Baptist Village Communities.
Ray:Okay. Sounds good. Now, you know, I was recently, I did a tour kind of of the state, and while I was out, I saw several people doing exactly what you said. They were taking tours, and they had a lot of smiles on their face. There's a lot of activity going on.
Ray:I saw sing alongs. I saw workout facilities. I saw people out walking around on the properties. They were beautiful. Very enticing, very inviting.
Ray:And, you know, if you're listening today, it's one thing to go to the website. By all means, do that. Sure. Pick up the phone and call. But 11 locations, what Bill's saying is, come on.
Ray:Come on. We'll we'll we'll happy to we'll happy to show you around. Well, clearly, you guys have a plan and a strategy for the age wave, and this is just one, of the legs on the 3 legged stool that we talked about today, there's still a lot more to learn, so much more to learn. And next time, what we're gonna do is we're gonna look into how the Bill and Susan Pierce Institute takes a threefold approach to transforming life expectations. Can you give us a hint as to what the 3 are, just the three
Greg:words, Bill? Go ahead, Greg. So part of it is how do we how do we impact where people are today?
Ray:Okay.
Greg:Their individuals, who they are. How do we impact their tomorrow?
Ray:Okay.
Greg:And then how do we get there? And so basically, it's we've got a lot to do, and we got a short time to do it in, so to speak, because 2030 is coming, and we gotta make sure we're ready for that. And so to be able to to look at how does what does the Bible say? How do we approach all of this from a biblical standpoint? That's where we are at the institute.
Greg:We can't just we can't just kinda go out there and, just do business as usual. We as a believer, how do we look at it from scripture? How how do we approach life from that standpoint? That's what separates the institute from everything else in the country. There's not another organization out there that looks at how do we grow older together better and through the lens of the Bible and the local church.
Greg:There's nothing else out there, nothing in in the country except for the Bill and Susan Pierce Institute that does that. And so we'll look at that.
Ray:So folks, I don't know if you're like me and you're listening and you're learning as we go along the way here. You probably have a lot of questions. You're wondering about some things, but we're beginning to open up the eyes as what we're doing here is we're exploring aging. We're looking at this topic of aging. We're exploring what what what are the aspects of it.
Ray:It raised a lot of questions, but here are 2 men and the organizations that they serve, the Institute and the services that they provide, they're willing to talk to you. They're not they're not just, you know, sitting around thinking about things too, dude. They have a whole team. They're active. So pick up the phone, reach out, and by all means, let us know how we could serve you if that's something that you're interested in.
Ray:You know, well, that pretty much does it for today's, episode. And so until next time, we just wanna encourage you to stay active and stay informed as we explore the realities of aging on the Exploring Aging podcast.