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On this edition of the Exploring Aging Podcast Dr. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeece join host, Ray Sanders, and discuss how the biggest demographic transformation in US history is impacting aging services and how Baptist Village Communities is responding to the growing need through Enhanced Life Neighborhoods and Entrusted Hearts home care services.
On this edition of the Exploring Aging Podcast Dr. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeece join host, Ray Sanders, and discuss how the biggest demographic transformation in US history is impacting aging services and how Baptist Village Communities is responding to the growing need through Enhanced Life Neighborhoods and Entrusted Hearts home care services.
Exploring Aging
Did you know we are witnessing the biggest demographic transformation in human history? Did you know the number of senior adults in Oklahoma will soon outnumber the number of children living in the state? You know what? We are simply living longer due advances in medicine and healthy lifestyle changes. As people live longer, many older adults are looking for opportunities to maintain to to live in an enhanced life neighborhood, and how Baptist Village Communities are working hard to help residents remain independent as long as possible.
Ray: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. Hey, guys. Hey.
Ray:Great to see you.
Greg:Good afternoon.
Ray:You know, guys, I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off on our last podcast. And one of the things we discussed was something that's called the age wave. You know, that's an interesting thing. You know, we're we have a lot going on in the Pacific Coast right now, and I'm getting ready to go to the beach. Bill, you're getting ready to go to the beach for some time off.
Greg:I'm not going to the beach.
Ray:You're not
Greg:going to the beach. No. Sadly.
Ray:I'm sorry. You know what? We're going to come back with better tan lines than you could.
Greg:Will. You will.
Ray:But when we say age wave, we're not necessarily talking about something that's going to happen down on the Gulf Coast or maybe in the Atlantic or Pacific. What are we talking about, guys? We talked about this on the last show. I wanna touch on this a little bit, and then I wanna talk about what is ageism. We talked about that on the last show, and then I wanna jump into the details of this show.
Ray:But tell us a little bit about what we've been talking about with regard to the age wave as well as ageism.
Bill:You know, Ray, everybody says that it's really hard for older adults to change, but we're involved in one of the biggest chains that's ever occurred in our country as we have more and more older folks, living in our country and learning new ways of life. And and, so it's not a bad thing. It's it's a good thing. And these are people who are gonna be serving the lord longer, exercising their gifts, and learning about wellness, and staying healthy.
Ray:Well, bottom line is, we all are getting older if we're still around. Right? But the population is aging. And so I think what we're talking about here is the baby boomers, basically, anyone from, what, 1964 to 1940 something. The baby boomers, they're starting to show up and they're coming in the form of an age wave.
Ray:What would you say about that, Greg?
Greg:You know, I would say when you think about age wave, many times you think about this in terms of a national, obviously a national movement. But I mean, if we kind of draw that into Oklahoma and think about what does that really mean? We're not talking about in West Coast, we're not talking about East Coast. If we look at Oklahoma, by 2030, our state statistics tell us that we'll have as many people over the age of 65 as we do from birth to 18. That's just six and a half years away.
Greg:Mhmm. And so we're not talking about something that's a long way off, that's kinda, oh, it doesn't impact me, it doesn't change, but that's here in the state of Oklahoma. That's a big deal when you're thinking about as many people above the age of 65 as 18 and under. For the first time, we're gonna have that, if you will, that inverted number in our state, and so that's a big deal. It means when you look around, there are gonna be a lot more older adults than what you might see right now.
Greg:And when we talk specifically about the church, we're already there. Most of our churches in the state of Oklahoma are well past 2030, if you just look at these numbers.
Ray:Well, I think it's interesting the term wave, it's not a ripple.
Greg:Oh goodness, no.
Ray:It's not a wake. I mean, we're talking something you could surf on. And some have even called it a tsunami, and we don't don't always use that term because it has negative connotation. But what we're trying to do here is paint a picture that it's coming. And what this is gonna do is it's gonna put a strain on our society.
Ray:And some people are better prepared for it than others in terms of their personal lives, but our institutions, our governments,
Bill:is You know, we have we have to ask if anybody's prepared for
Ray:it. Truth.
Bill:Are we prepared personally for it? Right. And are we prepared as a state and a country? Nothing like this has ever happened before, and we might as well admit it. Yeah.
Bill:And we might as well adapt and learn what kind of changes we need to make that are positive.
Ray:And truthfully, I mean this with all sincerity, you guys are pioneers and innovators in this space. You have kind of seen this coming. You've been involved in this and you're kind of sending out a clarion call. Hey churches, hey other institutions, we cannot just sit around and be thinking about our youth groups, we're gonna have older adults in churches that outnumber our youth groups. What are we gonna be doing with them?
Ray:What are we gonna be doing in our community centers that address things for, older adults? So these are the types of things that we're talking about on this podcast, and we're gonna be unpacking this for weeks to come. Sure. But I just kinda wanted to come back to it a little bit and recenter the conversation and remind people this is in fact something that's happening. Mhmm.
Ray:Okay. A term that I first learned and first heard for the first time, I talked about this on a previous podcast, ageism. Bill, Greg, what do we mean by ageism?
Bill:Ageism is something that I get pretty passionate about because we could call call it mistreating people. We could call it discrimination. We could call it we could call it treating people differently because of their age. And when you think about it, we see it a lot. When we turn on the television, we see people making jokes about older people.
Bill:Older people can't do this and won't do this and they won't change, but we all know, everybody's listening this, knows that we are willing to change and we are willing to adapt and we are willing to think about things and you can't paint us all with the same brush.
Ray:You might be changing physically, and there may be some limitations there, but cognitively and one of the things, I think it was you, Greg, who mentioned this last time, once you become a believer and a follower of Jesus and you receive your spiritual gift, it's not like you age out of your spiritual gift. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Greg:Totally. Yes. Let me go before we go to spiritual gifting kind of thing, our culture has built ageism into what we do. Even from a little child, where you think about someone getting older. Well, I mean Hallmark has built an entire line
Ray:of
Greg:birthday greeting cards that are full is full of ageism. I mean it makes a jab, it makes an over the hill. I mean, it's all about walking aids and mobility aids.
Ray:Decrepid.
Greg:Yes. And so even our business format in our country is leaning, if you will, at a very young age, leaning people to think in terms of a negative connotation as people get older. And so doctor Pierce is right. I mean, it is it is it is prevalent in so many different facets of life, the ageism. Even back years ago when Ken Dykewold wrote the book called Age Wave, and he talked about this oncoming tsunami.
Greg:Well, you know what? Even in his writings of gerontology years years decades ago, it's somewhat of an ageistic ageism use of that terminology. And we're attaching that to aging. And so even in the field of gerontology, to use that, that's a little bit of ageism. And so we've got to rethink and help people think of aging in a different term.
Greg:Say, you know what, it's it's not all bad. It's not, you know, man, I'm never gonna succeed. I'm never gonna be able to do anything. That is not true. And so the more that we can help people think through just a little change of vernacular, a different idea, it helps to really, to squash out some of that ageism that's just so prevalent in all ages, all facets of life, business.
Greg:It's in our churches too. So I mean, it's just one of those things where we've got to we've got to help people realize, you know what, this is not it's not edifying, it's not building up to speak, even if it's tongue in cheek, before long that stuff gets ingrained.
Ray:So this is a kind of an odd question. And I thought of this while you were speaking. When do we become old? Do you do you put an age on that?
Bill:I can tell you this and I love this. When when I was about 11 years old, I told my grandfather, who was 88 years old, I said, grandpa, you sure are old. You know what he did? He laughed at me, and he went on to live to 103 years old. So at 88 years old, he's not old, and he's laughing at me for calling him old.
Bill:Yeah. So I just think that we I just think we can change the way we live as we get older and turn it into growth and advancing. You know, ageism, there's a study that shows that ageism affects people's older folks, mental health and physical health, and that is a serious issue.
Ray:Sure.
Bill:Why would you do that? Demoralizing people Mhmm. When we are ageist.
Ray:What do you think about this phrase? And while you were talking, Greg, it came to my mind. You are as young as you feel. What do you guys think about that?
Bill:Well, people are telling me all the time, I don't feel old. Mhmm. And I believe them.
Ray:Mhmm. And
Bill:and you know what? As I get older, I don't feel old. Right. And so don't paint a brush that makes me old when I don't feel old. Yeah.
Bill:Don't do that to people.
Ray:Something that's been kind of funny in my house, I just turned 60. I'm getting more gray. I've lost my hair a while back. But, I have a lot of energy as you guys know, and I'm driven and I'm very active. And, my wife is younger than me, and my I'm never lacking for a project and I kind of wear her out at times with my activity.
Ray:And I heard her talking to one of my kids recently and she says, you know what's wrong with your dad? He's a 25 year old trapped in a 60 year old body. Yeah. Now can I just tell you, I think that's the way a lot of older adults feel? Absolutely.
Ray:I'm not 60, I'm not 88. I'm going to laugh at you. I'll take you out right now. You're going to arm wrestle? And it's this mentality.
Ray:But if we're not careful, they begin to have that, oh yeah, I'm going to buy into what society says somehow. And neither one of you brought this up, but somehow we have bought into 65 as kind of a for sure, man, you're old now. And I think it has to do with I don't know. Maybe you guys can correct me on this. Somehow, arbitrarily, it has to do with our social security and how the government does things.
Ray:And at this point, you can officially retire. And I love what my friend Nguyra from Kenya says. He says, I'm basically never gonna retire. I'm just gonna retread. And I think that's where we are in society now.
Ray:We're not we're not people aren't retiring. Can I just tell you, I have friends that are my age and a little bit older that are retiring and they're coming to me saying, do you have anything that I can do? I'm going crazy.
Greg:They want purpose. They want fulfillment. And so I think you're exactly right. The idea of 65 being retirement, being culture, our culture then says, You're done, you're washed up, you have nothing else to offer. And we see it happen.
Greg:We see older adults buy into that. That's the pill they swallow and go, Okay, everybody says I'm done, I'm washed up. So there are those who go, I'm done. But we, through the Pierce Institute, are saying, you know what, we can now transform that life expectancy to say, you know what, you've got so much more to give, so much more to offer. You can be a part of a new trajectory in your world that is on fire.
Greg:You're setting the pace. You're you're that 25 year old in a 70 or 80 year old body because you still got it in you.
Ray:Yeah. And I have a lot to offer. And you know what I'm also finding is that there are a lot of young people that if I have an opportunity to be in relationship with them, they want to know what I think about things. Yeah. That's great.
Ray:And they want they want me to save them some of the hassle that I went through. And that's a beautiful thing.
Greg:Sure.
Ray:Well, here's the thing. People are simply living longer due to advances in medicine and healthy lifestyle changes. That's a known fact. Right?
Greg:Sure.
Ray:It's good and bad. I love what, Russcott used to say. He he said, there are some things worse than dying. You know, bottom line is, you know, but we are living longer, and we are healthier than we've ever been before, which has given us a lot of opportunities to do things at an older age than we would have before. And as people live longer, many older older adults are looking for opportunities to maintain a healthy and well rounded lifestyle.
Ray:Well, you know what guys, how nice is that? Because I believe you guys are all about maintaining a healthy and well rounded lifestyle. I mean that's that's what BVC is centered on. That's the focus. So BVC is truly transforming, as you said, Greg, life expectancies.
Ray:Well, I wanna kinda jump into some of the things that I had hoped to talk about in prep for this, this episode. And I'm gonna start with Bill and, Greg, you jump in. I just thought I'd lead off with Bill on this one, give him a shot at it, but we certainly wanna hear from both of you. You know, on several occasions, Bill, you have mentioned, But on several But on several occasions, I've heard you talk about growing and deepening the overall ministry of BBC. What does that look like, and what what changes?
Ray:That growing and deepening smells about change, and some people are like change, but what kind of changes? Is it really about improving? Is it about enhancing? What does that mean, when you talk about growing and deepening the overall ministry of BBC?
Bill:One of the things it has to do with is is involving more people, and we wanna involve our listeners in the ministry of Baptist Village Communities. And we have 3 a equal weight ministries in Baptist Village Communities for years years. For 65 years, we've been ministering through 11 communities that in which we provide housing and services, and we're still gonna do that. We are still emphasizing that in a big way. But now we recognize that many, many people live in their homes where they've lived many, many years, and they need services.
Bill:And so we have home health care services, home care services called Entrusted Hearts. Entrusted Hearts by Baptist Village, and we're serving more than a 1000 people in their homes today. We greatly desire to expand that. So if you need if you need help with your activities of daily life or cooking meals or housekeeping or laundry, we can provide those services in your home in many areas of the state. And then we have the Pierce Institute for Transforming Life Expectancies.
Bill:I love the words transforming life expectancies. Let's change our expectations about our future and about our life. And we are that involves helping churches learn how to minister to older adults. That involves helping churches know how to share Christ with other older adults. That's about equipping families, equipping churches.
Bill:That's about teaching people a new pathway to the future to change their expectations, to change their minds about the future in a very positive ways. And so all three of those areas in BBC are equally important and we're emphasizing them equally now.
Ray:And the Pierce, Institute is something we're gonna talk about more. We're also gonna talk about some of these other things that you mentioned. But when it comes to the institute, dare I say, one of its core purposes is to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way we think about ageism in older adults.
Greg:Totally agree.
Bill:Absolutely. Absolutely. There's a better way of thinking about aging than is set in place.
Ray:So Greg, I'm going to move on from that. I want to kind of throw this back at you a little bit. You know, BBC currently provides senior housing and services on multiple campuses throughout the state of Oklahoma. You know, those services, I'm just gonna kinda go through some of them, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living, health centers, you know, basically long term care, rehabilitation, memory support, which is an important thing, and then this thing we call residential living. And now as I understand it, you'll be transitioning your residential living only communities, the communities where it's only residential living, to enhanced life neighborhoods.
Ray:What does that mean, enhanced life neighborhoods? Can you speak to that, Greg?
Greg:We'll start
Ray:it off with you.
Greg:Sure, yeah, let
Ray:me, let me
Greg:give an attempt at that. And so the enhanced life communities allow individuals to still be independent. They still are able to own their own car and go do their own things. But you know what, sometimes as a person ages, he or she may and we we see it, I see it in my own family with, with parents. You know what, cooking cooking for themselves is not always the most desirable thing.
Greg:Cleaning their house is not always the most desirable thing. So an enhanced life community allows for let's say it's me. I can move in, I still get like I said, I still have my car, but you know what? I can through that, I have 3 meals a day that are prepared for me, great meals. I'm able to have those, eat those meals in the context of the other enhanced life, people who live there, the other residents, but I also have the ability of having my apartment cleaned on a consistent basis, my laundry is done for me.
Greg:And so when you start thinking about the things that kind of become the dirge of life that you've got to do, the daily chores, some of that's removed from you big time when you live in an enhanced neighborhood.
Ray:And so And so you're going to be transitioning some of these current residential living environments into this type of environment. Yes. Yes. Where it's heading.
Bill:Is that right, Bill? Yes. And my mother lived in an enhanced life neighborhood. We have one already at Baptist Village of Owasso, so I got to experience it as a family member, and I was very pleased with the services that she received over the time period that she lived there. And so one of the reasons that we're transitioning to Enhanced Life Neighborhood is the affordable affordability factor because assisted living is expensive.
Bill:We just went through some statistics recently, Greg and I did, and I'm not gonna share them all today, maybe some more in the future, but the the the statistic says that older adults can only afford assisted living for 4 years before they run out of money, the average person, or 2 years in a health center before they run out of money, well, the Enhanced Life neighborhood costs significantly less. And especially in rural areas, that's a big deal. A stat says half the older adults in the United States do not have any retirement savings. Right? So that's a very, very serious thing.
Bill:Goodness. Yeah. And interestingly enough, half of the people who are homeless in the United States, the statistics show that half of them are over 50 years of age. So this is a serious, serious thing. So we wanna bring the Enhanced Life neighborhood, especially to rural areas where there is no assisted living and provide an affordable service for people who need that.
Bill:And so you're gonna save money. It's gonna help you live in residential living or independently longer before an assisted living center. So we think it's a win win for everybody.
Greg:So many of those rural like what Bill was saying, so many of the rural communities, you go from a person lives in their own home and the the next thing for them there is no assisted living in miles and miles and miles. The only thing they've got is somewhere in their list their maybe in their county is a, if you will, a nursing home or a health center, that was we would call that. So a person would have to get to a place to where they go, I'm giving up what I have in my home, and the next place for me to go is here. And so the enhanced living neighborhoods allow for a person to you know what, they don't have to live on their own property, you know, forever and ever until they just no longer can care for that. They can move into a transitional place, some place that cares for them and allows them to be independent much longer.
Greg:I think it's a marvelous approach to being able to serve people. And as Bill said, the financial side, there are a lot of people, as he just said, who don't have the income to just live at any posh place that they want to. We gotta figure out how do we help people? Middle class America, how do we help them age well?
Ray:And this is
Greg:a way to do it.
Ray:So are we using the word enhanced? Because to me, I'm going to be honest, this sounds pretty good. My meals are prepared. I have housekeeping and laundry service. That's already sounding really pretty good.
Greg:It's kind of posh
Ray:to me. I'm telling you. But it's but what it does is it allows me to spend my time doing the things I wanna do rather than the mundane, I think you said, some of the more boring things. But there's something I'm picking up on in this conversation. And if I'm listening, I'm thinking, does this really apply to me?
Ray:And it seems as though we've talked about it in the sense of one person. Is this something that's available to couples? Sure.
Bill:Sure. It's available to couples and and we have lots of couples and, you
Ray:know, when
Bill:you say enhance life, you know, that's what we're setting out to do. We're setting out to enhance your life. Mhmm. And so we want you to have new experience is an enhanced life. And so, of course, when you live there, you're living in an enhanced life neighborhood.
Bill:It's about your life being enhanced, your family, and all the people you live together with.
Ray:I I have this visual in my mind. We talk about the ability to tell stories. This is kind of a made up one, but I kind of see, maybe an older adult at one of these enhanced living neighborhoods. And she's on the phone and she calls her friend up and she says, hey, what are you doing? Her friend says, well, I'm getting ready to do laundry.
Greg:Yes. Yes. Yes.
Ray:What are you doing? What are you doing? Oh, well, I'm getting ready to go to the museum or I'm ready to go plant flowers or and it's like, well, that sure sounds pretty nice. And he says, well, I'll I'll send you Bill's number. Yes.
Bill:Yes.
Ray:Well, you guys work hard to help residents, you know, remain independent as long as possible, and that's so beautiful. That's a great thing. Who doesn't want that? But you also focus on what we call or you call the full body, mind, and spirit experience. That's an interesting, you know, approach.
Ray:I get it, but what does it mean, the full body, mind, and spirit experience? Tell me about that.
Bill:We that is a subject, Ray, that we could go on and on about, and and we will over the weeks ahead in some ways. But we're focused on all of those areas. You know, we want you to begin to take care of yourself in better ways, to learn new ways to do that. Exercise, diet. Hydration is very important.
Bill:Oh, huge. So your so the your body and then your mind. We want to challenge you with new opportunities to learn new things and grow. And the spirit, we are all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all about studying the Bible together, and we are all about growth in that area, but we go one step further.
Bill:Most communities like ours are all about serving you, but we are about serving together. There's a major difference there. We want people who come to live with us to have opportunities to serve other people, and they do, and that's enhancing a person's life. And I see real happiness and joy among our residents when they serve one another.
Ray:Sounds like to me, Jesus would have been a great candidate here because that's what he said he came to do. He came to serve, not to be served. Right?
Greg:You know what I was going to say, every time I'm on one of our campuses, it's amazing to see and watch the residents. They're learning, They're experiencing new things. They're serving one another. But what people may not realize is that Baptist Folks Communities, there is a dedicated chaplain on every one, or there are multiple chaplains in some of our some of our campuses. And so when we talk about body, mind, and spirit, spirit is a is very, very vital and important to what BVC does.
Greg:So with those chaplains, to being able to serve the needs, spiritual needs of those residents, you know, Ray, last year, a 161 different people made some kind of decision for Christ through Baptist Village Communities. So it's not just it's just not out there with the idea that, well, it's Baptist village community, so everybody here, A, is Baptist, B, everybody here is a believer in Jesus. We're not taking that as a script that we're living from. We're saying, you know what? We wanna make sure people indeed know about their salvation experience.
Greg:They can they can talk about a conversion experience where they've asked Jesus into their heart. And so to see a 161 people last year that they know that they've got a decision or they've made a decision for Jesus or they have had some other kind of decision that they have made, Spiritual nourishment is massive to what we do. We just don't take it for granted that just because you live at Baptist Village, that you have already done those things and were able to go, I've checked that off the list. And so to see a 161 people do that, that's amazing. Bill, you'll remember the story that like last fall, a lady who was 103 was baptized because she had just recently made a profession of faith, well, that just didn't happen every day.
Greg:And so to be able to know that that lady who's 103, she gave her life to Jesus and was baptized at one of the Baptist villages.
Ray:I mean, is there anything more important than that? No. I mean, my goodness.
Greg:No. Personal
Ray:personal observation, I was on the Oklahoma City campus not too long ago and I saw the chaplain walking up and down the halls. I am amazed. Every person he met, he knew their name. And I'm talking a lot of people and they loved him. He knew them, he knew their story.
Ray:And that's the personal touch and personal involvement you get, the spiritual component that's there as well. So really it's a commitment to the body, the mind and the spirit. The other thing I can tell you that I've learned from my own parents' experience and the doctors tell you, and you mentioned it, I think it just came naturally off your tongue, is hydration. But people that don't have people caring for them, a lot of times, they forget they need to drink water of all things. And you guys are looking at even those small little details.
Bill:And we can't forget the loneliness factor also. Surgeon General of the United States has declared loneliness an epidemic in our country, very, very serious matter. So when you live in an Enhanced Life neighborhood or any of our neighborhoods in a Baptist village, then you have a great chance to connect with a lot of other people. Loneliness can is still possible, but it's lot a lot less likely.
Ray:Well, I wanna shift gears just a little bit. We've been talking about, enhanced life neighborhoods, and this is something where I say, you come to us, but you guys you guys also offer services that go to them. Tell me a little bit about, you know, how the senior adult population is growing and is growing rapidly and the need for in home services is growing along with it, and you guys are responding to that as well. You serve about 1100 clients already every week. 1100 clients every week through Entrusted Hearts Home Care.
Ray:So whereas what we've been talking about is people living in a community or in a neighborhood, if you will, Entrusted Hearts Home Care takes the love and the care directly to them, but in a lot of different ways. Tell us about that.
Bill:We've been doing this for a long time, and we have 3 basic areas where we serve people in their homes. 1 is home care through the assistance with activities and daily living and the assistance with meals or just sitting with someone, just visiting with someone. It can range from 2 hours a day to 24 hours a day. So we we provide that range of services, a couple of hours a day, couple hours every other day to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Ray:Do you go into their home?
Bill:That needed. We go into their home and do that. And then we have case management. So we manage we help manage the lives and the needs. They let us know their needs, and we connect them with the services that they need or the equipment that that they need because we also have medical equipment.
Bill:People call us all the time and say, this is what need. Ray, you cannot believe how many people call us and say, we don't know what to do. We have Overwhelming.
Ray:And you
Bill:know you know how long it takes us to serve them when they have a need? If if they need it that fast, we can do it today. Now I'm not gonna make a promise to do it today, but I'm saying that there are many times many people have called us, and we begin the services that day in their home. And that's a blessing to be able to do that.
Greg:You know, Ray, I think for church leadership for let's say let's say clergy, and they see a precious saint who has been involved in that church for many, many years, that that saint needs some additional care, needs something to assist in life. Entrusted hearts allows if our church staff people would know about entrusted hearts and go, you know what? If we can connect entrusted hearts to that senior saint, if you will, it's going to allow that person to stay in their home. They're gonna have the services they need being brought into their home, and what it does is it allows that person to stay in their own home, connected to their own church, they're going to save money, they're not moving to some place where they're having to pay a lot more for care. So when we're talking about Baptist Village Communities, entrusted hearts is a great option for people to stay in their own home, to be able to serve them where they are.
Greg:You know, where they feel, you know what, this is my home. I feel comfortable here, and I can gain some services, gain some things that allow me to stay independent longer. And so I think for for church staff to know that there is a place called a business called Entrusted Hearts, it allows the men and women to stay in their home and ultimately in their own church.
Ray:And they can serve as eyes and ears for you all to connect the people. As long as possible. And man, as a red blooded American, that's what we're all about. Right?
Bill:Right. Sure.
Ray:So
Bill:And what a blessing to the families.
Ray:Oh, absolutely. Well, guys, you have done such a great job explaining the all these different services today and really the issues that we're facing as a nation and as a a society. And it's really great information and it's you guys provide a great service to our older adults. You know, I'm thinking about our listeners. If you're a listener out there and you would like to learn more about today's topics, or if you or a loved one wants to experience life at Baptist Village, Bill, you'd say, come see us.
Bill:Come see us.
Ray:We are happy to welcome you. They are there, they provide tours and come and see what they have to offer and give them a call. The number is 866-887-2872. Let me just give that to you one more time. That's 866-887-2872, or they can visit you guys online at baptistvillage.org.
Ray:Now I'm not trying to make this an infomercial, but if I'm listening to this and I have a parent or if I'm that person, I wanna know how to get in touch with you guys. Exactly. And so what a disservice it would be not to give them that information.
Bill:Right.
Ray:And by the way, you guys also have published a really handsome publication called Thrive. And, you know, I've seen a recent copy of it. Your team that's working on that is doing an outstanding job. As a former editor of the Baptist Messenger, I can appreciate good work. And, each issue is packed full of great information regarding the BBC and its news and issues that we're talking about.
Ray:A lot about what we're talking about today is in each issue. So if you'd like a copy, you're listening, you're thinking, how do I get a copy of that? Well, call those numbers and reach out to us, as we have said already, and we'll get that we'll get that to you. You know, we learned a lot again today, and we'll unpack even more on this topic on our next edition of the Exploring Aging podcast, but you can catch us, and you can catch your podcast that you like. This podcast, if you like it, all on your favorite platforms, Simply search the Exploring Aging Podcast, and it will pop up.
Ray:Until next time, hey, stay active and stay informed as we explore the realities of aging on the Exploring Aging podcast.