WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) – While athletes from around the world were competing in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, seniors at the Brookdale Chambrel Independent Living facility held their own “Olympic games.”
“It actually was very exciting to see the residents so engaged,” said resident Barbara Martell who also served as the director of the senior Olympic games. “Everybody was happy. They were enjoying themselves!”
Residents came up with the idea in June, then started planning out the five days of competition.
“We were in the middle of our exercise class and the subject of the Paris Olympics came up in discussion. One of the residents said we should have our own Olympics! Laine, our instructor Linda and I both chimed in and said, ‘That’s a great idea!’ From there we chatted after class. Then the whole thing mushroomed into what it eventually ended up being,” said Martell.
From Aug. 5 to Aug. 9, residents and staff hosted an opening ceremony and 10 games. Those games included: corn hole, basketball shoot, golf, bocce, shot put, water sports, and brain games.
Linda Austin served as the marketing, public relations, graphics creator and photographer. A logo was created and all participants received an official t-shirt.
“The great thing about this is it gives everybody something to look forward to, which we seniors need,” said Austin. “We have so many opportunities [here], so seniors have a purpose in life and it’s really important now they’ve got things to look forward to as well!”
Austin reached out to 10 On Your Side’s Kiahnna Patterson to share the fun event.
“Shot put was really nice. My reason for that is my husband competed in it and the very first throw he made, he almost wiped out the whole table of drinks,” Austin said.
Additional staff was brought in to help with the games.
“Camaraderie… I think is really key,” said Brookdale Chambrel Williamsburg Executive Director Joel Abercrombie. Brookdale’s whole engagement philosophy is something called engagement+.
“The whole idea is friendships first, program second, that’s how we do things,” said Abercrombie. “This was a perfect example of that from the way that it was organized and the way that it was pulled off. It was an opportunity for residents to create lasting friendships. You just saw that happening every single day!”
All the teams came together to build comradery — but some came to take home the gold.
“We’ve definitely been told that we need to do a repeat. So I don’t think there’s any way to get out of it at this point,” said Abercrombie.
“They are excited, they’re looking forward to what we’re going to do next,” Martell added.
