Iowa independent living facilities are adapting to draw more residents

Facilities touting social connection in community living facilities, not ‘senior living’

Michaela Ramm of The Gazette recently visited Villas at Stoney Point and spoke to residents about their lives as community members.

CEDAR RAPIDS — If they want it, the residents at Villas at Stoney Point can have a very active social calendar.

Throughout the day, program coordinators offer fitness classes, watercoloring, free movies — all within the space of the Cedar Rapids facility. Since moving in nine months ago, Jo Ellen Johnson said she’s become a social butterfly.

“I’m surprised by the fact that I turned out to be more social than I thought it was,” she said.