Spectrum Retirement Promotes Inclusivity for Seniors

In conversations surrounding the diversity of the LGBTQ community, we often talk about intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, class, disability status, but these discussions routinely leave out one, crucial population: our senior citizens. Spectrum Retirement Communities is looking to change that.

Spectrum is headquartered in Denver and is a leading developer, owner, and operator of retirement, assisted living, and memory care communities across the United States. They offer apartment living, working to help their residents across the country to live their best lives and continue growing, learning, and experiencing new things every day, in addition to amenities, offering activities, and hospitality support.

Spectrum is committed to promoting diverse and inclusive communities, celebrating both their team members and residents, shining light on different backgrounds and beliefs, contributing to an enhanced culture and providing great ability to innovate, relate, and engage in the experiences of those in the community.

As part of that aim, Peakview Assisted Living in Centennial—along with other Spectrum locations in New Mexico, Illinois, and Texas—hosted Pride festivals in June, encouraging residents, their friends and family, and community members to join together to celebrate the joyous month together. Though, it was important to the team at Spectrum that they approached the event in a well-rounded and responsible way.

“We all came together collectively on calls, and we talked through it,” says Shauna Shockley, Spectrum’s regional director of sales. 

“There was some hesitation from our very first call as to, you know, the ‘why’ behind it, and then, by the time we got through our calls, when we were actually planning it, it was such a different feeling; that hesitation was gone. “

Tirzah Stein, the former director of entertainment and programming at Peakview Assisted Living, explains that this event wasn’t just a one-and-done, but took careful planning and consideration months ahead of time. She says Spectrum as a company was receptive to supporting the individual locations to hold this event, not just to show that they did it, but as a year-long model of LGBTQ inclusion.

“We did progressive programming for two months leading up to Pride, really providing a bunch of education to our residents and having those conversations, and doing documentaries and, you know, ‘We’re going to have a drag performance; well, what is drag? Let’s talk about it. Let’s break this down,’” Stein says. “We did gender one-on-one presentations, and we also did training for staff. I led a training agenda one-on-one on identity for all the staff as well, because we’re all part of this family, and so staff understanding is important as well.”

Specifically, they offered programming to help residents and staff members expand their understanding, exploring topics like the difference between sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, pronouns, and history, to establish a baseline and give everyone space to feel safe.

Stein says it’s important and mutually beneficial to keep these folks engaged in the world around them and current issues, not making the assumption that just because they are of a different generation means they are closed minded or that they don’t want to have these conversations.

“So many of my peers in this industry still stand behind this myth that we don’t have any LGBTQ residents. And my response always is, ‘Oh, yes, you do.’”

Shockley credits the initial idea to integrate authentic inclusion into the company’s business model to Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Entertainment William Swearingen, with whom she has worked for many years. She says, in her 12-plus years in the industry, she has worked for companies who would imply inclusivity or make the assumption that senior housing was inclusive. It wasn’t until she came to Spectrum when she saw her workplace was willing to actually acknowledge their LGBTQ older adults, inclusivity, and cultural competency as a whole.

Swearingen’s role in sales, marketing, and entertainment (which are often three separate positions), Shockley says, allowed Spectrum a unique opportunity to truly pursue inclusivity as a platform of their mission.

While many companies have good intentions, Swearingen says the word “equality” often loses its meaning and doesn’t carry the power it is supposed to.

“It’s something that is too loosely used to make everybody feel comfortable about their personal position, but it doesn’t really change anything,” Swearingen argues. “And I think the critical thing here was, I was able to go to the managing partners of this company and say, ‘Look, we need to do this unapologetically.’ Why does an apology have to always come with standing firmly for those issues, and not just those that impact me and, even those that are LGBTQ-aligned, but everybody, from an inclusivity standpoint?”

Spectrum also makes it a point to embrace all background and identities in these and more conversations, engaging the company culture in conversations about race, religion, class, and other identities. Swearingen intentionally uses the word “aggressively” in relation to how they needed to bring these conversations to the forefront and move past some of the industry’s initial discomfort in discussing these very real-world topics that affect their staff and residents openly and honestly.

“I want to know your story because I care about you first as a human, then I find out these other defining characteristics and too often, for those of us in the LGBTQ community and those of us in communities that are not considered included, we’re not seen first as ‘William.’ I’m defined by those tags you put on me, and flipping that is important for us.”

Centennial, with many other cities—even some “very red” locations—embraced this idea and went all in. “But there was something very special about what we saw,” Swearingen says, emotionally pausing, “You can’t watch that video (of the Centennial celebration on the Peakview Facebook and Spectrum YouTube pages) and not see true joy, true recognition. There was an embrace of this in a way that even I didn’t expect. And it was powerful.” 

In preparation for the Centennial event, Stein dropped a line to Ladycat De’Ore, who is on the We Are Family board, which led them to include an additional fundraising aim for the event. Swearingen says that is another way Spectrum stands out, in that they were encouraged to operate within the community, rather than being controlled by the organization and told specifically how to run their events.

The Peakview event featured attendees from all around the community, not just residents: family, friends, community partners, and even youth community members gathered for the event. It featured music, dancing, and drag performances, ranging from the bombastic backflips and death drops you might see on a Drag Race elimination lip sync to the raw and emotional performances and moments that worked to draw all of the people, of all generations and backgrounds, in the space together.

Following the performances, even the staff members were blown away by the long line of residents looking to take pictures with the drag performers and the all-around excitement over the event.

From a social media standpoint in the events across the country, they were prepared for retaliation, but nationally, over every event and post, Swearingen says there were just 12 negative comments, fully overshadowed by the outpouring of love, support, and openness from community and family members.

Stein recalls one family in particular that reached out, saying how much this inclusion meant to them and their loved one staying at Peakview, who kept their sexuality private. On the flip side, Stein says you might have residents that have certain assumptions or biases around the LGBTQ community, or family members within the community whom they don’t understand, and that can help them to plant those seeds and open up their minds.

“If I’m not willing to engage you in that conversation, we are failing,” Swearingen says. “So many of my peers in this industry still stand behind this myth that we don’t have any LGBTQ residents. And my response always is, ‘Oh, yes, you do.’ They are just not valued, respected, or acknowledged in your community, and they will remain secret in the closet until they feel safe and acknowledged, and we need to challenge this industry to do better.”

Swearingen also acknowledges that taking this stance taught him and the folks at Spectrum a lesson about some of the people and brands they worked with, citing a specific chat with a videographer around documenting this event who, when learning Swearingen was gay and that the event promoted LGBTQ-inclusivity, declined to work for them. 

He adds that these conversations also ripple throughout the company, with the president, vice president, and high-profile members of Spectrum taking steps like sharing pronouns, with the intent of continuing to grow and do better. 

This also allows Spectrum to aggressively approach the other elements of inclusivity that have to come as well, that the organization must use that same outward voice in the way that they did with Pride, even looking locally to their specific locations and what the representation those residents need to be seen and included. 

It’s not an agenda; it’s a human experience that isn’t just centering straight, cisgender, white seniors, as this industry often does. Instead of just checking a box to say, “We did this,” it’s embracing not just the month but the movement, engaging in conversations with HR about how this can be part of the organization’s everyday culture, and doing the work.

“We are intentionally going to be disruptive, and we are going to be argumentative, and we are going to challenge, because if somebody doesn’t do it, it’s not going to happen,” Swearingen says. “And it’s got to come from inside our industry. It can’t be pushed from the outside.”

Moving forward, Spectrum intends to continue enhancing their company culture and programming, incorporating different months and celebrations—like Black History, Women’s History, and Hispanic Heritage Months, to name a few, along with celebrating the diverse collection of winter traditions, not just Christmas, as the holiday season approaches—into their regular curriculum. 

They’ve chatted with Ladycat about bringing in a monthly drag bingo into Peakview, and looking at other options, instead of just opting to bring in the “typical” Elvis impersonator or event DJ solely spinning 50s hits because it’s what’s expected.

Shockley says, “This is the year-long, progressive program about inclusivity that reaches beyond Pride Month, but we are really being responsible now with how we recognize everyone who lives in our communities.”

Swearingen adds, “We’ve got to have that conversation and that has to continue in our communities. It cannot die. It just simply cannot. So that’s our intent, and we have a lot of work to do.”

To learn more about Spectrum, Peakview, and their inclusive programming, visit spectrumretirement.com, and be sure to keep up with Peakview on Facebook at facebook.com/PeakviewAssistedLivingandMemoryCare.