International Council on Active Aging

FREE ICAA WEBINAR: Why wellness is your best strategy: Satisfaction is cheap. Loyalty is priceless.

Join Irving Stackpole of Stackpole & Associates on June 16, 2026, at 12:00 PM EDT for a data-driven session exploring how wellness-centered strategies can improve occupancy, retention, resident loyalty, and long-term community performance.

Drawing on more than 40 years of experience in senior living, clinical practice, and strategic consulting, Irving will share how organizations can transform wellness from a program into a strategic business driver.

Key takeaways:

• The link between wellness, resident health, and length of stay

• How wellness influences market acceptance and occupancy growth

• KPIs and metrics that demonstrate organizational impact

• Practical strategies to strengthen loyalty, retention, and brand differentiation

Communities that embed wellness into every aspect of operations are not only creating healthier residents—they are building stronger, more resilient organizations.

Register today.

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r47vH-9CSReGIQYvw_WEOQ?_gl=1*yv7fpb*_gcl_au*MTU0NTI0NTM4MC4xNzczOTQwNTg3*_ga*MTQxODc0MzI0NS4xNzM0MTM1NTI1*_ga_L8TBF28DDX*czE3Nzg2OTY1MjYkbzckZzEkdDE3Nzg2OTY4NTYkajEkbDAkaDA. #/registration

BIG NEWS! It has finally happened.

According to the soon-to-be-released 2026 ICAA Wellness Trends Report, the senior living industry has passed a major tipping point: 52% of Independent Living and CCRC communities now identify as wellness-based communities with care.

This is far more than a change in terminology. It represents a fundamental repositioning of the industry.

The shift is redefining everything—from the built environment and community culture to programs, policies, staffing models, amenities, dining, and services. Communities are increasingly recognizing that older adults are not simply looking for care when they move in; they are looking for opportunities to live better, longer, and with greater purpose, vitality, and connection.

Behind this transformation is a growing understanding that while lifespan may be influenced by genetics, healthspan is strongly influenced by lifestyle, environment, engagement, and wellness-focused living.

In other words, we can live better longer—but only if we intentionally invest in our health and well-being.

Wellness is no longer an add-on program in senior living.

It is becoming the foundation of the model itself.

To learn how the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) can help your organization successfully make this shift, visit www.icaa.cc or direct message me here on LinkedIn.

ICAA's CEO to deliver a keynote later today for the Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association on how living better, longer will reshape society and redefine the way we age.

The event is being held in Canmore, Alberta.

Congratulations to The Mather (Tysons, VA) for being awarded the first Platinum Plate of Distinction in North America from the International Council on Active Aging!

The Platinum designation represents the highest level of achievement within this framework.

The Mather distinguished itself by exceeding expectations in each category, setting a new standard for what is possible. Led by classically trained chefs, The Mather’s program features fresh ingredients, including local, seasonal, and organic foods and globally inspired cuisine. Our Food & Beverage team actively challenges the status quo and embraces innovation as a daily discipline using the latest culinary technology, research, and education.

You can learn more about the plate of distinction at https://lnkd.in/gVFqMbE9

ICAA's CEO invited to join the Stanford University Sports Equity Lab’s Scientific Advisory Council, and grateful to have accepted the opportunity.

Our work will focus on advancing research in high-performance aging — exploring how we can better understand, support, and extend human performance across the lifespan.

If you’d like to learn more about the Sports Equity Lab and its mission, visit: Sports Equity Lab at

Sports Equity Lab A professional website for the Sports Equity Lab, showcasing its mission to measure, optimize and scale the intangible metrics of sustainable high performance: culture, connection, and care.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT! The most important thing you will ever own—your life and the body that allows you to experience it—does not come with a user’s manual. Yet we receive owner’s manuals for almost everything we purchase, from cars to coffee makers, while many people navigate life without meaningful guidance on how their bodies function or what supports long-term health.

This lack of understanding leads to a situation where we invest more time learning to operate our devices than caring for ourselves. It’s crucial to recognize how daily choices impact our future well-being and to seek out the knowledge that empowers us to make informed decisions about our health.

Experiences throughout life have a significant impact on brain health. While it is well-established that maintaining heart and blood vessel health is crucial for optimal brain function, there are additional factors that also play a vital role.

Here are 10 factors outlined in the newly released report "Brain Health Across the Life Span: A Framework for Future Studies: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association."

Early life infections
Adverse childhood experiences
Socioeconomic factors
Chronic medical conditions
Stress
Anxiety and Depression
Pollution and environmental exposures
Chronic inflammation
Disruption of the gut microbiome (dysbiosis)
Poor sleep quality

Read more at

Brain health: AHA outlines 10 factors that shape resilience as we age The American Heart Association (AHA)'s new roadmap for brain health outlines 10 lifetime physical, mental, social, environmental, and lifestyle factors for a more resilient mind in older age.

This week at the ICAA Culinary, Nutrition and Hospitality Think Tank, an innovative idea emerged: a Senior Living at a mall or event. This concept serves as a strategic tool for repositioning senior living. Instead of reshaping perceptions through traditional messaging, it offers a live, immersive experience that invites engagement in an unexpected manner.

Food acts as the entry point—universally understood, emotionally resonant, and immediately tangible. This approach bypasses the assumptions that often define senior living, establishing a fresh reference point grounded in quality, connection, and relevance.

What do you think of this idea? Have you tried it?

Thank you to our sponsors Sysco, CCL Hospitality Group NEXDINE Hospitality

Our next Think Tank is scheduled for November. If you are interested in attending or becoming a sponsor, please direct message me. Participation is open to multi-location operators of senior living and active adult communities, specifically targeting CEOs, COOs, Presidents, Owners, VPs, National Directors, or those in charge of culinary service across all communities.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reframing-senior-livingone-bite-time-colin-milner-1jtpe/?trackingId=mK3pQGwxTem9IvkkiZlX8w%3D%3D

The model is changing. Is culinary keeping up?

As senior living transitions to a wellness-based model, dining has evolved beyond merely feeding people. It now focuses on creating experiences that are meaningful, engaging, and worth living.

However, many culinary systems were designed primarily for consistency, cost control, and compliance—not for autonomy, identity, or experience. This tension represents the future of culinary in senior living.

In a wellness-based community, food serves as a powerful daily expression of choice, control, and connection. Therefore, culinary must transform from a back-of-house function into a front-line driver of culture, experience, and measurable outcomes.

This is not about better menus; it’s about redefining the role of culinary entirely.

To address this shift, we are hosting the ICAA Culinary, Nutrition and Hospitality Think Tank in Charlotte on April 29. Our goal is not to improve existing systems but to ensure that the culinary vision aligns with the model we are moving toward.

There are still a couple of spaces available. If you are a CEO, COO, President, or lead culinary services in senior living across multiple locations and wish to help shape this evolution, please send a direct message to see if this is the right opportunity for you.

A RADICAL VIEW OF SENIOR LIVING

What will the senior living experience look like in 2036?

Answering that question requires radical thinking.

Not incremental improvement. Not optimization of what already exists. But the willingness to challenge foundational beliefs, discard inherited constraints, and design entirely new ways of understanding what senior living can be.

Radical thinking is what entrepreneurs use to create entirely new markets—not just better versions of old ones.

The greatest barrier to this kind of thinking? Legacy thinking. You know it well—the gravitational pull of “the way things have always been.”

That’s why the upcoming ICAA Wellness Think Tank in Charlotte, NC matters.

The International Council on Active Aging has invited 55 senior living thought leaders to come together to reimagine the future—and define what the experience of senior living could look like in 2036.

This is not a conference. It’s a working session.

CEOs, presidents, VPs, and national directors from multi-location senior living providers will collaborate to identify the gap between today’s model and tomorrow’s opportunity—and begin crafting the roadmap to close it.

If you’re in the area and want to be part of shaping—not reacting to—the future, we have two seats remaining.

If you’re an industry partner looking to engage at the highest level, there is still a narrow window to participate as a sponsor.

Let your radical side out.

Join us at the ICAA Wellness Think Tank—because the future isn’t something you wait for. It’s something you design.

Direct message us if you’d like to learn more.