On Friday, Sept. 2, five senior residents from Village at Skyline, a Brookdale Senior Living continuing care retirement community in Colorado Springs, Colo., hit the rapids of the Arkansas River during a white-water rafting trip organized by Village at Skyline.
Village at Skyline residents Tyre Williams, Waneta Morgan, George Ehnert, Jim Fitch and Walt McCray traveled to Canon City, Colo. to whitewater raft through Bighorn Canyon on the Arkansas River. The residents were accompanied by Damon Buskohl, executive director of Village at Skyline, and Burton Evans, activities associate and driver for Village at Skyline.
After the residents arrived at Bighorn Canyon, they enjoyed a picnic lunch before preparing for their rafting adventure. The group then divided into two rafts and began their two-and-a-half hour long rafting trip with the help of Echo Canyon River Expedition tour guides. As they worked their way through the canyon, the rafters experienced level two and level three rapids.
"It was a great time on the water and in the water," said Williams, a Village Skyline resident who jumped into the water several times throughout the rafting trip.
"The weather was beautiful and the river was challenging, but safe for all of us," said Fitch, a Village at Skyline resident. "The raft trip was a wonderful experience. Having our executive director come along made the trip even more enjoyable."
Village Skyline residents fought rapids as they traveled through Bighorn Canyon
Kris Ingram, director of lifestyle programs at Village at Skyline, organized the rafting trip for the residents. The trip supports Brookdale’s Optimum Life platform, focused on achieving whole-person wellness through six key dimensions. The six dimensions are emotional, social, physical, intellectual, spiritual and purposeful.
"The whitewater rafting trip was planned in response to a request by a resident," said Ingram. "As a lifestyles program department, we try hard to plan activities in response to requests, and we saw this as a perfect opportunity to support our residents in their pursuit to live life to the fullest."
When the rafters returned to Village at Skyline, they shared stories from their rafting adventures with fellow residents. The stories sparked interest among the whole community, inspiring the lifestyles department to organize two rafting trips for next year. Residents suggested making one of the upcoming trips even more adventurous than this year’s trip.
"Next year, I predict many more residents will wish to take the trip," said Fitch.
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