Active Aging Week at Arbor Acres

Every October, communities around the world recognize the many ways older adults contribute to the vibrancy, wisdom, and strength of our communities, while celebrating the importance of the active and engaged lives they continue to lead. Arbor Acres is honored to join the celebration. Active Aging Week runs October 5 to 11 this year. The International Council on Active Aging established the campaign in 2003 to celebrate the abilities, achievements, and possibilities of older adults, and this marks its 24th edition.

According to LeadingAge, more than 5,000 organizations across 14 countries hosted over 20,000 events during the 2025 campaign, reaching more than one million participants. For Arbor Acres, the week is a welcome chance to share Wellness Arts on campus, from morning fitness classes to evening performances.

Seven Dimensions of Wellness

The campaign is built around seven dimensions of wellness: physical, social, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, vocational, and environmental. Together they describe a whole life, from the morning workout to the evening conversation. So who can take part in active aging? Anyone can. The campaign celebrates an active, healthy lifestyle regardless of age or health status, and its seven dimensions leave room for every interest and ability.

That range suits Arbor Acres, where a single week can include a swim, a lecture, a rehearsal, and a committee meeting. Each one touches a different dimension, and each one counts.

Active Aging at Arbor Acres

Wellness Arts at Arbor Acres give each dimension a home on the calendar, and many overlap in a single afternoon. Residents move between them as their interests change, with plenty of room to try something new.

• Physical: The Wellness Center brings together a fitness center, an aquatics center, and indoor pickleball, and the wellness team builds classes for every level of health and fitness. Residents can start wherever they feel comfortable and build from there, with good company along the way.
• Intellectual: Live and Learn sessions, the speaker series, recorded university-level lectures, and visiting authors keep curiosity well fed. Live and Learn is led by residents themselves, so the topics reflect what the community genuinely wants to explore.
• Emotional: The art studio offers classes in painting, sewing, printmaking, and woodturning. Creating something with your own hands brings a particular kind of pride, and the studio gives residents room to enjoy it.
• Social: The Sharps & Flats Show Choir, the Resident Arts & Activities committee, and resident-led groups turn shared interests into friendships. Guided trips and tours, along with outings to the symphony, ballet, and opera, carry those friendships well beyond campus.
• Vocational: Resident Council committees, from Finance to Library to Arbor Woodworks, give residents a place to put the skills they built over a career to work for the community. Their work shapes everything from dining to the library.
• Environmental: Artwork created by residents hangs throughout campus, which makes shared spaces feel personal and welcoming. The pieces reflect the creativity and perspectives of the people who made them.
• Spiritual: Spiritual wellness is part of the community's offerings alongside fitness, giving residents room for reflection and meaning.

Life Enrichment at Every Level of Care

Wellness Arts reach every level of care on campus. Asbury Place (assisted living), ArborView (memory care), and Strickland Place (skilled nursing) each keep their own life enrichment calendar, so residents stay engaged wherever they live. Because the seven dimensions are open to every level of health and ability, participation can take many forms, from joining a group event to enjoying a favorite hobby on a quiet afternoon.

The same openness extends to neighbors who have not moved into Arbor Acres yet. Members of the Advantage Program enjoy select campus amenities and Wellness Arts while continuing to live in their own homes.

Active Aging Week gives the idea a name and a date. At Arbor Acres, it is simply the art of living, practiced in the pool, the studio, the classroom, and the committee room all year long. To learn more about life here, contact Arbor Acres or fill out the form at the bottom of this page.