Live with Purpose - December 30, 2021

Best of the Blog | Readers’ & Editors’ Choice Awards, 2021

By Kathie Miller

We post to the blog several times a month. At the end of each month, we select four articles to feature in our newsletter. As we reach the end of 2021, we thought it a good time to look back on the year and share top picks in case you missed them.

Readers’ Choice: Fitness Anyone?

When we write for the blog, we keep our readers top of mind. We consider topics we think might be of interest and of use to them. This year, one topic was the clear favorite among readers: fitness.

Readers really enjoyed our four-part anatomy series. Written by Goodwin Living Fitness Manager Leslie LaPlace, each article focuses on a different part of the body and provides anatomy lessons as well as exercises to help keep us fit and healthy as we age. Also popular among readers, this article about high intensity interval training and its potential benefits.

With reading trends like these, we think our Good Life readers are well ahead of any need for the typical New Year’s resolutions. As we move into 2022, we will be sure to tap into the talents of our Goodwin Living fitness staff for more tips on how we can all stay active and healthy as we age.

Readers’ Choice: Brain Health

Being attentive to our health and wellbeing requires us to take a holistic approach. Staying physically active and minding what we eat are only two aspects, and often the aspects that get the most attention. It is just as important for us to tend to our brain health.

As we age, brain health becomes increasingly important. We think this is one reason why blogs about our StrongerMemory program and dementia are popular with readers. We also shared tips for better brain health, as well as news that we are partnering with George Mason University to study the benefits of using our StrongerMemory curriculum.

We get excited about all the topics we write about, but brain health promises to present us with even more opportunities in the months ahead. So keep watching for more good tips and news in 2022!

Editors’ Choice: Residents Give Back

We especially enjoy learning more about the older adults who are the focus of work at Goodwin Living. If you ask our editorial team, the articles we most enjoy writing are the ones that showcase the talents, passions and activism of the many amazingly wonderful people who are part of our Goodwin Living family. We engage most often with residents in our Life Plan Communities and members of Goodwin Living At Home program.

From the Green Team’s commitment to the environment and the many ways we came together as community, to an art project for one of our campuses and making mats for people without homes, we found inspiration wherever we turned at Goodwin Living. And we have even more stories to tell in the coming year!

Editors’ Choice: Our Top Workplace

At Goodwin Living, it truly feels like we are coming home when we go to work. And we are incredibly committed to and proud of our work family. We are more than 900 members strong. Together, we provide care and services to more than 2,200 older adults throughout the greater Washington area and hundreds more across the United States through our StrongerMemory program.

We come from more than 60 countries, speak countless languages (many of us speak multiple languages) and stay on average for 6.3 years working here. Our most tenured colleague, Audrey Keith celebrated 51 years with us in 2021.

Throughout the year, we celebrated our environmental services and facilities teams, nursing staff, social workers and colleagues who are seeking to become U.S. Citizens. We also sought to expand our understanding of one another and our shared world by engaging with topics about Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.

And we were thrilled to be recognized by the Washington Post as the #6 Top Workplace in the National Capital Region—we made the list for the third year in a row! Of course, what is even better about this honor is that rankings are based solely on staff surveys. We are hopeful that staff will award us with our fourth consecutive Top Workplace award in 2022.

The Year Ahead

Looking ahead to 2022, we are hopeful that we will continue to be stronger together as we enter the third year of the pandemic. We have learned a lot over the course of the past two years. We have come together in ways we never knew possible, and in ways that have made all the difference.

Whatever comes along, you can rest assured that our editorial team will keep finding good topics to cover, good news to share and inspiring stories to tell. If you have an idea for a blog article, drop us a line! You can email us at goodlife@goodwinliving.org

Thanks for reading!

As Corporate Director of Marketing & Communications, Kathie Miller provides strategic guidance and tactical support for all areas of Goodwin Living. She writes, edits and manages The Good Life blog and newsletter. Kathie joined GHI in 2014 after nearly 15 years at NPR, where she honed her skills in brand and reputation management, content marketing and internal communications. Originally from Pennsylvania, Kathie has slowly come to realize she’s lived in Arlington for more than half her life and should call herself a Virginian. She enjoys the outdoors and brings her rescue dog, Remi, to work every day.