Inside Senior Living Interview
A conversation with Melissa Fritz & Joe Grochowski.
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About this Episode
Senior living is more than just a place—it’s a journey, and this episode explores how to navigate it with intention and empathy.
In this engaging podcast episode, creator and executive producer of the groundbreaking PBS docuseries Inside Senior Living, Melissa Fritz explores the important and often complex topic of senior living with Joe Grochowski, Senior Wealth Advisor at Vector Wealth Management. Inside Senior Living (website) is a show that provides a relatable and educational perspective, following eight families as they navigate aging-related decisions, transitions, and challenges over the course of the series.
Together Joe and Melissa discuss the emotional, practical, and cultural dimensions of aging and senior care, offering listeners valuable insights into a topic that, will at some time, touch many families.
Melissa shares her personal and professional journey into the senior living space, driven by her passion for helping older adults and their families navigate this phase of life. With her depth of experience in senior living communities and her personal connection as a caregiver for her father, Melissa brings both expertise and empathy to the conversation.
The conversation sheds light on common misconceptions about senior living. From aging in place to independent and assisted living communities, Melissa talks through a wide range of options available and the importance of starting conversations about aging early.
Podcast listeners (or viewers) can expect a heartfelt discussion about the emotions, struggles, and opportunities that come with making senior living decisions. Joe and Melissa highlight the benefits of planning ahead, the power of focusing on what can be gained through transitions, and some cultural differences in how we approach aging.
Whether you’re currently navigating senior living decisions or preparing for the future, this episode is filled with insights and perspective that can help you and your loved ones.
Chapters
1: Introduction to Senior Living
Start Time: 00:00:04
Description: Vector’s Joe Grochowski introduces the podcast and welcomes Melissa Fritz, creator of the PBS series Inside Senior Living. Get ready for an in-depth discussion on aging, senior care, and Melissa’s groundbreaking work.
2: Melissa’s Journey Into Senior Living
Start Time: 00:01:17
Description: Melissa shares her personal and professional journey into the senior living space, including how her background in marketing and nonprofit management led her to fall in love with working with seniors.
3: Defining Senior Living
Start Time: 00:02:45
Description: Melissa discusses common misconceptions about senior living, explaining the broad spectrum of options from aging in place to memory care. She highlights her goal of educating the public about these diverse choices.
4: The Catalyst Behind Inside Senior Living
Start Time: 00:04:28
Description: Melissa recounts how the pandemic and her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis inspired her to create the TV series. She explains the lack of accessible resources for families navigating senior living and her determination to fill that gap.
5: What to Expect From the Show
Start Time: 00:08:16
Description: An overview of the Inside Senior Living docuseries, which follows eight families through the challenges and decisions surrounding aging. Melissa also highlights the inclusion of experts and cultural diversity of the stories.
6: The Emotional Struggles of Transition
Start Time: 00:11:13
Description: Melissa and Joe dive into the emotional dynamics of transitioning into senior living, particularly the resistance from older adults and the tension with well-meaning family members. They discuss the importance of starting conversations early.
7: The Positive Side of Senior Living
Start Time: 00:20:55
Description: Melissa shares stories of individuals who initially resisted senior living but later thrived in their new environments. She emphasizes the opportunities for safety, socialization, and personal growth that senior communities can offer.
8: Couples and Senior Living
Start Time: 00:23:29
Description: A discussion on how senior living accommodates couples, the benefits of moving together, and the importance of finding a community with a good mix of residents to ensure both partners feel supported.
9: The Impact of COVID-19
Start Time: 00:25:27
Description: Melissa reflects on how the pandemic reshaped senior living communities, including challenges with isolation and care but also opportunities to redefine priorities, improve services, and strengthen the industry.
10: Behind the Scenes: Producing a TV Show
Start Time: 00:32:01
Description: Melissa provides a behind-the-scenes look at the production of Inside Senior Living, from pitching networks to creating a sizzle reel. She shares her vision for the show’s future and her hopes for a second season in other states.
Transcript:
(Adapted for Readability)
Hello and welcome to today's podcast episode. My name is Joe Grochowski. I'm a senior wealth advisor here at Vector Wealth Management.
Today's topic for discussion, is going to be on Senior Living. And I have the pleasure of being joined by a tremendous guest speaker who not only has firsthand experience working in the senior living space, but also happens to be the creator and executive producer of the television show Inside Senior Living. My guest speaker is Melissa Fritz.
Melissa, it's a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you Joe, I really appreciate this opportunity. And it's going to be really fun to tell you all about this show.
Yes, I'm very excited for our conversation today. Now we're going to discuss a lot of things today, but I think it would be most appropriate to start from the top. Our audience probably knows very little about you, and so I think it's most appropriate to start. Could you just share with us a little bit about your professional background and how it came to be that you entered the senior living space?
Yes. So I have been in marketing, marketing, sales. Nonprofit management my whole career. And in 2013, I had the opportunity to get a start in sales at a senior living community. And I fell in love with it. I have always loved people and had a family that was very involved in community service, and just the richness of being around older adults and learning from them and really seeing the value of not only is it personally so gratifying, but it is a great career path to be in so that we say in the industry, that's when we got bit by the bug because you either love it or you don't. And I just fell in love with working with seniors. That translated into lots of different jobs in the senior living space and here in Minneapolis.
Yeah, fantastic. And I believe with your background, you have you've had experience in multiple senior communities. And so, were there lots of similarities amongst those communities, or can you just talk a little bit about, you know, any differences or just whatever you'd like to share about working at multiple communities?
Well, first of all, I want to break it down because one of the things that has become very clear to me, even doing the show, is when I say senior living industry or senior living, most, you know, a lot of people in the general public. To them, it means different things to different people. Yeah, people over a certain age group, like in their late 70s. When I say senior living, they equate that to a nursing home, you know? So what I've learned is that senior living is a very broad term for different places where we live as older adults. Senior living can be living in your own home and aging in place. And that's really what one of my goals of the show was. It wasn't just to show people moving into a quote-unquote senior living community, like an assisted living or an independent living community. I wanted to show the reality of what most Americans want, and that is to try to age in place for as long as possible so senior living can be as far as a move to senior living. Senior living companies are generally independent, 55 plus apartments, independent living, and assisted living, which means it's an independent apartment, but you add some type of services to that. And then there's memory care and care suites and, transitional care units. So, there are lots of different categories of senior living. Yeah. But that's the whole purpose is trying to educate the public on what is senior living and what are your choices.
Yeah. And so was that how did you what was the catalyst or the genesis? I mean, obviously, you just didn't roll out of bed one morning. Just say, you know what, I'm going to produce my own television show. Oh, what was the what was the genesis behind the show on your mind?
Great question. I was working in a senior living community, at the height of the pandemic, and this was when PPE was in very short supply. As a matter of fact, the community that I was working in, I, as a sales and community relations director, I didn't I had never even seen the memory care. That's how short. We were on PPE that it was. I was actually selling placement into memory care, but I couldn't even go in there because we had to reserve those for the clinical team. But, and then at the same time, my own father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. So we're running these parallel tracks of me in the, in a building now, really starting to, see the devastation. Yeah. That we all heard about. Yeah. As far as, isolation for older adults and how this was affecting families, to actually be a witness to a resident passing away, and their family can't be there with them holding their hand. Oh, yeah, I mean, I it's just it's something that to me, I will never forget about. So I would go home at night and try to think of ways I could help. Like, how can I help these families know that they're not alone? How can I, that there is needs to be more information out there. And what was really apparent to me is in the senior living industry, there are so many organizations and people who have great podcasts, great educational information out there.
But what I was seeing over the years, the general public like this, is how little we know about senior living and how do you they aren't finding it because they don't even know what to Google. Sure. So you can't you can't find the great podcasts or the right resources. So that's where the idea was born. Like, wait a minute, there are how many different types of House hunters shows? Why isn't there a health center senior living? Because all of these aging baby, like we're talking about the aging baby boomers. How come nobody's. And then that. How come nobody's doing this started, you know, then it spun into, well, you know what? It's the pandemic. There's no place to go. So I started taking documentary filmmaking courses and learning how what the process is. And that's that's really where the idea was born. And this crazy.
Yeah. And yeah, it's it sounds like it was a perfect storm for you, just given your background, something that you're already very passionate about. And then, as you pointed out, something very personal to you with your experience with your own father. And so it's such a relatable topic, despite maybe some misconceptions about senior living. And like you said, most people, when they hear that term, they probably think automatically nursing home. And it's so much more diverse than that. And so what? So maybe if we segue a little bit more to focusing on the show itself, then so can you give us a little bit of a background about the show? What is the show going to feature?
The show is an eight-episode docuseries, and it's called a docuseries because it's on PBS. Originally, the thought was that this was going to be a reality show, but reality and documentary are kind of the same thing. So, we follow eight different family scenarios—older adults or older adult couples—as they navigate aging. Some of the families have done a lot of planning and kind of know what they want to do. Other families, not so much. Like, they don't even want to say the words. It's a great representation of who we all are as Americans and Minnesotans and what's happening.
Overall, the episodes, in addition to showing different family scenarios, aim to make each viewer relate to at least one person. We don't just show the older adults but also their adult children, grandchildren, and whatever struggles they face to remain independent. Then I bring in an industry expert. For example, we collaborated with the University of Minnesota Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation. They provide real expertise. While I've worked in senior living, I'm not an expert in gerontology or clinical issues, so it was essential to involve the best minds in aging, fall prevention, Alzheimer's, and dementia care. It's beautiful because we connected with some of the top experts in Minnesota.
Viewers will see drama, denial, laughter, and learning. At the same time, they'll discover real resources they can turn to when these situations arise in their families.
And the concept for this show, I think, is absolutely brilliant. It's so relatable. Every family can connect to the experience of having an aging loved one and navigating these transitions. My own grandparents, on both sides of my family, lived in senior communities. And as you pointed out, a television show needs drama, and it sounds like it's going to portray real life, real emotion, and that struggle you mentioned.
It sounds like the show focuses on families making the transition for a loved one from staying at home as long as possible to moving into a senior living community. Is that the primary scenario being explored?
It is. However, when we recruited families, we didn't know exactly where their stories would lead. We interviewed many families to narrow it down to these eight. Initially, I thought we'd have families who had reservations or were prepared to make decisions, but I'm thrilled with the organic results. We captured several families who weren't quite ready to move yet. It shows the reality of most of us wanting to age in place but struggling to do so safely.
The show's purpose isn't to sell senior living. Instead, its mission is to support caregivers, provide resources, promote a more age-friendly world, and spark conversations. Most people I've spoken with, whether they're experiencing this now or not, will face it soon. Aging is universal, and we need to normalize these discussions. I'm proud to include diverse cultural perspectives, like a Native American elder and a Latino family, to highlight how different communities view aging and senior living. Rural versus urban dynamics also vary, so it's important to show these truths about what's happening in Minnesota and America.
Even though the premise of the show isn't to sell senior living, your experience working in various communities must bring unique insights. We've already discussed misconceptions about senior living. Do you think the show will help change perceptions of senior communities?
Absolutely. Coming from the senior living industry, I've seen the misconceptions firsthand. Several scenes in the show feature what life inside these communities looks like, including the staff, residents, and culture. It's very different from what people often think. So, we're starting to introduce a new perspective to the public.
There are countless scenarios where moving to a senior community makes sense, but one common one involves widowed spouses. For instance, after a partner passes, the surviving spouse may face isolation, safety risks, and emotional challenges. They might want to stay home as long as possible, but there's often family concern. Does the show explore the dynamic of families pushing for a transition while the older adult resists?
Yes, that's a very common scenario. Often, adult children will gather during the holidays and realize their parent isn't doing well—they notice falls, bruises, or other signs. They'll want to move their parent into assisted living immediately. But starting the conversation this way, especially when it hasn't been addressed before, is incredibly challenging. Older adults may resist, not because it's a bad idea, but because they need time to mentally and emotionally prepare for such a change. The show captures scenarios like these, with adult children concerned and older adults hesitant. It emphasizes the importance of starting conversations early, asking the right questions, and focusing on the positives of making a transition.
What's encouraging is that, in my experience, most people who were initially resistant to moving find that they love it within two weeks. They often say, "I had no idea it would be this good. I wish I'd done this sooner." The key is helping families focus on what they'll gain—safety, socialization, healthcare access, proximity to family, and opportunities for new experiences.
That's so powerful. The topic of couples aging differently is fascinating, too. Do you see a good mix of singles and couples in senior communities?
Yes, and it's very common for couples to move in together. Since we don't age identically, one partner often develops a chronic or terminal illness before the other. Moving earlier provides a stable support system for the surviving spouse. I always encourage couples to find communities with a good mix of other couples to ensure they feel at home.
Have you noticed changes in the services and amenities senior communities offer over the years, especially post-COVID?
COVID was a significant challenge, but it also allowed communities to reevaluate priorities. Things like social activities, culinary services, transportation, and other non-clinical aspects of care are now coming back stronger. I'm also excited about the licensing requirements for assisted living in Minnesota, ensuring higher standards and accountability.
Coming back to the show, can you tell us about the filming process? Do the episodes follow families over time, or are they standalone stories?
Each episode features one family, but we filmed their stories over seven months. Viewers will see the progression of their journeys, including moments of loss and transformation. While the episodes focus on individual families, I've grown close to them and plan to provide updates through our website and YouTube channel.
That's wonderful. For listeners interested in watching, where can they find the show?
The show premieres Thanksgiving, November 28, at 7:30 PM Central on PBS North. After the season airs, it will be distributed nationally, likely by the end of January. Viewers can visit InsideSeniorLiving.TV for more information and updates. We're also developing a resource-focused site for families to find support in their areas.
Thank you so much, Melissa, for sharing your journey and this incredible project. I can't wait to watch the show and wish you every success!
Thank you, Joe. I appreciate it.
These discussions aim to spark dialogue about enhancing retirement readiness and making more informed financial decisions. At Vector, we delve into the nuances of scenario planning, offer insights and guidance tailored to each client's unique circumstances. If you or someone you know is pondering their financial future or seeking clarity on their retirement plan, we're here to help.
This discussion is hosted by Vector’s Joe Grochowski.
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