Judy Owens, resident of Robin Run, a Brookdale Senior Living retirement community located in Indianapolis, recently had her lifelong wish fulfilled to fly over Indianapolis in a hot air balloon on Aug. 30, 2011 through Brookdale Senior Living and Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime.
Having spent her life devoted to her family, career and volunteer work, Owens, age 70, rarely took time to do anything special for herself. Before moving to Robin Run, Owens volunteered at the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis cleaning dinosaur bones, and also delivered Meals on Wheels. In her senior living community, Owens volunteers at the daycare and with the marketing department.
Owens traveled to Carmel, Ind. with her friend, Cherie Anderson, for an hour-long hot air balloon ride with Above and Beyond Balloon Company. Staff members from Above and Beyond instructed Owens and Anderson on entering the balloon’s basket, holding on during flight and exiting the basket as the pair prepared for Owen’s wish to come true. "I’m sure getting in and out of the balloon would have been much easier 10 or 40 years ago," said Owens.
"It was fascinating to watch how they inflated it," Owens said. "After it was inflated, we climbed in the basket with minimum trouble, lifted off and were on our way. When the burner was off, it was peaceful and quiet."
Owens was granted the opportunity to ride in a hot air balloon through Brookdale and Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime (JBWOL). Brookdale has sponsored this and many other wishes granted by Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fulfilling the life-enriching wishes of seniors across the country. Residents of Brookdale Senior Living communities nationwide are invited to share and submit their wishes to JBWOL.
To request her wish, Owens filled out a wish application explaining an experience she would like to have fulfilled. Brookdale residents are encouraged to think about how that experience relates to one or more dimensions of the company’s Optimum Life® platform. The six dimensions of Optimum Life are emotional, social, physical, intellectual, spiritual and purposeful.
Brookdale’s Optimum Life® platform is geared toward cultivating whole-person wellness through fulfillment in the six key dimensions. Both Brookdale and Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime provide a helping hand in making some of the dreams of Brookdale’s residents come true.
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