Lillian Kata was recently granted her Wish of a Lifetime to ride in a hot air balloon, thanks to Brookdale Senior Living, Wish of a Lifetime and Sky Adventures. On Thursday, July 10, Lillian and her granddaughter, Erin took a hot air balloon flight over Oxford, Michigan. Lillian, who is 86 years old, lives at Town Village Sterling Heights, a Brookdale Senior Living independent living community.
Lillian has lived a very traditional life, but had started to feel her age and was anxious to do something adventurous. Lillian has always been fascinated by hot air balloons. For 20 years, she had enjoyed watching them take off at Stoney Creek near her home. She marveled at their beauty and was interested in the amazing views they offer. She has also been very passionate about lighthouses and wished to be able to see the beautiful lighthouses of Michigan from above. On her recent ride, she enjoyed being able to see the scenery and greatly treasured her wish experience.
In 2010, Brookdale Senior Living and Wish of a Lifetime formed a partnership to provide a helping hand in making some of the dreams of Brookdale’s residents come true. To request a wish, residents fill out a wish application explaining an experience they would like to have fulfilled and how that experience relates to one or more dimensions of Brookdale’s Optimum Life® platform. Optimum Life cultivates whole-person wellness through fulfillment in the six key dimensions: purposeful, emotional, physical, social, spiritual and intellectual. Residents at Brookdale Senior Living communities nationwide are invited to share and submit their wishes at www.seniorwish.org. Since the partnership’s inception, more than 250 seniors have had their wish granted.