The Buckingham, Houston’s premier retirement community, is proud to announce its recent recertification as a Masterpiece Living® Center for Successful Aging (CSA). This special distinction sets the community apart, and emphasizes its core philosophy. The Buckingham embraces a wellness-minded attitude and encourages learning at any age, focusing on an individual’s key development areas – physical, mental, social and spiritual. A CSA certification truly distinguishes a community, as The Buckingham is one of four communities in Texas and the only CSA community in Houston to have this designation. This is the second time the community has received this honor. The Buckingham will maintain their CSA status through 2019 when they will reapply for certification.

“We were privileged to receive this elite distinction,” said Pam Ortiz, director of resident services and lifestyles at The Buckingham. “We know that achieving this certification is difficult, and it’s incredibly rewarding to be a Center for Successful Aging. Our entire team is very proud of this status, and we know that The Buckingham is a truly wonderful place to age successfully.”

Creating a culture of successful aging, and becoming a regional destination of excellence, is no easy feat. Recognition as a CSA is awarded to forward-thinking leaders in the aging profession who have demonstrated a commitment to actively furthering the Successful Aging Movement. As a part of the partnership with The Buckingham, Masterpiece Living® provides programs such as Living It and Nourish to encourage residents to seek new ways of aging successfully. To become certified, communities must apply and are then scored in the following categories: culture, leadership, outreach, team member engagement, resident/member engagement and purposeful programming. Recertification involves an established and continued dedication to improvement and reaching new goals as a community. The Masterpiece Living program enables staff at The Buckingham to develop a customized program for each resident, based on a preliminary Lifestyle Review that benchmarks where they currently are in all four areas: physical, intellectual, social and spiritual.

“We’re proud of our team and their ability to offer residents quality care where they can strengthen themselves in all areas of their lives,” said Cathy Lightfoot, director of marketing at The Buckingham. “As a CSA, we have incorporated all of the criteria set by a team of experts in the field of aging. These cultural changes are woven into the fabric of our community and are evident in the way our trained leadership makes decisions. As part of the Masterpiece Living philosophy, we coach and empower the residents, actively help the greater community through outreach, offer family member support and make physical adaptations to our environment in an effort to enhance all levels of living.”