93-year-old to Go Up and Away in a Hot Air Balloon 

TROY, Ohio, July 21, 2014 - The serenity of floating through the air in a hot air balloon to view his 40 acre Ohio family farm from a new vantage point is 93-year-old Warren Jackson's Wish of a Lifetime™. That Wish was granted this week when Brookdale, It's Never Too Late (iN2L) and Wish of a Lifetime™ joined together to send Warren and his son to new heights in a ride in the sky over Miami County, and it was all caught on videotape!

"Everything was super," said Cecil Jackson, Warren's son. "My dad really enjoyed it and is still talking about it! It's difficult for him to remember sometimes and we are thrilled that he can remember his Wish. This experience brought our entire family together." Warren is a resident of Sterling House of Troy, a Brookdale senior living community.

Warren's farm has been in his family for more than 100 years. You can imagine the strong emotional ties this farmer has to the land where he harvested corn, hay and beans to provide for his family and where he lived for 60 years. Warren and his wife inherited the farm from her parents many years ago and now it belongs to their daughter and son. During the ride, Warren recounted the hundreds of memories he made with his family while living there. Warren was not only a farmer, but also active in the Troy community. He is a World War II veteran, a former member of the local school board and served as an advocate in the community for soil conservation.

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. iN2L, a provider of specialized resident computer systems heard that Warren enjoys viewing hot air balloons on their system in his Brookdale community and wanted to join in to make Warren's Wish a reality.

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. Since the partnership's inception, more than 600 Brookdale seniors have had their Wish granted.

For more information about Brookdale, iN2L and Wish of a Lifetime visit www.brookdaleliving.com and www.in2l.com and www.seniorwish.org

Contact: Kristin Puckett, 615-564-8481, kpuckett@brookdale.com

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Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is a leading owner and operator of senior living communities throughout the United States. The Company is committed to providing senior living solutions within properties that are designed, purpose-built and operated to provide the highest-quality service, care and living accommodations for residents. Currently Brookdale operates independent living, assisted living, and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers, with nearly 650 communities in 36 states and the ability to serve approximately 66,000 residents. Through its ancillary services programs, the Company also offers a range of outpatient therapy, home health, personalized living and hospice services. 

It's Never 2 Late (iN2L), is dedicated to making the computer accessible and enjoyable for older adults-regardless of physical or cognitive limitations.  The unique combination of adaptive hardware, software and content delivers a person-centered experience that engages, empowers and inspires.  Through cognitively stimulating games and puzzles, physical activities, email and internet access, iN2L provides engagement for every user.   The engagement tools developed for older adults dealing with disabilities and chronic diseases, dementia and other cognitive disorders are currently used over 110,000 hours per month. The current customer base for the company is divided among nursing homes, assisted living communities and adult day programs.

Wish of a Lifetime™ fosters respect and appreciation for deserving seniors by fulfilling their life-enriching Wishes. Founded by two-time Olympic skier, World Cup gold medalist, entrepreneur, and former NFL football player Jeremy Bloom in 2008 in living honor of his grandmother, Wish of a Lifetime encourages the public to take an active role in granting Wishes through its Wish Connect program. Wish of a Lifetime has made 870 Wishes come true for seniors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 93 percent of Wish recipients stated they felt their quality of life improved after having their wish granted and 76 percent said they felt their overall health improved after experiencing a Wish.www.seniorwish.org
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