1. From Worry To Wisdom: Housing Options for Older Adults

2. Vivian McLaurin, BA, CMC Certified Geriatric Care Manager

3. Crisis intervention, Health and disability, Legal, Advocacy, Local resources, Family, Housing, Financial

4. Good news: we have a multitude of senior living options
Good news: we have a multitude of senior living options! Bad news: options can be expensive!

6. The big question: age in place or relocate to a long term care community?
Whether you choose to age in place or relocate to a long term care community, cost is a major factor in the decision-making process. Medicare pays for our seniors’ health (medical) care. Room and board costs are the senior’s responsibility. Private pay, Medicaid, Long Term Care Insurance.

7. While our elders wrestle with long range planning and decisions, caregivers may struggle with providing care.

8. All is well until it isn’t

9. Plan ahead Age in place preferences vs. relocation
Personal care (monitoring at home)
Appropriate nutrition
Transportation
Physical activity/recreation
Circle of friends
Pet care

10. A man with a plan: intentional aging in place

11. Granny pods a.k.a. MED cottages
Granny pods, also known as Med cottages, are – simply stated – “very cool”! Reverend Ken Dupin invented these 12 feet by 24 feet pods that sit conveniently in any backyard and plug right up one’s existing plumbing and electrical. They allow both caregiver and senior to have their own space while remaining connected.

12. Intentional communities
Trailblazer Marianne Kilkenny: founder of Women for Living in Community network
The Golden Girls shared home model: Marianne currently lives in a collaborative house with 3 other adults in Asheville, NC
International authority on geriatric medicine & eldercare Dr. Bill Thomas: the man that brought us the Eden Alternative and the Green House model has recently unveiled Minka
Elder villages: grassroots
elder village,” a grass-roots communally organized neighborhood or apartment building where seniors can interact with people their own age, feel more engaged and help one another maintain their independence

13. Senior living innovation: Minka
The first “Minka House” designed by Dr. Thomas and his team is being erected on Cayuga Lake today! Designed as a compact backyard-cottage for his 21-year-old daughter, Haleigh Jane, the first Minka will be a “compact smart-home” for prototyping high touch technology optimized for state-of-the-art independent living for people of all ages and abilities. Sign up for news about Minka here

14. Traditional Independent Living Communities
Age 55+ multi-unit retirement communities
Full apartment style living
Current cost range $2,500 - $5,000/month
Meals
Light housekeeping
Social activities
Local, limited transportation

15. Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC)
Opportunity to downsize and move one time
One campus with a continuum of care to meet aging needs
Requires financial commitment upfront
Current cost range $65,000-$200,000 entry fee and $3,000-$6,000/month
Will the levels of care remain consistent over your lifetime?

16. Assisted Living (AL) Multi-unit facilities and family care homes
For people that need assistance with Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
Managing medications, ambulating, eating, bathing, dressing, toileting
Bridges the gap between independent living and nursing homes
Suites, private rooms, semi-private rooms
Current cost range $4,000-$7,500/month
Mom can’t live alone any longer. My mom is 83 and has NPH. She fell in her home, laid on the floor for 24 hours, and fractured her pelvis. I found her. She didn't use her medical alert pendant even though she could reach it. She is now at the end of her stay at the rehab hospital and refuses to go to assisted living. She wants to go home.

17. Family care homes

18. Alzheimer’s and Memory Care
Special care units with lower resident to caregiver ratio than in assisted living facilities
Specialized indoor and outdoor environments designed for safety, comfort and familiarity
Current cost $6,000/$10,000/month

19. Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)

20. Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitative Care
Long-term care facility licensed by state regulation
Room, board and full range of health care services
Current cost range $7,000+/month
Some nursing facilities have designated units called “sub-acute units”, typically reimbursed through Medicare
Limited stay rehabilitation for people recently released from hospital

22. Respite Stays
Provides short-term or temporary care to provide relief, or respite, to the regular caregiver
Most assisted living and skilled nursing communities will provide respite options if accommodations are available.
A way to try a community before making a long-term commitment
Requires planning: medical and admission forms, -TB test

23. Hospice
A program or facility that provides special care for people who are near the end of life
Care typically is shared by family caregivers, paid caregivers, and a hospice team led by a registered nurse with a home health aide, social worker, and spiritual support if desired

24. The cost factor
Private pay (personal savings, reverse mortgage, sell and downsize, family contributions, trusts)
Long term care insurance
Medicaid
Medicare: pays for seniors’ health (medical) care
Supplemental health insurance: no coverage for room and board
This is an important take away message from this presentation: Medicare pays for our seniors’ health (medical) care. Room and board costs are the senior’s responsibility. Private pay, Medicaid, Long Term Care Insurance.

25. Final thoughts
“Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts – Oliver Wendell Holmes

26. Final thoughts
“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” – Miriam Adeney