How to Choose Among Senior Living Options

Video Transcript

Donna: “You need to make the decision yourself and you need to be in a place that makes you feel good.”

Dick: “If you move into a congregate living setting and there are so many variations on that theme, so many varieties to pick from, find one that’s tailored for who you are as a person.”

Donna: “Look at the options, but parents have to be realistic. Number one, how much can their parents afford? What kind of physical care do they need? Those two things will eliminate right off the top half of the places they might want to go.”

Dick: “Let’s sit down with knowledgeable people who know the different sizes, and varieties, and flavors of senior living and what they cost. Let them ask questions about you and your interests. There are affordable congregate housing opportunities. You have to become a student of the subject, or your kids do, and approach it from, hmm? Need equals response. This is what my parents need, what’s a good response to that need? Shop, kick a few tires, visit these places. Many of them will allow you to spend a weekend or stay over night. What’s it like to wake up in this place? What is the best sale’s pitch? Is the testimony of those who are happy campers. You go to a place, somebody hosts you for a meal, you get a sense of what’s it like. As people, we tend to fear what we don’t know. We fear what we haven’t experienced.”

Donna: “One of my clients said to me one time. I said, ‘Why did you move?’ She said, ‘It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be a burden to my kids.’ She said, ‘I didn’t want to be a burden to myself.'”

Where You Live Matters is powered by the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA), a respected voice in the senior housing industry. ASHA primarily focuses on legislative and regulatory advocacy, research, and educational opportunities and networking for senior living executives, so they can better understand the needs of older adults across the country.