In the first part of this two-part series, I focused on what you can do to ensure you can remain in your home for as long as possible. However, there are important questions to consider.
- What if your current home can no longer provide a safe place for you as you experience increased mobility challenges and frailty?
- What if you are living alone and you are feeling increasingly isolated?
- What if you just want to downsize? (Some prefer the term ‘right-size.’)
- What are some alternative options that you can consider?
Senior Living Transition: Things to Consider
If you are considering moving, ideally, this is to a place where you can remain without having to move again. This, of course, is challenging since your need for support is likely to increase over time. Therefore, you should consider a place that can provide supportive services, such as dining services, laundry, homemaking, personal care, activities, and wellness programs. People can remain in such settings until they need extensive medical care, which will often require transferring to a nursing home.
Many settings provide supportive services. These are typically known as Senior Living or Retirement Communities; however, they go by many other names, such as 55+ Communities, Active Adult Communities, or Independent Living. The accommodations include single-family homes, duplexes, condos, and apartments. Many describe the benefits of accessing various activities, wellness services, and community participation while not worrying about home maintenance.
Is Relocation the Best Option?
Many will base the location of a senior living place on where the family lives. This can be challenging, though, especially if it requires uprooting to another state where you are unfamiliar with the community and traditions. Furthermore, in my work as an eldercare consultant, I have heard from some older adults in independent living settings who voiced disappointment because, despite having moved across states to be closer to family, they felt their children did not have time for them and thus felt abandoned. Therefore, it is important to really consider your expectations carefully, especially if you are making a considerable move. Another challenge I have heard from older adults is that they want to remain close to their healthcare specialists, so look for a location with this in mind.
Senior Living Affordability
The affordability of senior residential living is prohibitive for many! Some independent living settings have a hefty entrance fee along with a monthly fee, while at others, you pay the monthly fee only. Entrance fees can range from $40,000 to $2 million, according to AARP (2023). The higher the entrance fee, the greater the services provided, such as, for Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), which provide wrap-around services enabling you to start off in independent living and transition through to nursing home care without having to move off-site. The monthly fee average is approximately $3000 (A Place for Mom, 2023). However, it is important to be aware of the continuing rise in long-term care costs due to growing demand, inflation, and worker shortages. The Genworth Cost of Care Survey gives a good overview of the varying costs for different levels of long-term care across the United States.
More affordable alternatives exist to these expensive senior living settings, such as living with family, cohousing or shared housing, subsidized housing, or the Village Model, which often has grown out of naturally occurring ‘aging’ communities. AARP provides a good overview of these creative housing options. The main thing to keep in mind is that this will require some advance planning and flexibility. For example, if you choose to move in with family or peers (as in the cohousing option), you must adapt to new routines. However, living with others can be especially beneficial for your overall well-being, particularly if you live alone. As we all learned during COVID, isolation can be harmful to our health.
Prepare For the Future When Considering In-Home Care
Due to the high costs of independent senior living, many people aim to live at home for as long as possible. However, at some point, living at home is no longer the safest option.
Scenarios that may indicate this include:
- Needing help beyond what can be provided by family and/or paid help
- Decline in your health that is keeping you homebound
- Loss of a spouse
- Diagnosis of a memory impairment.
Many of these things can occur gradually, so it is important to plan accordingly to transition out of home care if needed. You should research residential options that assist with personal care. These include Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, and Dementia Care Facilities. These places provide greater assistance with personal care (than independent living settings), including personal hygiene care, ambulatory assistance (including bed transfer, escort to communal places, and physical/occupational therapy), and medication administration and management.
Searching for Senior Care
Be proactive and start looking into options while still physically and mentally strong. Once you’ve narrowed it down to one or two places, visit them several times, at different times of the day, to get a good sense of the staffing availability and level of activities.
While you are there, talk to your peers and discover what they know! To help with this, keep a list of questions you want to ask when visiting a place; questions may center around:
Meals Provided
Activities Available
Monthly pricing structure and any ‘extra’ fees
Availability of rooms/waitlist
Resident policies and visitor rules
You are a couple, and one spouse passes away
Furthermore, you must get your name on a desired location because sometimes the wait times can be months or even longer.
No matter what level of residential living you are looking into, it is so important to really think through where you want to live as you age in your late adulthood because where you live matters for your physical and emotional well-being.